Right-wing lawmakers launched a boycott Thursday evening of Army Radio, following the dismissal of popular pro-Netanyahu commentator Jacob Bardugo.
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The leaders of the Likud, Religious Zionist Party, Shas, and United Torah Judaism issued a joint statement Thursday that the four parties will boycott Army Radio, one of the top radio stations in the country.
The move comes following Army Radio's announcement Thursday afternoon that Bardugo, a right-wing commentator and noted supporter of Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, would stop hosting the daily 5 p.m. news show together with journalist Yaron Vilensky, who will continue to host an expanded broadcast with more detailed reports during the time slot.
According to acting station head Galit Eltstein, the shuffle is in order to clearly separate news from opinion at the station.
The changes, she said, are part of changes being made to enable the news department "to act as a professional and state journalistic tool."
Netanyahu lambasted the station over the decision, tweeting that the move was part of a larger effort by the Left to silence right-wing voices.
"The dismissal of Jacob Bardugo is outrageous and is further evidence of the Left's trampling of democracy and freedom of speech. Army Radio is trying to shut the mouth of every right-wing commentator. The Right cannot be silenced and Bardugo cannot be silenced."
Later, the party chiefs of the right-wing bloc released a joint statement, declaring a boycott of the station. The opposition parties said that "the leaders of the national camp parties have decided to suspend interviews with Army Radio until further notification."
They further called on "anyone who advocates freedom of speech to do the same" and for the "immediate closure" of the station.
Bardugo said in a statement that the directive to dismiss him came from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who he said had decided to "silence my voice" in what he called a "disgraceful mark against freedom of speech that is supposed to be a basic right."
He continued: "I would like to thank the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who tuned in to listen to me over the many years in which I've broadcast daily. The importance of freedom of speech in a democratic country in general and in public broadcasting, in particular, was a guiding principle of mine, regardless of political, religious or any other affiliations."
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Sources close to Gantz, meanwhile, whose ministry oversees the state-owned, publicly funded national radio station, told the Kan public broadcaster that the minister "didn't know" about the changes and was not involved in making them. There was no evidence Bennett had made a decision to remove Bardugo.
Religious Zionist Party head Bezalel Smotrich also criticized the decision to fire Bardugo.
"The 'cleansing' of Army Radio, along with other deep and long-term damage caused by the current left-wing government, will take years to repair," he wrote on Twitter.
Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana noted that Israel is the only Western nation with a radio station controlled by its military.
"It is time to privatize Army Radio!" Kahana wrote on Twitter.
