Another example is found in the plaintiff's affidavit (Appendix 11( to which was attached a letter sent by Adv. Sommer on behalf of the station to the regulator on August 13, 2011, during the social protest. In this letter to the Second Authority, Adv. Sommer defended Zahavi's blunt style as an authentic and screaming expression of the "little citizen."
Finally, on November 12, 2012, an appeal was also filed by Adv. Sommer against the Second Authority's decision to impose a financial sanction in respect of Zahavi's remarks in the amount of ILS 80, 000 (Appendix 4 to Adv. Sommer's affidavit).
In addition, the parties do not dispute this (and the plaintiff even attaches support to this in his affidavit as Appendices 17-19), that over the years the Second Authority's Violations Committee decided to impose financial sanctions on the station for Zehavi's remarks. Thus, in addition to the above examples, Zehavi referred in his affidavit to the examples to which the station itself referred (in the framework of its responses to the questionnaire), including the letter of the Second Authority dated October 6, 2013, indicating the decision of the Violations Committee to impose a financial sanction in the amount of ILS 20, 000; a letter from the same date on which the financial sanction on the station was reduced from a total of ILS 80, 000 to ILS 70, 000 for other remarks, and a letter from the Second Authority of 29.12.13 Accordingly, the Appeals Committee of the Council of the Second Authority decided to increase the financial sanction for Zahavi's remarks from a total of ILS 25, 000 to the maximum amount of ILS 69, 750 for the violation.
- On July 4, 2022, the first incident took place, which will be referred to hereinafter as the "Channel 14 affair", in which Zehavi spoke strongly and wished death in the fire to the occupants of the Channel 14 studio ("May the studio burn down with its occupants"). Following a public uproar and a call by the Prime Minister to fire him, the defendant suspended Zahavi from his job immediately; Zelkovnik sent a letter to Zahavi demanding that he retract the statement and receive clarification; The station issued a statement condemning Zehavi's remarks; In addition, Zelkovnik contacted the Second Authority on 13 July 2022 and detailed the steps as taken. As a result, the Second Authority's decision was made, and accordingly, in light of the significant steps taken by the station, including the suspension of Zahavi and the publication of a public condemnation, according to him, the station was imposed a reduced financial sanction in the amount of ILS 5, 000 (plus VAT), and in addition, a conditional sanction in the amount of ILS 15, 000 that will be imposed on the defendant in the event of further violations in the framework of the plan in the future.
- The event at the center of the lawsuit from November 13, 2022:
On November 13, 2022, during the broadcast of a program that dealt with the data according to which 174 lonely elderly people were found lifeless in their homes, Zehavi made the following statement: