Israel’s Cabinet Committee on Legislation on Sunday approved the broadcast bill proposed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, despite strong opposition from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
In a legal opinion sent to Justice Minister and committee chair Yariv Levin, Baharav-Miara wrote that although she had raised concerns in the past, the draft law had not been amended and still raises “serious constitutional issues.”
Karhi celebrated the vote. “They are in panic — the era of control is over! The broadcasting law does not ‘endanger the character of a free press.’ It simply ends the stranglehold of bureaucrats and legal advisers on Israeli media," he said. "You will not continue to control it. You will not keep blaming elected officials for trying to control the media, when those who truly controlled it — crudely and without accountability — were the legal advisers and bureaucrats.”
He further charged that regulators “became servants of powerful commercial channels and political agendas” and accused the regulator of being turned into a “biased political-legal arm” of the attorney general’s office. “That era is over — and this time, for real,” Karhi said. “The public has been waiting years for this reform: zero unnecessary regulation, a free and competitive market, transparent ratings without a government hand, without legal advisers and bureaucrats, without insiders pulling the strings. A new world for 2025 — where the public is the real owner again.”
Earlier Sunday, Baharav-Miara’s office warned that the bill contains “arrangements that create heightened risks to the character of a free press in Israel, which is an inseparable part of the country’s democratic character. According to the arrangements as we know them, there is a real risk of significant political and commercial influence over the work of media outlets in general and news broadcasts in particular.”
She added that the proposal “does not offer adequate safeguards to ensure constitutional and democratic principles that recognize the vital role of a free press in the democratic identity of the state. Its advancement raises considerable legal and constitutional difficulties and requires a reexamination of its provisions to bring them in line with the necessary standards.”
Back in May, Baharav-Miara had already voiced opposition to the same bill, saying at the time: “The proposal enables political interference in the work of broadcasters and endangers press freedom in Israel.” She noted that while significant progress had been made toward finalizing the complex legislation, key issues — including those concerning news broadcasting — remained unresolved.