On Thursday, Sept. 11, the Supreme Court in Jerusalem deliberated on the appeal lodged by the Gush Shalom movement against the creation of a settler radio station ("Radyosh" – "Judea and Samaria Radio") . The judges gave the state ten days to answer whether it would be willing to cancel, in practice, the proceeding of issuing a tender for a settler "regional radio". The stance of the judges gave the impression of their becoming convinced that the proceeding was indeed illegal, as the appellants contended.

Supreme Court judges Miryam Na'or, Esther Hayut and Uzi Fogelman had been dealing, during several court sessions in the past year, with the appeal lodged by Gush Shalom against the Radyosh station, aimed at serving the West Bank settlers. The station was due to start broadcasting already in January this year, but was held up since the Second Broadcasting Authority held up giving it the permit pending the Supreme Court's final verdict.

In the latest session, the judges continually pressed Adv. Avi Licht, who represented the state, and finally gave him ten days to answer the basic objection raised by the appellants: that the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority, established by law, is bound by its charter and cannot act in spheres for which it was not explicitly authorized; and that its charter restricts it solely to broadcasting within Israel's sovereign territory and does not authorize any action abroad – and the West Bank, by Israeli as well as international law, is outside Israel's territory. Therefore, by this reasoning the tender for a settler radio issued by the Second Authority should be considered null and void.

Legally, the state could take another route – i.e., having the West Bank military commander establish a separate Broadcasting Authority for the West Bank, acting under military law, which would have legal authority to issue a tender for a settler radio station. As noted, the state has ten days to respond whether it would take this option. Taking it would mean cancelling the tender and starting the entire process form zero, and a considerable delay before the settler radio could go on the air; while insisting that the existing tender was legal might lead to the court definitely ruling in favor of the Gush Shalom appeal.

Moreover, Advocates Gaby Lasky and Smadar Ben Nathan, representing Gush Shalom, say that there are strong legal grounds also for objecting to a separate West Bank Broadcasting Authority – for example, that such an authority should not only cater to the settlers but also and especially to the Palestinians, who are the great majority of the West Bank population and to whose welfare and needs the military governor is obliged by International Law.

A further point, coming up during the proceeding due to a casual remark by the lawyer representing the settler radio company, was that it in fact intended to set up transmitters not only in the West Bank, but also inside Israeli territory as far as 15 kilometers from the West Bank border. This would mean that they could broadcast for the whole metropolitan areas of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa and most of the coastal plain – in effect, their broadcasts would reach most of the population of Israel. This underscores the point we have been making since the start of this case – that this is going to be, in fact, not a "regional" radio station but an extreme-right station aimed at disseminating political views and propaganda.

The directors of the intended radio station include Kobi Sela and Yehshua Mor Yosef, veterans of the settler pirate station "Arutz 7" which was closed down by court order. Aside from having acted illegally, the "Arutz 7" broadcasts were extremely inflammatory, for example having repeatedly accused PM Yitchak Rabin of "treason" in the period directly preceding Rabin's assassination by an extreme-right militant. Moreover, Also, Rabbi Samuel Morderchai of Tzfat is to be the station's "spiritual guide". This rabbi has already gained considerable notoriety for extreme racist statements, for which he was also prosecuted – for example, calling for the expulsion of Arab students to expelled from a college in Tzfat and calling upon house owners not to rent apartments to Arabs. Moreover, Rabbi Morderchai also called upon settlers to form a group of "a hundred brave men" who would take up arms and ammunition and enter the Gaza Strip in order to make the army follow them and stage an invasion. Making such a man the ' spiritual guide' of a settler radio station is like placing a known pyromaniac in charge of fire-station. In principle, we have no objection to the extreme right having a radio station expressing its views, provided that be barred from broadcasting racist incitement – but than, the same right should be given to the other parts of the political spectrum. In particular, if this station goes on the air, there must be also a radio station reflecting the views of the Israeli Peace Movement, calling for the dismantling of the settlements and reporting on human rights violations in the Occupied Territories.

Contact: Adam Keller adam@gush-shalom.org