Israeli Knesset Votes on Controversial Broadcasting Law Amid Legal and Political Disputes

The Israeli Knesset began second reading votes on the Broadcasting Law proposed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, with 3,924 amendments submitted by lawmakers. Voting is taking place on grouped amendments and is expected to continue into the night. Among coalition amendments is a proposal, supported by MK Avi Maoz, to ban broadcasts of content defined as "obscene." The coalition rejected the opposition's first amendment by a vote of 58 to 50. Members of the United Torah Judaism party left the chamber during this vote due to opposition to broadcasting "obscene" content. Several MKs, including Likud's David Bitan, Yuli Edelstein, and Sharren Haskel, were absent for various reasons.

Ahead of the votes, Knesset legal advisor Sagit Afik issued an opinion stating that if any amendments are accepted, the Communications Committee must discuss them, as it was specially established to prepare the bill. This means that accepting amendments without committee discussion could halt the vote and delay or jeopardize the legislation, especially since the Knesset is scheduled to dissolve Friday at 2 p.m. for the election recess. Afik warned that advancing amendments rejected by the committee without proper discussion constitutes a procedural flaw and recommended returning such amendments to committee for review.

The Broadcasting Law has faced extensive public and legal criticism, accused of undermining free media by placing it under politically appointed regulators and favoring pro-government channels like Channel 14. The law was prepared by a special Communications Committee chaired by MK Galit Distel Atbaryan (Likud), replacing the usual Economics Committee, sparking clashes with the Knesset legal counsel. Due to time constraints before the Knesset recess, the coalition split major reforms, including many regulatory powers, from the bill. The government app also intended to facilitate content delivery was removed following ultra-Orthodox opposition to its operation on Shabbat and concerns over "obscene" content.

Despite these changes, the bill retains provisions that could harm free media, such as removing cross-ownership restrictions, eliminating structural separation between channel owners and news companies, and providing financial benefits to Channels 14 and 15. The law establishes a new independent statutory authority to replace existing regulators, with a 25 million shekel annual budget funded by existing broadcasters. The authority will have nine members with gender representation requirements and an appointments committee led by the Communications Ministry director-general. Enforcement powers were separated from the bill and will be addressed later by the Economics Committee.

The law mandates registration for Israeli content providers meeting revenue or subscriber thresholds and allows the authority to designate "commercially significant" providers who must offer broadcast rights non-discriminatorily. News regulation will only apply to legacy license holders without structural separation or restrictions on owner influence. The bill requires free catch-up broadcasts within 90 minutes for providers with over 40% advertising market share. It also mandates a free national app for public channels and major sports events.

Regarding original productions, registered providers must invest at least 6.5% of annual revenue in local content, with 10% dedicated to documentaries, phased in over five years. The law reforms sports broadcasting by prohibiting bundling of sports rights into expensive packages and requiring equal content sales to competitors. It also defines criteria for "publicly important sports events" that cannot incur extra fees. The law will take effect 24 months after publication, except for select provisions.