Last month Channel 14, also known as Now 14, beat Israel’s principal mainstream news outlet, Channel 12, in viewer ratings when 343,000 Israelis watched Channel 14’s “Patriots” talkshow, known for its virulent rhetoric on Gaza.

Channel 14 has even questioned the loyalty of the Israeli army because of its perceived lack of ideological zeal. Last week, the spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), R Adm Daniel Hagari, wrote a formal complaint to the broadcasting authority and the ministry of defence accusing Channel 14 of incitement against its leadership.

Just over a month earlier, three Israeli civil society groups formally demanded that the country’s attorney general launch a criminal investigation into the channel, accusing it of broadcasting material that incited war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide.

The remarks included guests or presenters using phrases such as “total annihilation” and “exterminate” in reference to people in Gaza. The legal complaint alleged at least 50 of the quotes on the list “call for or support the commission of genocide”.