Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Congressional address on March 3rd will not be aired live time in Israel as expected as the Chairman of the Central Election Committee, Salim Jubran, ruled. The Labor/The Movement and Meretz lists petitioned the committee to ban the live broadcast, calling it election campaigning. Jubran responded, albeit not to their satisfaction.

He is permitting the address to be aired with a five minute delay, to permit censors to determine if anything is electioneering and editing it out before it is aired. The decision by Jubran compels Israeli TV and radio stations to abide by the 5-minute delay order.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)