Knesset Economics Committee Chairman MK Eitan Cabel has sent a sharply-worded ‘reminder’ to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon not to forget the Israel Broadcasting Corp. in his new 2015-2016 budget.
In the letter, signed together with committee member Prof. Yossi Yona, Cabel noted that last week’s budget approval didn’t mention any funding for the yet-to-be established new broadcasting corporation.
And the current Israel Broadcasting Authority, meanwhile, is already in liquidation.
Without any financial resources to keep the IBA going, or to launch the IBC, television screens in Israel might go dark, Cabel pointed out – a violation of the broadcast law passed last year.
The Finance Minister was enjoined by special legislation approved in Knesset last year to resolve all of its fiscal issues with the Israel Broadcast Authority.
These include the cost of its operations and the startup for the new IBC, the letter states. More to the point, however, is the lack of logic in the IBA having to request its funding each month.
Therefore, Cabel informed Kahlon that he has called an emergency meeting of the Economics Committee, to be held during the Knesset recess – and Finance Ministry officials will be required to attend, recess notwithstanding – to discuss the ministry’s breach of law.
Minister Without Portfolio Ofir Akunis, who handles communications issues, received a copy of the letter, as did Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi, chair of the special committee involved in preparing the amended public broadcasting law.
