Coalition ploughs ahead with Karhi’s media bill, dropping entire sections last-minute

As the coalition races to pass a raft of controversial legislation before the Knesset dissolves later this week, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s media overhaul bill was further split on Sunday, with a special committee fast-tracking approval of the remaining parts even as critics decried the late notice about the changes to the bill and the lack of discussion of all its clauses.

The High Court of Justice was holding a discussion on the bill on Monday afternoon, as the coalition was aiming to bring it up for its final plenum votes.

The parts that were dropped on Sunday include an entire section on the establishment of a government media app that would allow the public to view public TV channels as well as sports coverage, free of charge. This has been opposed by the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas parties since the app would broadcast on Shabbat.

Instead, the bill would keep in place the existing “Idan Plus” service, which similarly allows the public to watch public TV networks without charge, though without the sports coverage. That service, too, operates on Shabbat.

However, Idan Plus requires connection to a television and isn’t a mobile app. The new app had been presented by Karhi as a boon for soldiers, since many of them are away from home most of the time.

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Additionally, Sunday’s revisions quietly added clauses, demanded by MK Avi Maoz of the one-man ultraconservative Noam party, that would bar cable and satellite television providers Hot and Yes from broadcasting content that includes violence, sexuality or religious conversion, Channel 12 reported.

The bill itself would give the government significant control over broadcast media, news sites and other media, and it has provisions seen as designed to benefit the pro-coalition hard-right Channel 14.

It has been criticized by the Knesset’s professional legal staff and by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who have warned that the bill undermines press freedom and allows for political interference in the media.

The coalition has resorted to increasingly extreme measures in order to pass at least some parts of the legislation, which passed its first of three plenum readings in November and must pass its remaining votes this week if it is to pass before the election.

This started with the formation of a special committee to discuss the bill, headed by Likud MK Galit Distel-Atbarian, in order to bypass the Communications Committee headed by Likud MK David Bitan, who blocked previous efforts by Karhi, including his legislation to shut down the Kan public broadcaster.

After six months of discussions that only covered limited parts of the bill, the committee — and subsequently the Knesset plenum — voted to split the legislation into separate bills, allowing the coalition to push ahead with parts of the legislation while postponing other provisions.

Committee and Knesset legal advisers strongly opposed the move, warning that dividing core sections of the bill not according to a specific logic but simply because the committee has not finished debating them violates accepted legislative procedure.

After trying and failing to overcome the Haredi objections to the government app section by promising in exchange to pass other ultra-Orthodox priorities — and after Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik told the committee last week that it was no longer possible to adjust those clauses — the coalition abruptly dropped that entire portion from the bill on Sunday, less than two hours before the committee discussion, according to Hebrew media.

When opposition committee members decried the late notice, Karhi claimed the move was coordinated with the Knesset’s legal department. However, the legal adviser who was at the discussion clarified that she too had only received the revised text that same day and that the preparation was limited.

The discussion itself was wrapped up in five hours, with opposition MKs saying this wasn’t nearly enough time and that numerous clauses had not been discussed, according to Channel 12.

The legislation was being discussed Monday by the High Court, after three petitions against its passage were filed last year.

It is the first time the court has discussed a bill before it has passed into law.

Karhi, one of the most far-right members of the Likud party, has claimed that the law would increase competition in the media market and reduce costs for content consumers. Critics say it would give the government considerable control over broadcasters and other media outlets.

According to the full bill that passed its first reading late last year, a new Broadcast Media Authority will be established, along with a Council for the Regulation of Audio-Visual Content — to replace the Second Authority for Television and Radio, which currently regulates commercial channels, and the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council, which oversees the Hot and Yes providers.

Under the new law, the communications minister would appoint four of the seven members of the Council for the Regulation of Audio-Visual Content, while the director-general of the Communications Ministry would also appoint a member.

The council would manage and control the registry for broadcast content and news content providers, with power over registrations. All content providers, such as television channels, news websites and streaming websites, would be obliged to register.

The council would also have the power to cancel a broadcast content provider’s registration for failing to comply with the conditions of the new legislation, and to fine commercial broadcasters a minimum of one percent of their income for violating its terms.

Baharav-Miara has sharply criticized the bill, saying it would enable “political interference in the work of broadcast bodies and endanger the free press in Israel.”

In her legal position paper on the matter, the attorney general said in May 2025 that the law gave rise to “real concern of severe harm to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, which are inseparable parts of the democratic character of the State of Israel.”

The Forum of Israeli Channels, representing the three major Israeli networks Kan 11, Keshet 12, and Reshet 13, has strongly denounced the new legislation, accusing Karhi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to take control of Israeli media.

The provisions of the bill wouldn’t apply to the staunchly pro-government Channel 14 and the relatively new i24News network, also seen by some to be Netanyahu-friendly, since their limited volume of activity exempts them from the extensive limitations that would bind their competitors.