10 minutes that make no difference

Back in the day, Netanyahu, then Prime Minister, was set to give a speech at the United Nations, and it was an election season (when is it not?). The Electoral Board decided (because someone appealed to them) to instruct the local broadcasting stations to broadcast Netanyahu's speech but not live - it had to have a 10 minute delay so anything Netanyahu might say in the speech that might be construed as electioneering could be cut from the broadcast.

Fair is fair and now Yair Lapid is set to give a speech at the United Nations during an election season (again, when is it not an election season here?) and now Netanyahu has appealed to the electoral board to prevent the broadcasting stations from broadcasting Lapid's speech live, but with a 10 minute delay.

Fair is fair, and if that's the rule, so be it. But really, these types of rules are anachronistic and useless and should be done away with.

Does it matter of Channels 11, 13, 14 and the other local broadcasts delay 10 minutes when most people are anyway watching it on the Internet live? And even if they are not, they could if they wanted to. Do we really need these delays in 2022 to protect the people from electioneering when anyone can see it live online from a multitude of other media organizations broadcasting it? These types of rules should all be done away with.

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