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Far-left party must let right-wing station broadcast from campaign headquarters, High Court rules

Barring the media outlet from attending “undermines the hard core of freedom of the press,” the judges said.

By JNS

The far-left Meretz Party must permit right-wing Channel 14 television to broadcast from its campaign headquarters on election night, Israel’s High Court of Justice decided on Monday.

“Barring a media outlet from attending an event that has a significant public aspect, when this policy is aimed at a specific media outlet and it alone, undermines the hard core of freedom of the press,” the judges said in their ruling. “We can’t accept Meretz’s argument that an election event is a closed, private event meant for party activists only.”

The judges said that Meretz’s refusal to allow the station to cover activity at its headquarters on Tuesday evening would have adversely impacted Channel 14 and its viewers.

On Sept. 28, Prime Minister Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid Party petitioned the Central Elections Commission, asking that it label Israel’s only non-leftist-aligned television station, Channel 14, a propaganda outlet. The Central Elections Commission rejected the petition and ordered Yesh Atid to pay Channel 14’s legal fees.