Israel’s cabinet voted on Monday to close Army Radio, a nationally known broadcaster that has operated since the country’s early years, intensifying concerns among critics who say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is weakening democratic institutions and press freedom.
The decision, proposed by Defense Minister Israel Katz, sets a deadline of March 1, 2026, for the station to cease operations. Katz said the move was necessary to preserve the Israel Defense Forces as a non political body and prevent the military from being associated with public debate.
Katz said Army Radio was originally created to serve Israeli soldiers but had evolved into a civilian platform that regularly aired commentary critical of the military.
“Over time it became a platform for views that attack the IDF and IDF soldiers themselves,” Katz said in a statement explaining the proposal.
He added that an army run radio station broadcasting to the general public was unusual in democratic countries and no longer appropriate.
Netanyahu echoed that argument during the cabinet meeting, comparing the model to authoritarian states. “I think it exists in North Korea and maybe a few other countries,” he said, adding that Israel should not be grouped with them.
Army Radio is one of only two state funded news outlets in Israel. The other is the public broadcaster KAN, which operates television news, radio stations, and a widely used digital platform. Both outlets are editorially independent, according to Israeli media law.
The decision drew swift criticism from journalists, civil society groups, and legal advocates who warned it would narrow the space for independent reporting.
“They want an obedient media. They don’t want critical media,” said Anat Saragusti, who oversees press freedom at the Israeli Union of Journalists, speaking at a crisis conference in Tel Aviv attended by hundreds of reporters earlier this month.
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The Movement for Quality Government in Israel said it had already filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to block the shutdown.
The Israel Democracy Institute, a non partisan think tank, said closing Army Radio would effectively eliminate half of Israel’s independent public news broadcasting. It argued that such a far reaching decision should be debated and approved by parliament rather than enacted solely through cabinet action.
In a statement published online, the institute said the decision was “not an isolated move” but part of a broader pattern that threatens Israeli democracy.
Netanyahu’s nationalist religious coalition has advanced several media related initiatives, including legislation expanding emergency powers that allow the government to ban outlets deemed a national security risk.
That authority was used during the Gaza war to shut down the operations of pan Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera inside Israel, according to Reuters.
Other proposed reforms target the structure and ownership of Israel’s media market, reviving concerns raised during earlier attempts to overhaul the judicial system. Those efforts sparked mass protests across Israel before being largely paused during the war.
