The Knesset Constitution Committee decided that articles and
op-eds printed in newspapers before elections and calling on
readers to support a certain party, and public notices issued
by gedolei Torah — "kol korei" —
should not be considered contributions to the party with a
monetary value.
In reports he submitted following the last Knesset election,
the State Comptroller said he would consider defining certain
contents published in the religious press as party
contributions, a reference to notices from gedolei
Torah instructing chareidi constituents to vote for a
certain party.
The Party Funding Law sets a ceiling on party funding and
determines what should be considered a contribution to a
party, granting the State Comptroller the authority to define
what constitutes a contribution.
Following the report's release, MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni called
for a meeting to discuss the issue in the Knesset
Constitution Committee to debunk the notion that op-eds
constitute a monetary contribution. The meeting focused on
Yated Ne'eman, Hamodia and other religious
newspapers.
The State Comptroller's representative, Shmuel Golan, claimed
that the notices placed in the religious press have the look
of political ads. He said the acid test is not whether
payment was made for the notices, but rather the benefit the
party accrues from the notice. Golan argued that the articles
in the religious press do not reflect the value of freedom of
expression because these newspapers do not offer
opportunities for other opinions to be heard.
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, who initiated the meeting, said that a
religious newspaper is obligated to publish the opinion of
gedolei Torah before the elections. He also noted
every newspaper endorses one candidate or another, yet that
does not seem to bother anyone — including the State
Comptroller — and it is all done in the name of
freedom of expression. But somehow when it comes to the
religious press writing in support of a religious party,
freedom of expression suddenly disappears.
Rabbi Yaakov Labin, managing director of Yated
Ne'eman, explained at the meeting that just as every
newspaper writes about matters of interest to its readers, so
too Yated Ne'eman writes about matters that are of
interest and importance to its readers, who want to know what
gedolei Torah have to say before the elections and
want to read the kol korei they issue. "There are some
newspapers whose readers want to see a picture of a space
shuttle," said Rabbi Labin, "and we're a newspaper that
brings an image of the krias kodesh of gedolei
Torah, because that's what interests our readers."
Constitution Committee Chairman MK Menachem Ben Sasson
(Kadima) said that the discussion applies to the whole press
and not just religious newspapers. He supported the notion
that freedom of expression entitles a newspaper to print
articles and publish the krias kodesh issued by
rabbonim without it being considered a campaign contribution
to the party the newspaper endorses in the article.
He summarized the meeting with the following directive to the
State Comptroller: "The Constitution Committee holds that in
general it is inappropriate to define op-ed and other
newspaper articles as contributions to the party. The same
also applies in the case of regular columns dedicated to the
election campaign, even if they contain a clear appeal to
support a certain party."
