ARUTZ-7 IS LEGAL!

Arutz-7 is now a licensed radio station! The Knesset voted 40-30 today to grant immediate recognition to any station that has been in continuous operation for the past five years. A radio station associated with the Shas party is also included in the bill. Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein exerted heavy pressure against the bill throughout the day,claiming that he will have "difficulty defending it if and when the Supreme Court is asked to rule on it.

" In fact, opposition MKs submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court against the legality of the new law less than two hours after the vote. Station executives say that they have received numerous legal opinions affirming that there is no legal basis for disqualifying the proposed bill. They claim that political, not legal,motivations are behind the objections of the State Attorney's office.

Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh), Executive-Director of Arutz-7, said today that the station is making preparations to implement the decision. "We are still checking all the details," he said, adding that he wished to thank Rabbis Ovadiah Yosef, Mordechai Eliyahu, and Avraham Shapira, as well as a long list of Knesset Members and others whose support helped bring about the passage of the bill.

ARUTZ-7 APPEAL TO BE HEARD NEXT WEEK

The continuing saga of Arutz-7: A forum of three Supreme Court justices will hear petitions to disqualify yesterday's Knesset bill which formally licenses Arutz-7. The two appeals - by MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), and MKs Yossi Sarid and Chaim Oron (Meretz) - were submitted just hours after yesterday's vote, and will be heard next Monday.

At this point, it remains unclear as to who will defend the new law, as the State Attorney's office -whose function it is to defend government laws - refuses to do so. Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh), Arutz-7's Executive Director, said today, "The fact that the Attorney-General is not planning to represent our position puts us in a very difficult spot. We are raising money to retain the best lawyers in the country in order to ensure that the Court does not nullify this Knesset law. Hopefully this is merely the last hurdle that must be overcome beforeArutz-7 can finally serve its hundreds of thousands of listeners without interference.

"Hebrew University law professor Eliav Shochetman today discussed the legal aspects of yesterday's bill formally legalizing the operations of Arutz-7. Responding to the claim of Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein that the law is basically "illegal," Shochetman stated, "One of the fundamentals of Israeli law is that the Knesset, as the country's sovereign legislative body, has the authority to enact a law such as this. In fact, in one of the Court's previous decisions, Justice Berenson wrote: 'The Knesset is the sovereign authority in matters of legislation, both in respect to the given law's topic and contents. Everyone agrees that the courts cannot undermine the decisions of the sovereign legislature."

Former Chief Justice Landau made a similar statement on another occasion."When asked whether the Supreme Court is likely to annul a law passed by the Knesset, the professor cited the following statement of Chief Justice Aharon Barak from several years ago: "It is improper for us to stray from our accepted judicial tradition,by which the Court does not annul a Knesset law that does not contradict any clause of Israel's Basic Laws. If we do so, we would appear in the public perception to be departing from the accepted consensus as to the definition of the role and authority of judges in Israeli society."Shochetman deduced from this statement that "although it is technically possible for the court to annul a Knesset law, this is not the practice given the division of powers and responsibilities between the courts and the Knesset.

Justice Chaim Cohen, who is renowned for his consistent protection of human rights in Israeli law, has stated that the Knesset's law-making powers preclude the Court from canceling even an apparently discriminatory law. So we see that, using the principles of the Supreme Court itself, there is no basis for uprooting the Arutz-7 law. I've read the opinions of numerous Supreme Court judges, past and present, and I haven't found one that says differently."

In light of the above, Shochetman said that he is "puzzled" by Attorney-General Rubenstein's refusal to defend the new law against petitions that have been submitted to the Supreme Court. Prof. Shochetman then discussed the effect of the new law on pending indictments against Arutz-7: "First of all, from legal opinions issued during the era of Abie Nathan's 'Voice of Peace' radio broadcasts, we find senior Justice Department officials - including former Attorney-General Yoram Bar-Sela - who stated clearly that no legal charges can be filed against an unlicensed station that broadcasts outside of Israeli territorial waters. So it's hard to say that yesterday's vote was necessary in order to make Arutz-7 'legal.' But even if we presume, for the moment, that there was a violation of the law in the course of the station's operation, the fourth clause of the 1994 Penal Code unequivocally states that once a law is passed legalizing a previously-illegal behavior,'the criminal responsibility for the act ceases to exist. The legal proceedings against the offender shall be halted, and in the case of a conviction, any implementation of the sentence shall be stopped immediately.' Given the explicit nature of this clause, I am absolutely bewildered by the various legal commentators who said today on Israeli radio that the courts may still press on with the current charges against the station." Prof. Shochetman noted that there are "countless precedents" in Israeli lawfor the retroactive legalization of previously criminal behavior. As anexample, he noted a post-Oslo 1993 Knesset decision nullifying Paragraph 4(h) of the Criminal Code which forbade any formal contacts with the PLO.

