BREAKING NEWS

Alleged racist appointment suspended after compromised reached

The appointment of controversial figure Rami Sadan as chairman of Channel 10 has been suspended until the Supreme Court rules on the matter, according to a compromise reached Wednesday between Likud faction chairman David Bitan and Shas MK Yigal Guetta.
 Sadan, who is known to have warm ties with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is a public relations figure and Knesset lobbyist who has come under fire for allegedly uttering racist comments about Mizrahi Jews at a Channel 10 board meeting.
Sadan has denied making the remarks, but at least two of his colleagues in the Channel 10 leadership say he made them.
Shas chairman Arye Deri had vowed that Shas would not vote with the coalition until Sadan was fired, but he backed off Wednesday and agreed to freeze the protest until the High Court ruling and then sit with the Likud again after that to see how to proceed.
"Shas is glad the Likud joined the struggle against racism and understood that statements against a large sector of the population cannot be tolerated," the party said in a statement.
The Knesset Economics Committee is set to deal with the issue on Thursday. A hearing on the matter was originally set for Monday but was canceled after Channel 10 did not send anyone and Sadan told committee chairman Eitan Cabel he was not feeling well.