Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Wednesday that he will soon present a proposal to the government to shutter the Israel Defense Forces radio station, Galei Tzahal (Galatz), with broadcasts slated to end by March 1, 2026.
Katz also stated that a professional team will be established within the Defense Ministry to oversee the implementation of the decision. The team will handle all aspects of winding down the station’s operations, with a focus on ensuring that civilian IDF employees at the station are treated fairly and their rights are upheld.
Additionally, based on recommendations from a committee reviewing Galatz’s operations, the team will work to preserve the Galgalatz station, which focuses on music and traffic updates, while maintaining its character and original mission, especially its role in promoting road safety awareness.
‘The station attacks IDF soldiers’
“Galatz was established by the Israeli government as a military station to serve as a voice and ear for IDF soldiers and their families, not as a platform for airing opinions, many of which attack the IDF and its soldiers,” said Katz.
“Operating a civilian radio station under military control is an anomaly with no parallel in any other democratic country. Continuing to run the station drags the IDF, against its will, into political discourse and severely damages its standing as the people’s army and its nonpartisan character,” he said.
Katz added that, for decades since the 1950s, various defense ministers and IDF chiefs of staff have considered shutting down the station, removing it from the military framework, privatizing it, or closing its news division.
“But none of these processes ever came to fruition. In the past two years, during the war, many soldiers and civilians—including bereaved families—have repeatedly complained that they feel the station does not represent them and even undermines the war effort and morale.
“Worse, our enemies interpret these broadcasts as messages coming directly from the IDF. I intend to bring the decision to close the station to the government soon. This is a necessary step to preserve the IDF’s nonpartisan character and to bolster public trust in it.”
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
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