Arutz-7 also spoke today [Wednesday, February 24, 1999 ] to MK Tzvi Hendel (NRP), the sponsor of the Arutz-7 bill, who called upon the Supreme Court not to nullify the law: "The Knesset, which represents popular will, made its opinion - and therefore the opinion of the public - known by a large majority, and the Court must not intervene based on some technicality or another... I am not a legal expert, but I can speak from a simple rational perspective: After we searched for so long to find a way to license at least one radio station in the Land of Israel that speaks to the nationalist camp, I think that it is only right that the Court not intervene, but should rather accept the 'fait accompli' and move on."

Hendel rebuffed accusations by Attorney-General Rubenstein that he (Hendel) "has no understanding of the legal process and no respect for the law." Hendel invoked the halakhic and psychological principle that people tend to project their own flaws on others (Kol HaPosel, B'Mumo Posel): "Mr. Rubenstein had [a very long time] to come up with a solution, instead of constantly explaining to us how each proposed solution was unacceptable.Various proposals were put forth by the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Education and by individual MKs, but Mr. Rubenstein invalidated each one of them. He approved only a solution that would involve a public tender, under which it could not be guaranteed that the new station would not end up in left-wing hands. This would of course make our entire struggle worthless... In short, the Attorney-General didn't permit the acceptance of any authentic, realistic proposal."

Yoel Tzur, Technical Director of Arutz-7, said today, "The public has already decided that this is the station that it wants, by listening to it and by donating money, such that no other public tender was necessary." He said that the ship will not be brought to shore until various technical details - such as frequencies, location of transmitters, and the like - are arranged with the Communications Ministry. MK Yossi Sarid said that the Arutz-7 law yesterday was "a typical move of the settlers - always clashing with the law." Condemnation of the Knesset decision paving the way for a license for Arutz-7 has been heard from yet another quarter: the Palestinian Authority. Chief Palestinian negotiator Sa'eb Erekat says that the decision is dangerous and "encourages acts of terror against the PA." He said the PA would ask the U.S. to pressureIsrael to cancel the decision.

Knesset legalizes pirates; Court asked to intervene
By Zvi Zrahiya, Moshe Reinfeld and Orly Bar-Kima,

The Knesset yesterday passed a law to retroactively legalize several pirate radio stations - but the new legislation is already being challenged in theHigh Court of Justice. The law, passed by a vote of 40-29 with one abstention, legalizes any pirate station that had been operating continuously for at least five years as of January 1, 1999, and whose broadcasts were receivable in most of Israel. The two main stations meeting these criteria are the settlers' Arutz Sheva and Shas's Radio 2000. Immediately after the law was approved, Meretz MKs Haim Oron and Yossi Sarid petitioned the High Court against it, claiming that the law rewarded "persistent criminals." MK Eitan Cabel (Labor) filed a separate petition against the law, and the 14 existing regional radio stations announced that they plan to file a petition of their own next week. The Meretz petition argued that the new law discriminates against legal radio stations, which had to pay hefty fees and put up large financial guarantees in order to obtain their licenses - a complaint shared by the stations themselves.

The legal stations also had to compete against other bidders in a tender - a process which the new law enables the pirate stations to avoid, the petition noted.The law is also unfair to bidders who lost the tenders, the petition added. Furthermore, it charged, Arutz Sheva broadcasts political propaganda that serves the interests of the settlers and the national Religious Party. The station therefore does not fulfill the requirements of the Broadcasting Law, which demands fair coverage for all political viewpoints. The legalization of Arutz Sheva also discriminates against other political parties that do not have their own radio stations, the petition said. Finally, the petition argued, Arutz Sheva's leadership would have been disqualified by the Second Broadcasting Authority, since several of its members - including Ze'ev Hever, one of the founders, and Hagai Segal, the head of its news department - had been convicted as participants in the"Jewish underground," which plotted terror attacks against Arabs in the early1980s. "The government has proved again and again that political considerations are reason enough for it to trample on the rule of law," Oron and Sarid said in a press statement. "The need to defend democracy obligates us to turn to the High Court and ask it to overturn this illegal law."

