Knesset passes second reading of controversial ‘kosher phone’ law

A bill rolling back consumer protections in order to give cellphone carriers legal grounds to continue offering restricted plans to the ultra-Orthodox, passes its second and third readings 60-53 in the Knesset.

The amendment to the Communications Law gives legal grounds to how carriers currently lock in place subscriptions for Haredim, which have identifiable digits designating them as part of these rabbi-approved plans.

Used by many in the ultra-Orthodox community who shun unfiltered access to the internet, kosher phones are stripped of features such as web browsers and messaging apps and come with cheaper plans as they are only used six days of the week.

The bill makes sure those subscriptions remain impervious to Israel’s so-called portability reform of 2005, which freed most subscribers to switch carriers or plans while keeping their phone number. Its passage into law comes a year and a half after Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi rolled back the previous government’s reforms aimed at integrating ultra-Orthodox consumers into the broader cellphone market.

The reforms were vehemently opposed by Haredi lawmakers, who claimed that the government was trying to impose a more modern way of life on the ultra-Orthodox community. It led to several massive riots by Haredi extremists, who torched electronic stores in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak where ordinary cell phones were being sold.

Opponents of the bill say it cements control over consumers by rabbis and by carriers guided by financial interests. Supporters say it would afford hundreds of thousands of consumers guarantees of the integrity of the kosher phone service they’re buying.

There was some doubt ahead of the vote as to whether the bill would pass given National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s previous opposition to the bill. A vote on another Shas-backed bill was delayed until Sunday this morning because of Ben Gvir, sparking a feud between Shas and his Otzma Yehudit party.

Following the vote, Elazar Stern, a religious lawmaker from the centrist Yesh Atid party, yells at Shas MK Yinon Azulai, one of the bill’s sponsors, that the new law constitutes a “Hillul Hashem,” a desecration of God’s name.