Knesset votes to form special panel to fast-track contentious media oversight bill
Lawmakers vote 59-51 to establish ad hoc committee, bypassing Likud MK David Bitan's Economics Committee, in defiance of Knesset legal adviser and AG
The Knesset voted Monday to establish a special panel to advance Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s controversial media regulation bill, with 59 MKs voting for and 51 against.
The ad hoc committee will fast-track the bill to its final votes in the Knesset after it passed an initial vote in the plenum earlier this month.
It will be chaired by Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan and include 13 members: seven from the coalition and six from the opposition.
The legislation is one of several bills proposed by the government that take aim at legacy media, which Karhi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and others in the coalition have accused of having a left-wing bias.
It would give the government significant control over broadcast media, news sites, and other media by establishing a new regulatory council, a majority of whose members would be chosen by the communications minister, that would have an array of authorities over broadcast media, including the ability to issue hefty fines.
The special committee is meant to bypass Likud MK David Bitan, chairman of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, which usually deals with media-related legislation. Bitan has expressed opposition to the bill in its current form.
Speaking during a preliminary vote Monday at the Knesset House Committee, Bitan said, “I find myself at a crossroads where I have to defend the Knesset from the government when it harms the powers and status of the Knesset. The government claims that the Supreme Court takes powers from the government, and what is it doing? The same thing to the Knesset.”
The House Committee voted to establish the special panel, with eight MKs voting for the motion and five against, and to advance the vote to the Knesset floor.
The controversial decision to establish a special committee for the legislation has also been criticized by Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik, who reiterated earlier Monday to the Knesset House Committee that the only body that has the authority to prepare the bill for its second and third Knesset readings is the Economic Affairs Committee.
During the discussion, Afik said that she was concerned that the procedure would “harm the Knesset itself, the powers of the committees, and oversight powers.”
She added that “political considerations are not a legitimate reason for establishing this committee.”
The bill is also opposed by Attorney General Galit Baharav-Miara, who has clashed frequently with cabinet ministers over their efforts to change government institutions. She has criticized the bill and withheld legal approval from its text.
Baharav-Miara has said the bill would enable “political interference in the work of broadcast bodies and endanger the free press in Israel.” She also criticized the legislation for removing a guardrail between news reporting and media outlets’ commercial interests.
The bill is one of several that Karhi is pushing, targeting domestic and foreign media. He has previously passed legislation to shutter the Qatar-based Al Jazeera in Israel, and to benefit Channel 14, a pro-Netanyahu outlet, and is seeking to pass legislation to close down Army Radio.