Israeli Army Radio (Hebrew: גלי צה"ל, lit. 'IDF waves' ) or Galei Tzahal, known in Israel by its acronym Galatz (גל"צ), is a nationwide state funded Israeli radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces. The station broadcasts news, music, traffic reports and educational programs to the general public as well as entertainment and military news magazines for soldiers. The network has one main station and an offshoot, Galgalatz (גלגל"צ), that broadcasts (mainly English-language and Hebrew) music and traffic reports 24 hours a day in Hebrew. The staff includes both soldiers and civilians. Until December 2013, it broadcast via shortwave to Europe. There is still a livestream feed on the internet. Following the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023, it started using the former frequencies of 1287 kHz and 945 kHz to reach bomb shelters and other areas in Israel. The station was set to close in March 2026, although still remains on air as of 27 March 2026.
History Galatz started its transmissions on 24 September 1950, as a continuance of the Hagana transmission to the Jewish public during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Transmissions began with a trumpet blast at 6:30 p.m. followed by HaTikva, the Israeli national anthem. An improvised studio had been set up inside a former school building in Ramat Gan, with army blankets hung on the walls to muffle background noise. In 1956, its status was defined by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority law (paragraph 48). The Israel Defense Forces was authorized to choose its programming for soldiers, but programs for civilians had to receive approval from the IBA. During the station's formative period in the 1960s and 1970s, it was headed by Yitzhak Livni. In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, Galatz was the first Israeli radio station to broadcast around the clock. In 1982, during the Lebanon War, the station collaborated with Israeli Educational Television (IETV). This wartime cooperation led to a daily news and interview show called Erev Hadash (Hebrew: ערב חדש, lit. New Evening).
Galatz was the first radio station in Israel to abandon the formal, somewhat stilted Hebrew that was normally used in the media. Its entertainment programs to soldiers were the first to use colloquial Hebrew on air. Its news bulletins use a more relaxed linguistic style than IBA's Kol Yisrael (קול ישראל, Voice of Israel) hourly bulletins. This presentation style proved particularly popular among two age groups: youngsters and senior citizens. In April 1983, the radio station broadcast an interview with historian Yehuda Bauer discussing similarities between the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide. Despite protests by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ron Ben-Yishai refused to cancel the program, leading to a diplomatic incident in Israel–Turkey relations due to Turkey's Armenian genocide denial. For many years Galei Zahal broadcasts were mainly geared toward soldiers, including music programs conveying soldiers’ greetings and various broadcasts related to the IDF. The station was unique in that it incorporated soldiers serving in the regular army into journalistic positions, including reporters, editors, producers, news broadcasters, music broadcasters, musical editors, announcers, etc. Following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day, expanding its broadcasts to include news broadcasts and current affairs programming. For years, it was the only Israeli station that continued to broadcast throughout the night. In November 1993 Galei Zahal began operating Galgalatz, which broadcasts music interspersed with traffic reports and has high listener rates.
Closure In December 2025, Minister of Defence Israel Katz decided to close the station by 1 March 2026, as the mere existence of a military-run station for civilian audiences was seen by him as "an anomaly with no parallel in any democratic country in the world" and argued that the station evolved into a platform for views that "attack the IDF and IDF soldiers themselves". Moreover, since the outset of the Gaza War, many IDF soldiers thought that the station did not represent their interests. Likud-backed prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that an army station for civilians like Galatz would only exist in North Korea and other like-minded countries, and that a country like Israel wouldn't be part of such a list. Critics, including opposition leader Yair Lapid as well as journalism and human rights organizations, claimed that the closure would stifle free speech and critical reporting. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara published an official Memorandum that the shutdown did not have sufficient justification and would be a violation of the law.
Cultural role According to Oren Soffer, head of communication studies in Open University of Israel, Galei Zahal has become a symbol of pluralism and journalistic freedom.
According to Michael Handelzalts, a Haaretz columnist and theater critic, Galei Zahal had a "far-reaching positive influence on Israeli culture", and "address[ed] issues of culture in the widest sense." Beginning in the 1960s, new poems were read out on air once a week. In the 1970s, the station broadcast radio plays, inaugurated "University on the Air", and held the first live telephone conversations with listeners ever broadcast on a radio station in Israel. Ram Evron hosted live nightly talk shows. Galei Tzahal was the first radio station to incorporate a podcast into their scheduling when they gave Israel Story a permanent slot, upon its first edition in 2013.
Notable broadcasters Razi Barkai Yair Cherki Ilana Dayan Gil Hovav Yoav Kutner Irit Linur Erez Tal Yonit Levi Amit Segal Daphna Liel Ya'akov Eilon Tamar Ish-Shalom Sivan Rahav-Meir Keren Neubach Geula Even Several alumni of the station have transitioned into political careers. These include former government ministers Merav Michaeli, Nitzan Horowitz, and Meirav Cohen, as well as former station commander and IDF Spokesperson Nachman Shai.
Criticism against the station Over the years, the broadcasting station has been criticized on various issues:
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