Israeli Army Radio (Hebrew:גלי צה"ל lit. IDF waves) orGalei Tzahal, known inIsrael by its acronymGalatz (Hebrew:גל"צ), is a nationwidestate funded Israeli radio network operated by theIsrael Defense Forces. The station broadcasts news, music, traffic reports and educational programs to the general public as well as entertainment and military news magazines for soldiers.[1] The network has one main station and an offshoot -Galgalatz (Hebrew: גלגל"צ) - that broadcasts (mainlyEnglish-language andHebrew) music and traffic reports 24 hours a day in Hebrew. The staff includes both soldiers and civilians. Until December 2013, it broadcast viashortwave toEurope. There is still a livestream feed on the internet. Following the outbreak of theGaza war in 2023, it started using the former frequencies of 1287 kHz and 945 kHz to reach bomb shelters and other areas in Israel.[2]
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Galatz started its transmissions on September 24, 1950, as a continuance of theHagana transmission to the Jewish public during the1948 Arab-Israeli War. Transmissions began with a trumpet blast at 6:30 p.m. followed byHaTikva, the Israelinational anthem. An improvised studio had been set up inside a former school building inRamat Gan, with army blankets hung on the walls to muffle background noise.[3]
In 1956, its status was defined by theIsraeli Broadcasting Authority law (paragraph 48). The Israel Defense Forces was authorized to choose its programming for soldiers, but programs for civilians had to receive approval from the IBA.[citation needed] During the station's formative period in the 1960s and 1970s, it was headed by Yitzhak Livni.[1] In 1973, during theYom Kippur War, Galatz was the first Israeli radio station to broadcast around the clock. In 1982, during theLebanon War, the station collaborated withIsraeli Educational Television (IETV). This wartime cooperation led to a daily news and interview show calledErev Hadash (Hebrew:ערב חדש, lit.New Evening).
Galatz was the first radio station in Israel to abandon the formal, somewhat stiltedHebrew that was normally used in the media. Its entertainment programs to soldiers were the first to use colloquial Hebrew on air. Its news bulletins use a more relaxed linguistic style than IBA'sKol Yisrael (קול ישראל,Voice of Israel) hourly bulletins. This presentation style proved particularly popular among two age groups: youngsters and senior citizens.[citation needed] In April 1983, the radio station broadcast an interview with historianYehuda Bauer discussing similarities between the Holocaust and theArmenian genocide. Despite protests by theIsraeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs,Ron Ben-Yishai refused to cancel the program, leading to a diplomatic incident inIsrael–Turkey relations due to Turkey'sArmenian genocide denial.[4]
For many years Galei Zahal broadcasts were mainly geared toward soldiers, including music programs conveying soldiers’ greetings and various broadcasts related to the IDF. The station was unique in that it incorporated soldiers serving in the regular army into journalistic positions, including reporters, editors, producers, news broadcasters, music broadcasters, musical editors, announcers, etc. Following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day, expanding its broadcasts to include news broadcasts and current affairs programming. For years, it was the only Israeli station that continued to broadcast throughout the night. In November 1993 Galei Zahal began operatingGalgalatz, which broadcasts music interspersed with traffic reports and has high listener rates.[3]
According toOren Soffer, head of communication studies inOpen University of Israel, Galei Zahal has become symbol of pluralism and journalistic freedom.[5]
According toMichael Handelzalts, aHaaretz columnist and theater critic, Galei Zahal had a "far-reaching positive influence on Israeli culture", and "address[ed] issues of culture in the widest sense." Beginning in the 1960s, new poems were read aloud once a week. In the 1970s, the station broadcast radio plays inaugurated "University on the Air", and held the first live telephone conversations with listeners ever broadcast on a radio station in Israel. Ram Evron hosted live nightly talk shows.[1]
Galei Tzahal was the first radio station to incorporate a podcast into their scheduling when they gaveIsrael Story a permanent slot.[when?][6]
Over the years, the broadcasting station has been criticized on various issues:
On March 17, 2021New Hope party led byGideon Sa'ar sent an official letter via attorney claiming that Yaakov Bardugo's was conducting illegalpre-election campaigning on behalf of theLikud party.[7] Under Israeli law any form of campaigning during the 60 day preceding an election is strictly regulated.
The party called out Bardugo's repeated pro Likud messaging as well as an incident in which he called party members 'deserters and extortionists'. The party who at the time wasexpected to take around 10 seats in the upcoming election demanded his immediate suspension. On March 18 theAssociation of Journalists in Israel (numbering 3500 members of the Israeli news media) published an urgent message to the station's commander, Simeon Elkabetz, demanding action be taken to stop the conduct of the host. This came after the latter lashed out against Moria Assaraf, the station's political correspondent, asking her "disgracefully" if she was "Ashkenazi's spokesperson" during a live show.[8]
Criticism over political imbalance exists over the station from both left and right wing sides of the political map.[9][10]
TheMy Israel right wing movement launched on June 21, 2011, a campaign against the station claiming that it was operating against IDF soldiers and out of extreme left wing political agenda. On June 26 more than 100 reserve soldiers demonstrated against the station calling to privatize it or balancing its broadcast tone.[11]
In September 2020, theTimes of Israel published an investigative article under the title "Bardugo Airwaves" describing the use made by broadcaster Yaakov Bardugo of his daily political program for the purpose of promoting right wing political agenda and the spread of fake news.[12] In February 2021, the newspaper published a second investigation titled "One Man's Propaganda Machine" over Bardugo's use of the station as a platform for repeated assault against the Attorney GeneralAvichai Mandelblit.[13] In March 2021, the newspaperTheMarker published its own investigative article under the title "The Home of (Netanyahu's) Soldiers" (a play on the station's slogan "The home of the soldiers" in Hebrew) which included a testimony by a former soldier in the station describing a scripting channel between prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu's staff and the broadcaster, among other via his staff head Natan Eshel.[14]
In 2016,Chief of StaffGadi Eisenkot said that "it is not right for theIDF to maintain a military station that deals with civil disputes, what is more, the number of standards of soldiers and permanent personnel at this station is very large".[15] In the same year, the head of thepersonnel directorate of theIDF, Hagi Topolansky said that he does not know of an army that has a military station outside of North Korea, but later apologized for this statement.[16]
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