A group of Israeli citizens living in the UK staged simultaneous protests on Sunday outside the Tate Modern’s Blavatnik Building and the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford to protest what they see as an attempt to suppress freedom of the press in Israel by Britain’s second richest man.

Ukraine-born British-American Jewish billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who owns a majority stake in Israel’s Channel 13 News, is the focus of the protests after appointing an ally of Netanyahu as the next head of the channel’s news department, a move which the protestors say would soften their criticism of the Israeli Prime Minister.

Sir Leonard, who was knighted in the UK for services to philanthropy, is worth £30 billion, owns most of Warner Music Group and is a keen supporter of the arts in Britain. His donation of £75 million to the University of Oxford to establish the Blavatnik School of Government represents the university’s largest donation in its 500-year history.

Protesters against Sir Leonard Blavatnik allegedly installing a pro-Netanyahu pundit to the top news job at Channel 13 News (Credit: Shaked Ashkenazi)

Protesters accuse Sir Leonard of being behind a leadership shake-up of Channel 13 last month and installing Yulia Shamalov-Berkoich, a reported ally of Netanyahu, in the channel’s top news job.

Some journalists at the channel have criticised the appointment as “political meddling”, with liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz describing it as “purely a political decision, contravening all financial and journalistic logic”.

Protesters against Sir Leonard Blavatnik allegedly installing a pro-Netanyahu pundit to the top news job at Channel 13 News (Credit: Shaked Ashkenazi)

A popular investigative news show that appears on Channel 13, War Zone, was cancelled last week following the reshuffle in a move critics claim was done on behalf of or as a favour to Netanyahu.

WeDemocracy, the group organising the concurrent protests in London and Oxford, said on X/Twitter that they are “staging the event as a solidarity move with News 13 journalists and a defence of press freedom in Israel. The aim is to put pressure on [Sir Leonard] to change the improper appointment of Yulia Shamalov-Berkovic as chairman of the channel.”

The group maintains that the appointment of a former politician and an ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu as the channel’s chief executive, and the subsequent cancellation of War Zone, signal a “worrying shift” in the network’s editorial independence.

The protesters, holding signs that included the words “Blavatnik Stop it! The press is not your puppet!”, emphasised there is no democracy without a free press. Some protesters wore masks depicting Sir Leonard and Netanyahu.

Protesters against Sir Leonard Blavatnik allegedly installing a pro-Netanyahu pundit to the top news job at Channel 13 News (Credit: Shaked Ashkenazi)

Orit Eyal-Fibeesh, an organiser of WeDemocracy, commented: “It is astonishing how Netanyahu is constantly tempting the world’s richest men to promote and fund his agenda. Sir Len Blavatnik is a great supporter of the arts and sciences. How is it that he is willing to implicate himself and his reputation and get himself involved in damaging the Israeli freedom of the press?”

Gal Kronenberg from the University of Oxford said: “In Oxford, we gathered Israelis living in Oxford, including students, faculty members, and alumni of the Blavatnik School of Government, near the School of Government, which, ironically, is named after Blavatnik and is located opposite Oxford University Press.

“This is the place where future leaders are educated and trained, people who are expected to help create a better, more equal, and freer world. We call on Sir Leonard Blavatnik to ensure that the Israeli channel he owns upholds the same values, that it maintains the freedom of the press and democratic values. We ask him to stop the political appointments in the channel and the blatant interference in its content.”

Eitan Y. Rotmensch, Master of Public Policy class of 2020, said: “’A World Better Led, Better Served, Better Governed’ – these are the values that were instilled in me as a Master of Public Policy student at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. We are hopeful that these principles will be applied in support of Israeli democracy by protecting an independent and politically diverse media outlet in Israel.”

A spokesperson for Access Industries said: “Sir Leonard Blavatnik believes in the importance of press freedom in Israel and across the world. For more than a decade, he has invested a significant amount of money in Israel’s Channel 13 just to keep it alive. The Channel has never had a political agenda – as is the law in Israel – and Sir Leonard has never interfered with its editorial content. He is pro-Israel, not pro-Netanyahu or any political party.

“Furthermore, the appointment of Yulia Shamalov-Berkowitz was made by its independent board, not Sir Leonard. Freedom of expression and informed debate are core values of the channel, and this will always remain the case.”