Aharish fired from KAN after taking part in rally
KAN: Move due to corona
Arab-Israeli news presenter Lucy Aharish was fired from government channel KAN on Sunday, the morning after she participated in an online rally critical of the government.
Aharish, known for her charm and chutzpah, began co-hosting the Culture Agent program with Kobi Meidan on Channel 11 just a week ago.
On Saturday night, Aharish took part in an online protest sponsored by the Darkenu movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which almost 600,000 people watched on Facebook Live.
In addition to Aharish, participants included ex-Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin, actress Gila Almagor, former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy and former vice president of the Supreme Court Elyakim Rubinstein.
In a statement, KAN denied that her firing had anything to do with the rally.
“In the shadow of the coronavirus crisis, the broadcast schedule and the staff are changing. The program presented by Geula Even Sa’ar and Yaron Brovinsky was canceled and Geula, who is an employee of the Public Broadcasting Corporation will present [a program] with Kobi Meidan instead of Lucy Aharish. There is no connection to Aharish’s participation in events not related to Public Broadcasting Corporation.”
Darkenu released a statement Sunday in response to Aharish’s dismissal asking the public to contact KAN’s chairman and express their disapproval.
Yair “Yaya” Fink, the director of Darkenu, said, “Those who bothered to hear her words last night at the demonstration of half a million witnessed a speech that was all a call for unity and statehood and against incitement and racism and in favor of respectful discourse. Lucy is a symbol of a common life between all parts of Israeli society and [her firing] is difficult to digest.”
Netanyahu has been criticized from many quarters over what some have termed his authoritarian handling of the pandemic, particularly his request that electronic surveillance of citizens be used to monitor their whereabouts.
In a lengthy Facebook post Sunday, Aharish wrote: “These are not easy days. And those who love this country cannot stay on the sidelines... I cannot sit on the side, even if it costs me money and my living. Thank you so much, loved ones, for the endless support and love you sent yesterday.”
She then posted the speech she made at the demonstration, which read, in part, “For years now, every time I make a criticism, voices speak out telling me to say thank you and shut up... So I’m asking you for the next few minutes to try to disconnect from my identity. Forget for a moment that a Muslim Arab woman is talking to you, but a human, flesh and blood woman, a citizen of the State of Israel, a country we all care about.”
In 2018, Aharish and actor Tsahi Halevi (Fauda, Mossad), revealed that they had married after dating secretly for years to avoid negative publicity over their interfaith romance, an announcement that was greeted by support but also controversy.
Fink said in his statement that Aharish’s dismissal should not be compared to the dismissal of journalist Erel Segel from KAN after he participated in a video with Netanyahu during the campaign.
Aharish is a veteran journalist and presenter who has appeared on many networks, including i24 and the now-defunct Channel 10.