It is improper to say a prayer of praise on learning that police have launched an investigation into the sponsors of a 2014 anti-Israel Hayom bill seeking to limit this paper's distribution. That being said, there is no doubt that after years of complacency and foot-dragging, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit finally reached a much-needed decision that was begging to be made: to investigate a seriously grave scandal, ostensibly, in which a former justice minister and MKs were allegedly recruited by the owners of the Yedioth Ahronoth daily to promote their financial interests.
The thought that MKs used the legislative power entrusted to them by the people to secure benefits for powerful individuals is worrying. Because it places doubt in the state of the Knesset and Israeli democracy, the investigation and its findings will likely have far-reaching consequences for public trust in the Knesset.
The success of Israel Hayom over the past decade has severely damaged Yedioth's distribution and caused the paper's owners to suffer heavy financial losses.
To secure profit for the paper, MKs were ostensibly recruited to propose a "bill for the promotion and protection of the printed media in Israel" in 2014. The main sponsors of the bill were a motley crew of MKs: primary sponsor Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union), Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beytenu), Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), Ariel Atias (Shas) and others.
It does them no honor to be on this list. This group of lawmakers from completely different parties with a variety of different worldviews allegedly formed a bizarre cabal enslaved and servile to the owners of Yedioth. The bill is reminiscent of dark regimes in Eastern Europe, mainly Bolshevik, which sought to control information and thought by limiting competitive media outlets.
Underestimating the public's intelligence, the sponsors claimed that the goal of the bill was to defend freedom of expression.
Make no mistake, the bill was not introduced to protect freedom of expression and free competition between newspapers – the bill had only one goal: to bring back the millions Yedioth Ahronoth lost after Israel Hayom entered the picture.
The police will now need to comprehensively review whether there was any compensation given to the bill's proponents. Could the embellished headlines, encouraging photographs and complimentary articles Yedioth gave to these lawmakers possibly materialize into bribery charges? The public has an interest in clarifying if former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni's legal opinion was effectively provided and paid for by Yedioth, in opposition to the attorney general's opinion at the time.
Under pressure by familiar and known media figures, these lawmakers also invested a massive number of work hours and money to investigate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's own case involving media bribery, known as Case 2,000. This case focuses on allegations that Netanyahu tried to make a deal with Yedioth publisher Arnon Mozes for Yedioth to soften its aggressive anti-Netanyahu stance in return for Netanyahu pressing Israel Hayom to limit distribution.
There was an extreme uncertainty on why the attention was on Case 2,000, as it failed to review additional significant aspects of the case concerning the conduct of the media and politicians. Let's hope that now everything will become clear, for we are all equal before the law, even those that the media criticizes.
