Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon have been swapping verbal blows in recent days over the scheduled launching of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC), with Netanyahu threatening to call early elections if the unborn corporation is not dismantled. But is public broadcasting the real reason behind this commotion?
Actually, there are as many suppositions regarding this latest political crisis in Israel as there are pundits. Some say Netanyahu fears that the soon-to-be-launched IPBC is teeming with leftists and rivals. They also claim that the decision to appoint Geula Even-Saar as the broadcaster’s prime-time news anchor was the final straw for the Netanyahu couple. Even-Saar, a respected TV newswoman, is married to former Minister Gideon Saar, one of Netanyahu’s archrivals in the Likud Party.