JERUSALEM – Israel’s Cabinet voted on Monday to shut down Army Radio, a move critics warn is part of a broader attack on democracy by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition. Defence Minister Israel Katz argued that the station, broadcasting since Israel’s founding, should close by March 1, 2026, to preserve the military’s nonpartisan character, claiming it has become a platform for criticism of the Israel Defence Forces .
Netanyahu compared army-operated radio to North Korea, stating Israel should not emulate such regimes. Army Radio and public broadcaster KAN are Israel’s two state-funded, editorially independent news outlets; closing Army Radio would eliminate half of the country’s independent public news broadcasts. Journalists and watchdogs, including the Israeli Union of Journalists and the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, have denounced the decision as an assault on free speech and are challenging it in the Supreme Court.
The Israel Democracy Institute called the move part of a “broader and worrying pattern” of harm to Israeli democracy, citing additional proposed media and judicial reforms .The closure is among several measures by Netanyahu’s coalition, including expanded emergency powers to ban media outlets and judicial overhauls, which have previously triggered mass protests. As Israel heads into an election year, critics fear these moves could further erode democratic safeguards.