“And now the question is: what has changed? Why is the minister trying to bypass the committee with a comprehensive bill that reshapes the communications sector?”

The Knesset House Committee approved on Monday the creation of a special panel to fast-track the controversial communications bill of Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud), which proposes sweeping reforms in Israel’s broadcasting sector.

The newly established committee for the bill will be chaired by MK Galit Distel Atbaryan (Likud) and will include 13 members, with seven from the coalition and six from the opposition.

The bill was initially planned to be brought to the Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee, led by MK David Bitan (Likud).

Knesset Legal Advisor Sagit Afik penned a letter to MKs on Sunday that the only authorized and appropriate committee to prepare the bill for its second and third readings would be the Economic Affairs Committee, led by Bitan.

Bitan has spoken against the reform, causing critics to speculate that the creation of the special committee was a move to allow for the controversial legislation to advance without objection.

'A reform of this magnitude'

However, Karhi said that the Economic Affairs Committee “does not have the capacity to focus its work on a reform of this magnitude and complete the necessary deliberations during the current session.”

Karhi said on Monday that the need to pass the bill already during the Knesset’s current winter session was “urgent.”

Bitan spoke strongly against the decision to establish the special panel in a heated discussion at the Knesset’s House Committee, led by coalition whip Ofir Katz (Likud).

He said that the special committee shouldn’t have the authority to discuss the bill, because the plenum had decided that the Economic Affairs Committee was in charge of advancing it.

Bitan also noted that the proposal’s explanatory notes mention his committee several times, because many of the issues in the bill fall uniquely under its jurisdiction.

Bitan told the panel it was unreasonable for Karhi to bring a proposal of 110 pages, which took two and a half years to create, and to “demand we pass it within a month.”

The Economic Affairs Committee minister said that he had nevertheless asked his committee’s staff to set a schedule for discussing this bill to advance it.

MK Orit Farkash-Hacohen (Blue and White) told the panel that nine major laws in Israel’s communications realm have been passed through the Economic Affairs Committee in recent years.

“And now the question is: what has changed?” she asked. “Why is the minister trying to bypass the committee with a comprehensive bill that reshapes the communications sector?”

Farkash-Hacohen said that the change was because Bitan had “dared to express his concern over provisions that harm free expression and said he would address them substantively.”

Slamming Karhi, she added that he had chosen to respond to Bitan’s qualms with the bill by appointing someone more to his liking to “bend the rules once again.”

The Communications minister’s bill, which proposes sweeping reforms to the country’s broadcasting sector, potentially reshaping the media landscape, passed its first reading in early November.

Among the many aspects of the reform is to regulate the supply of audiovisual content uniformly across all broadcasting platforms in Israel.

The bill will now continue to be discussed in committee meetings before returning to the plenum for a second and third reading, before it may become a law.

Critics of Karhi’s lengthy reform have stated that it could harm the free press and Israel’s democracy.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara disapproved of advancing the broader communications reform bill before it reached the plenum for a first reading.

She said in September that the bill poses a concrete threat to the free press in Israel and its ability to fulfill its duties in a democratic society, adding that the proposal itself lacks fundamental qualities.

The Union of Journalists in Israel (UJI), a key watchdog in the industry, petitioned the High Court of Justice against advancing the communications reform bill.

According to the petition, the bill’s reform violates administrative law, ignores legal advice, and threatens the independence of the free press.