Likud said to be courting Ra’am for help on passing media overhaul law

Netanyahu’s party said offering to halt demolitions in Bedouin Negev communities to secure abstention on controversial legislation; Shas reportedly agrees to support bill if kosher certification reform is reversed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud is reportedly negotiating with MK Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am party in an effort to secure support for Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s controversial broadcast media overhaul, offering to halt home demolitions in Negev Bedouin communities in exchange for the party’s absence from key committee votes.

According to a Channel 12 report on Monday, coalition officials are in talks with Ra’am MK Waleed Alhawashla, the only Arab lawmaker serving on the special committee preparing the bill, after previous efforts to persuade him to support or abstain from voting on the legislation failed.

The report said Alhawashla told senior Likud officials he would only consider abstaining if the government agreed to a complete halt to the demolition of illegally constructed homes in the Negev’s Bedouin community, which makes up Ra’am’s core constituency.

Likud reportedly did not reject the demand, leaving the door open to further negotiations, though the party has publicly denied the report, calling it “another spin by the Arab parties.”

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who boasts of having overseen the demolition of more than 5,700 Bedouin structures, including homes in the last year, condemned the report, calling it a “disgrace and shame for Likud.”

He said he would disregard any such agreement, rejects any “negotiations with supporters of terrorism” — an accusation the right has often lobbed at Ra’am, despite its frequent condemnation of terror acts — and vowed to continue demolitions “with even greater intensity.”

The coalition has struggled to secure support to advance Karhi’s media overhaul, which would give the government significant control over broadcast media, news sites, and other media as the country heads to elections.

Earlier reports indicated Likud had reached an agreement with Aryeh Deri and his ultra-Orthodox Shas party to back the legislation in exchange for advancing a bill reversing the previous government’s kosher certification reform.

The kosher bill would restore the Chief Rabbinate’s exclusive control over kosher certification by scrapping reforms introduced by former religious services minister Matan Kahana, which opened the certification market to competition.

At a meeting of the Knesset Communications Committee to discuss the media bill, opposition MK Eitan Ginzburg asked Karhi if the reported deal with Shas was true.

“I am very much in favor of political deals; I am a politician,” Karhi responded.

The bill passed its first reading in the Knesset in January and was split into separate bills earlier this month to accelerate its passage, a move that nearly failed due to opposition from the ultra-Orthodox, also known as Haredi, parties. It requires two more plenum votes before it can become law.

Haredi parties have been boycotting coalition legislation in protest of the government’s failure to pass a bill enshrining blanket exemptions from military service for yeshiva students. In an effort to secure their support for key coalition legislation, including Karhi’s media bill, the government is now advancing a series of Haredi priorities, including a quasi-constitutional Basic Law elevating Torah study to a fundamental state value, and a temporary measure freezing the arrest of Haredi draft evaders.

The maneuvers come amid accusations that the government is attempting to assert control over Israel’s media landscape, with critics alleging that Karhi’s legislation is being rushed through so it can be implemented before elections, which are set to be held by October 27.

Coalition lawmakers reject those claims, arguing the measures are necessary reforms to an outdated regulatory system.