Opposition MK Stern: 'A desecration of God's name'

MKs pass law cementing Haredi control over community’s censored ‘kosher’ phones

Controversial bill undoes 2022 reform that gave ultra-Orthodox full carrier mobility; Deri: ‘For the first time, the law recognizes the public’s right to kosher communication’

Illustrative: A 'kosher' phone in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, in Jerusalem, February 11, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Illustrative: A 'kosher' phone in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, in Jerusalem, February 11, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Following hours of heated debate and numerous preliminary votes on opposition objections, lawmakers on Wednesday evening approved a controversial law rolling back consumer protections in order to give cellphone carriers legal grounds to continue offering restricted plans to ultra-Orthodox Israelis, and handing Haredi institutions the means to verify that individuals are using such censored phones.

The amendment to the Communications Law, which passed its second and third readings in a 60-53 vote, allows carriers to lock in place subscriptions for users of so-called kosher phones, which have largely become standard in ultra-Orthodox communities and are often required in order to engage in basic activities such as enrolling children in school.

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 to used six days of the week — not on Shabbat — and their numbers have identifiable digits designating them as part of these rabbi-approved plans.

Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri welcomed the passage of the bill, stating that “for the first time, the law recognizes the public’s right to kosher communication and prevents attempts to impose a different lifestyle on it.”

The bill makes sure those subscriptions remain excluded from 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.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi in the Knesset, 24 June, 2024. (Knesset spokesperson)

Under Karhi’s predecessor Yoaz Hendel, the government made it possible for kosher phone plan holders to keep their phone number even if they switched  cellphone companies — like other consumers could — and passed regulations so SIM cards used in kosher phones could be used in regular phones.

Critics of the reform argued that allowing people to keep their phone numbers that have approved prefixes while using a non-supervised cellphone service would compromise the ability of institutions in the Haredi community to maintain oversight over their members.

It is expected that Haredi parents have kosher numbers when they give their contact details to their children’s educational frameworks, among other communal institutions, for instance.

The reforms had been 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 — and led to several massive riots by Haredi extremists, who torched electronic stores in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak where regular cellphones were being sold.

Opponents of the bill passed on Wednesday claim that it cements control over consumers by rabbis and by carriers guided by financial interests, while supporters have countered that it would afford hundreds of thousands of consumers guarantees of the integrity of the kosher phone service they’re paying for.

Most “kosher” plans are overseen by the Rabbinical Committee for Communications, a forum of top rabbis from across the Haredi spectrum, some of whose senior members were investigated by police in 2022 over allegations of extorting cellphone shop owners.

Haredi men spray protesters against the sale of smartphones at a cellphone shop in Jerusalem, on December 22, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Some perceived abuse of power has been documented in the management of “kosher” plans. Simcha Rothman, a coalition lawmaker for Religious Zionism, said in a Knesset discussion in February that he was aware of at least one case in which a committee affiliated with one Hasidic dynasty blocked its “kosher” lines from being able to communicate with other “kosher” lines managed by rabbis from another dynasty.

“Kosher” plans have also been panned for blocking access to some government services as well as LGBTQ and sex abuse hotlines. The legislation passed this evening aims to restrict which numbers can be blocked, requiring that access to government hotlines and emergency numbers be offered.

Blocking numbers “will be done in accordance with clear, detailed and equitable standards that will be published by an authorized provider on its website,” according to a Knesset release explaining the bill.

“We are excited by the achievement of the ultra-Orthodox representatives in the Knesset, putting an end to the ‘Hendel decree,'” Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, said in a statement which, like Deri’s, thanked Karhi for his assistance.

File: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Shas party chair Aryeh Deri attend a meeting on the planned state budget vote, at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“The ultra-Orthodox public chooses to protect themselves and their children from inappropriate content and therefore uses kosher cellphones,” and any attempt to change the status quo constitutes “arrogance and conceit,” Goldknopf insisted.

Defending the bill in the plenum Wednesday evening, Karhi accused critics of “cynicism” and hypocrisy for presenting themselves as liberal while shutting down “pluralism and freedom of expression.”

“We believe in personal freedom and not just for those who think like us,” he said.

Despite having previously come out against the bill, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir did not block its passage on Wednesday, even as his far-right Otzma Yehudit party’s objections delayed a vote on another Shas-backed bill, sparking a feud between the two parties.

Following the vote, Elazar Stern, a modern Orthodox lawmaker from the centrist Yesh Atid party, yelled at Shas MK Yinon Azoulay, one of the bill’s sponsors, arguing that the new law constitutes a “Hillul Hashem” — a desecration of God’s name.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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