Hundreds of workers from Haifa Chemicals blocked major intersections in Tel Aviv March 28 to protest the threat of layoffs hanging over them. The incident raised little interest publicly, politically or in the media.

It is hard to avoid comparing the scope of coverage they received with another employment crisis: the closing of the bankrupt Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which involves laying off some 1,000 employees by May 1, to establish the IBA's replacement, the Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBC). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying mightily to prevent the launch of the PBC, while Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon is doing everything he can to stop him.

What Netanyahu really wants is to take control of the media, but to do that, he must first eliminate the PBC, because it is doubtful that he can corral it. He took advantage of the plight of IBA employees to serve that particular interest, meeting with their representatives March 17 at his Jerusalem residence and posting a moving account on Facebook about how his heart ached when he heard the workers' stories. That was why, he claimed, he had decided to take action to save the IBA. It was also a signal that he and Kahlon were at war.

While the crisis surrounding IBA employees threatens the integrity of the governing coalition and tops the political and media agenda, Haifa Chemicals workers have received only apathy from Netanyahu and Kahlon. This is due to one simple fact: The workers at Haifa Chemicals do not serve the agenda of either the prime minister or the finance minister. In the case of the IBA and the PBC, Netanyahu is engaged, as noted, in a battle over control of the media, which is currently being fought against his finance minister, who is trying to win points from the public as the defender of a free media.