TV show invites wrong man as ex-Bank of Israel official

Rather than interviewing macroeconomics professor Moshe Hazan, who recently resigned from central bank, on government policy, network mistakenly brings in real estate businessman

A Channel 13 blunder on Saturday night saw the network invite the wrong Moshe Hazan to give his expert opinion on the state budget, to the astonishment of the presenter and the amusement of others.

The current affairs show was holding a panel discussion about the recent approval of the state budget, with presenter Sefi Ovadia filling in for the show’s regular host Ayala Hasson.

Rather than bringing in Prof. Moshe Hazan, a senior lecturer and expert on macroeconomics and growth at Tel Aviv University who last month resigned as a member of the Bank of Israel’s six-person monetary committee, the show featured Moshe Hazan, a real estate person of no previous fame.

Amid a heated discussion on a previous topic, Ovadia fought to make himself heard as he introduced “Prof. Moshe Hazan” as a former member of the Monetary Committee at the Bank of Israel.

The camera then switched to Hazan, who cut him off and corrected “No, my profession is real estate.”

“Excuse me?” asked a faltering Ovadia.

אחרי שהזמינו את משה חזן הלא נכון לאולפן מה שהתגלה כפאדיחה בשידור חי – בחדשות 13 מתנצלים: ״טעות אנוש הובילה לכך שבמקומו של פרופ׳ משה חזן הוזמן אדם אחר שעונה לאותו שם מבלי שהדבר הובא לידיעתו של המגיש. העניין מטופל ואנו מתנצלים בפני הצופים״. pic.twitter.com/qrtl6rez6w

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“Yes, a real estate person. I am a little acquainted with Matan from real estate,” he said, indicating financial journalist Matan Hodorov, who was also on the panel.

“I don’t understand, you aren’t professor Moshe Hazan?” asked Hodorov, an amused look on his face.

“No,” confirmed Hazan.

Prof Moshe Hazan (Bank of Israel)

At that point, Ovadia quickly moved on to another topic with the rest of the panel, and the hapless Hazan was not seen again.

“Human error led to the fact that in place of Professor Moshe Hazan, another person who answers to the same name was invited without this being brought to the notice of the presenter,” Channel 13 later explained in a statement. “The matter has been taken care of and we apologize to the viewers.”

The faux pas was reminiscent of a BBC error in 2006 when Congolese business graduate Guy Goma, who arrived at the station’s studios for a job interview, was mistakenly hauled in front of the cameras as Guy Kewney, a technology expert.

The interviewer, apparently unaware that anything was wrong, interviewed Goma who famously did his best to answer questions on the topic.