MKs Yitzhak Goldknopf and Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism both confirmed they will vote against Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi's broadcast law, unifying the entire UTJ faction in opposition. The development follows Gafni's earlier statement and means the coalition lacks internal support for the bill.
At 13:23 Jerusalem, The Zioneer can report that United Torah Judaism’s two senior lawmakers — MKs Yitzhak Goldknopf and Moshe Gafni — separately confirmed Monday afternoon that the entire faction will vote against Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s broadcast law. Goldknopf’s announcement, following Gafni’s earlier statement at 12:17, closes any remaining internal divisions and solidifies unified opposition from the four-MK faction within a span of roughly one hour.
The thread unfolded rapidly Monday. At 12:17, The Zioneer reported that MK Yitzhak Goldknopf said he would vote against the bill, leaving the coalition without the support of the UTJ faction leader. Minutes later, at the same timestamp, MK Eli Hirshman (Degel HaTorah) publicly joined Goldknopf in opposing the law, per an N12-sourced message. By 12:17, MK Moshe Gafni (Degel HaTorah chairman) also confirmed he would vote against the bill, uniting the entire UTJ faction. The repeated confirmations — each at the same initial clock time — reflect a rapid coordination among the faction’s members, with N12 serving as the reporting channel throughout.
As The Zioneer reported on Monday, the broadcast law, proposed by coalition member Karhi, aims to restructure media regulation but has drawn criticism from within the governing alliance for its potential impact on press freedom and funding. The opposition within UTJ removes four votes from the coalition, leaving the bill’s path in the Knesset uncertain without internal coalition support.
All three preceding thread items timestamped identically at 12:17 Jerusalem, and none of the confirmations were attributed to an on-record statement beyond the lawmakers’ own words. While the coordination is clear, no explanation from the faction about the reasoning for the unified opposition has been provided beyond the day’s announcements.
3 developments
- DevelopingGoldknopf delivers ultimatum to Shlomo Karhi: keep Shabbat and content filtering or lose coalition support
- StrongUTJ furious as coalition delays daycare funding vote; Gafni lashes out at Likud
- StrongUnited Torah Judaism boycott stalls muezzin bill vote in Knesset
- StrongUTJ sets Shabbat red lines in broadcast law debate
Source and signal
- Internal intake