Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s highly controversial bill that would dramatically overhaul Israel’s media landscape passed its first reading in the Knesset early Tuesday, with 54 lawmakers voting in favor and 47 against.

The legislation would give the government significant control over broadcast media by establishing a new regulatory council, with a majority of members chosen by the communications minister, which would have an array of authorities over broadcast media, including the ability to issue hefty fines.

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.

According to Karhi’s new legislation, 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 cable and satellite television providers Hot and Yes.

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.

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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.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, flanked by coalition ministers, attends a Knesset session in Jerusalem on October 22, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The council would also have powers 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.

The bill will now advance to the Knesset Economics Committee, where it will be discussed and debated before being prepared for a second and third reading in the Knesset.

The committee is led by Likud MK David Bitan, who has blocked previous efforts by Karhi, including his bill to shut down the Kan public broadcaster. The bill passed its preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum last November before becoming stuck in committee.

This prompted Karhi to request the establishment of a new “media committee” to bypass Bitan’s opposition, but Knesset whip Ofir Katz eventually decided that the legislation would advance to the Economics Committee, which typically deals with regulatory bills of this nature.

Quid pro quo with ultra-Orthodox parties

The bill passed its first reading in part because of a deal between the coalition and the ultra-Orthodox parties, who have until now been boycotting coalition legislation.

Before the passing of Karhi’s bill, a private bill brought forward by ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism chair Moshe Gafni also passed its first reading, which would expand the authority of rabbinical courts, specifically to allow them to arbitrate civil disputes — including relating to child custody — with the consent of both parties.

MK Moshe Gafni at the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)

Last week, Channel 12 reported that Karhi informed lawmakers from the ultra-Orthodox Shas and UTJ parties that if they backed his desired media reforms, he would support increasing the power of rabbinical courts, a long-standing demand of the two Haredi parties.

For the last several months, the coalition has been forced to pull all private member bills sponsored by coalition lawmakers from the Knesset agenda due to the ongoing boycott by the two main Haredi parties over the stalled military draft exemption law for yeshiva students, leaving the government without a majority and legislative activity effectively frozen.

According to Hebrew media reports, the deal was part of a broader agreement reached between the coalition and the ultra-Orthodox parties to end or at least reduce their boycott of coalition bills, including Karhi’s legislation and Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman’s proposal to split the role of the attorney general, in exchange for supporting their own initiatives.

No legal approval

Ahead of the bill’s first reading on Monday, Knesset Legal Advisor Sagit Afik issued a rare warning to lawmakers, noting that it did not have the legally required approval of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

In a letter addressed to members of the Knesset, Afik said that “to the best of my knowledge, such a note—or one similar—has never previously been included in the printed booklet of government bills.”

She added that under the circumstances, her office cannot yet assess the legality of the bill but will “provide our detailed views” before it advances to second or third readings.

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.”

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, on September 30, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

In her legal position paper on the matter, the attorney general said in May 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,” and should therefore not be advanced in the Knesset in its current form.

Baharav-Miara criticized, in particular, the abolition under the new legislation of the current arrangements for broadcast news content providers, whereby the news outlet must be an independent company and news corporation, separate from the commercial television station on which it is broadcast.

This system, she wrote, was designed to ensure that broadcast news content remains unaffected by the commercial interests of the owners and directors of the commercial television channel, and to insulate it from political interference as well.

But Karhi’s new bill removes these barriers, and merely expresses the importance for news media to refrain from using their platform as a mouthpiece for the owners of the commercial channels, but without providing any structural guarantees that this requirement will be upheld.

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.

“Wrapped in whitewashed words and empty slogans, Karhi’s plan to take over the free press is coming,” the organization said in what it called an “emergency statement.”

The forum said the legislation would “give the government political control” over content and news broadcasts and allow it to “issue sanctions and fines to deter criticism or lead to the closure of investigative media outlets.”

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a liberal watchdog group, has called the legislation another component of the government’s “regime coup” — its name for the controversial judicial overhaul legislation — and an attempt to take control of the press in Israel similar to the manner in which the current Hungarian government has hobbled independent media in that country.

“This is an exact copy of the Hungarian model for taking control of the media: establishing a political regulator under the control of the minister, abolishing the structural separation between news organizations and channel owners, and granting powers to impose heavy fines on media organizations,” the movement said.