High Court begins hearing over government’s controversial media bill, in unusual step

The High Court of Justice begins a hearing on petitions against the government’s highly contentious media overhaul bill, which is highly unusual because the legislation has not yet been passed into law.

The court almost never hears petitions on issues on which a final decision has yet to be taken and usually deems such cases to be “premature.”

The bill would give the government significant control over broadcast media, news sites and other media, and it has provisions seen as designed to benefit the pro-coalition hard-right Channel 14.

The petitions were filed in October and December 2025 against what the petitioners describe as highly flawed and tainted legislative procedures, especially at the beginning of the legislative process. They allege that the actions violated Knesset procedure, practice and legal advice, and the bill should therefore be annulled before being passed into law.

The petitions were filed by the Israel Press Council, the Union of Journalists in Israel, and Hatzlaha-The Movement for the Promotion of a Fair Society.

The Israel Press Council argued in its petition that the legislation should be annulled since it was submitted as government legislation, which is exempt from a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum, but without the attorney general’s approval. All such government legislation must receive the attorney general’s approval before continuing the legislative process, but sponsors of the media bill, advanced by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, acknowledged that it did not receive this approval.

The petition further argues that a decision by the Knesset House Committee to create a special committee to prepare the media bill was invalid, since the Knesset legal adviser stated explicitly that such a committee should not be established, and because MK David Bitan, the chair of the Knesset Economy Affairs Committee, where the legislation would have been prepared, opposed the transfer of the legislation to another committee.

Further claims were made by the opposition against the legislative process of the bill last night, with last-minute changes being made to the bill before it comes to a vote for final approval in the Knesset plenum.

The media law is the second case in two months in which the High Court is hearing petitions against the functioning of the Knesset, a matter in which the court is usually reluctant to intervene. Earlier this month, the High Court ruled the election in the Knesset of a new state comptroller was invalid and ordered that the election be rerun.