Ultra-Orthodox Parties Split Over Government Broadcast App Bill

A controversial communications bill promoted by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi is nearing final approval and has opened a rift among the ultra-Orthodox parties. The proposal would create a government-run streaming app through which existing TV channels would move, even though they broadcast on Shabbat and include material described in the article as “not modest.” New channels added later would also be required to use the state platform.

On Wednesday in the Knesset, MK Avi Maoz warned that the plan could lead to “Shabbat desecration and obscene broadcasts” on the government app. For United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, the issue is a red line, because it would mean state-funded Shabbat desecration and a breach of the long-standing status quo. He said the matter is “yehareg ve'al ya'avor,” a religiously absolute prohibition.

Goldknopf has demanded two conditions for his faction’s support. First, the public streaming app must be shut down on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. “It is not enough to make partial cuts, not enough to limit one kind of content or another, and not enough to use vague wording,” he said. “It is unthinkable that the State of Israel will establish, fund and operate with public money a government streaming app that is active on Shabbat.” Second, the law must explicitly ban sexual, pornographic, missionary and violent content on the app.

Shas is aligning itself with Karhi and is expected to back the bill. The main uncertainty is Degel HaTorah, which is demanding the daycare subsidy law in exchange for advancing the communications legislation. The party is split over whether to follow Goldknopf in opposing the bill, and MK Moshe Gafni may be forced to do the same.