Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his coalition partners were required to side with his ruling Likud party regarding all media regulation matters. The conflict centers on the fate of the struggling state-run Israel Broadcasting Authority. Netanyahu initially ordered it shut down and replaced with a new corporation, only to reverse course once the emerging personnel of the new body did not seem favorable as hoped to his administration. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, head of the centrist Kulanu party, insists the corporation start broadcasting next month as planned.

The crisis has sparked speculation that the coalition could fall apart, and new elections called.