Union urges Leonard Blavatnik to scrap Channel 13 deal, saying it is part of Netanyahu plan ‘to capture the media’
Israeli journalists have appealed to a British billionaire not to proceed with the sale of a stake in an Israeli television channel, which they warn would represent a severe blow to the independence of the country’s media.
Sir Leonard Blavatnik, listed by the Sunday Times as the UK’s third richest person, is selling a nearly 15% share in Channel 13, a commercial channel that has run critical news coverage of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in recent years, including investigations into the prime minister’s financial dealings.
Blavatnik is selling to a telecoms tycoon, Patrick Drahi, who has French, Portuguese and Israeli nationalities. Drahi already owns a cable television company and a news channel in Israel that generally runs far less critical coverage of Netanyahu.
The rest of Drahi’s business empire is heavily in debt and he is embroiled in a legal battle with his creditors in the US.