MK Zvi Hendel (NRP), the sponsor of the law, rejected all the charges. "This legislation has done a historic justice," he said. "It will permit three stations to broadcast: Arutz Sheva, Radio 2000 and Radio Gal - which is identified with the left." He said he hoped the court would not try to imposei ts will on the Knesset, the sovereign legislative power. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not present for the vote, having been called out because of the tragedy in Lebanon. Justice Minister Tzachi Hanegbi and Communications Minister Limor Livnat were also absent. MK Amnon Rubinstein (Meretz) criticized the Labor Party for the absence of many of its Knesset members. "Labor has once again proved that it cannot berelied on at the moment of truth," he said.

Meanwhile, the existing regional radio stations said they plan to start apublic relations campaign against the law, starting today, in which everystation will air "30 minutes of silence in memory of the rule of law" on adaily basis. "Murder has been committed against the rule of law in this country," said Tzachi Granit, director general of the Association of Regional Radio Stations."Criminals who have a lobby in the Knesset have organized an amnesty for themselves as a political bribe before the elections."Granit noted that an inter-ministerial committee headed by Education MinisterYitzhak Levy had proposed an alternative, whereby the state would issue tenders for a number of national special-interest radio stations. The government backed Hendel's proposal because of pressure from Arutz Sheva's owners and operators - who are currently on trial for violating the broadcasting laws, and wanted a law that would retroactively absolve them of criminal responsibility, he charged. The government thereby sent the message that "it's okay to be a criminal if you have friends in the government," he added.

DEFENDING THE ARUTZ-7 LAW

Knesset legal adviser, Tzvi Inbar is set to defend the new law on behalf of the government next week. He says that no fault can be found with the Knesset procedure licensing Arutz-7. Not only has the State Attorney'soffice refused to represent the government in the matter, but Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein intends to add his name to the list of those petitioning the Supreme Court to overrule the new legislation.Atty. Yehuda Ressler, who may represent Arutz-7 in the Supreme Court nextweek, says that Atty.-Gen. Elyakim Rubenstein must either represent Arutz-7 in court or resign. "As his title indicates, the Attorney-General must represent the government and municipal authorities in legal cases. If Rubenstein feels that he cannot represent the government, then he must realize that its choice not to listen to his advice on this issue shows alack of faith in him as its legal advisor, and Rubenstein should draw therelevant conclusions."

Ressler expressed his confidence that Arutz-7 will win the case: "The Knesset is sovereign in this area. Despite the separation of powers, the Supreme Court draws its authority from the legislature, and not vice-versa. The Court cannot nullify a law legislated by the Knesset, in my opinion, except on procedural grounds. For example,if a particular law requires a certain special majority, which was not attained, then the Court can annul the law. This was not the case here."Regarding the retroactive legalization of previously-illegal activities, Ressler noted, "the Ministry of Transportation, as a matter of policy, permits taxi cab companies which operated without permission for many years to receive operating licenses there after. This policy successfully with stood numerous Supreme Court petitions, in cases in which I was personally involved," said Ressler.

The Supreme Court today approved the participation of MK Tzvi Hendel in next week's Arutz-7 hearing. Hendel, the sponsor of the Knesset bill to grant an automatic license to radio stations that have broadcasted continuously for the past five years, will be represented by Renato Yarak, who formerly served as head of the Supreme Court appeals division in theState Attorney's office. Yarak expressed his confidence today that the court would summarily dismiss the left-wing's petition.MK Michael Kleiner, one of the instrumental figures in ensuring the passageof the new Arutz-7 law, said today that the petition by left-wing MKs against the licensing of Arutz-7 reflects a double standard: "One of the petitioners, Meretz MK Yossi Sarid, was among the main sponsors of a proposed bill some years ago calling for the licensing of Abie Nathan's'Voice of Peace' radio station. Not only did Nathan broadcast near the coast, but the law proposed then was a specifically personal law solely for the benefit of that station. The new law, on the other hand, legalizes any radio station which has operated for five years, not just Arutz-7."