The Economy Committee of the Knesset convened to discuss the subject of the cost of kashrus in Israel. Several reports and media attacks suggested that kashrus observance is a significant drag on the economy. Of course, for one who does not believe in it, anything spent on kashrus is too much.
It was argued that these high costs eventually reach the consumer's pocket. Various facts and figures were presented about the Chief Rabbinate and the Ministry of Religion showing how certain bodies and businesses are affected thereby. Among these reports was one opinion presented by the Treasury deceptively representing their belief that the high cost of living in Israel is a result of high kashrus costs which they estimated to run in the billions of shekalim.
There is no doubt that there are aspects of kashrus supervision in Israel that could be improved. However these hearings and the media attacks that preceded them do not seem aimed at improvements.
MK Rabbi Uri Maklev attacked the MKs of Yesh Atid who requested this hearing and said, "You are not interesting in reform of the kashrus network and making it more efficient for the public benefit. You want to weaken kashrus laws and undermine the power of the Rabbinate. The facts which are being presented here in the committee indicate a lack of professionalism of those behind the report."
He added, "This whole media attack regarding kashrus comes from Reform organizations and commercial bodies who are trying to blacken religion and Halacha. There is a tremendous wave of media incitement founded upon a faulty, defective report. The data in the report indicates that it was not written innocently and objectively. They are not interested in upgrading the efficiency of the kashrus setup but rather in undermining it and wresting it from the hands of the Rabbinate by creating a system of alternative kashrus when in reality, they are light years from a solution to the problem as deceptively presented."
In response to the claims that the Rabbinate is a monopoly, Rabbi Maklev said, "The Rabbinate is not a monopoly in the same way that no government body can be considered a monopoly. The fees collected in the Ministry of Environmental Quality are far higher than the costs of kashrus supervision, but no one has made a peep about that!"
