Dec. 8: Katz said to push Army Radio closure toward cabinet vote as station head slams review panel

Knesset panel chair opens session on coalition media bill with attack on press

Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan opens the first session of the special Knesset panel formed to advance Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s controversial media bill with a blistering attack on the media, despite assurances from the coalition that the legislation is intended to increase freedom of the press.

Distel Atbaryan, who chairs the committee, says that this is “a historic law intended to change the face of communications from end to end.”

She attacks “the media,” which she accuses of being “centralized, monopolistic, and frighteningly oppressive.”

“The media does not reflect reality, not even superficially. The media has created a caricature and erased complexity from public discourse in favor of a single, hollow, stupid agenda that is simply ‘anyone but Bibi,’” she continues.

Karhi’s proposal is part of a broader effort by the government to reshape Israel’s legacy media, which coalition leaders frequently accuse of left-wing bias. The bill would grant the government sweeping new powers over broadcasters, news sites, and other media outlets.

The proposed legislation has received widespread criticism from opposition figures, good governance organizations, and the attorney general, who have called it a sweeping assault on press freedom.

“The entire process of establishing this committee — including your selection as chair — represents the height of dictatorship, aimed solely at seizing control of the free communications market,” says Yesh Atid MK Shelly Tal Marom, directly addressing Distel Atbaryan, a vocal opponent of Israeli media who is seen as a loyalist to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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.

Karhi, who is spearheading the legislation, says that it will lead to a “free and competitive market, less regulation and fewer barriers, less state intervention and more freedom for the public.”

While he says that he invites discussion in the legislative process, he is adamant that it will not be stopped, “not by unions, monopolies, or by those who fear the free expression of parts of the public.”

In response, Labor MK Efrat Rayten says, “This entire Knesset has been commandeered for one supposedly sacred purpose: tearing down state institutions as part of an attack on democracy and silencing opposition.”

Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar adds that, “the role of the media is to criticize those in power – and that is what you dislike.”

In response to criticism from opposition MKs that the legislation is an attempt by the government to suppress media it dislikes, similar to legislative advances in Hungary and Poland, Karhi says that the new authority created by the legislation would not interfere in content.

He adds that fines will only apply to issues of competition, not content: “For example, a certain channel that discriminates by selling at one price to one provider and at four times that price to others would receive a fine, but only after being allowed to correct it and refusing to do so.”