Two years after the heated argument in the Israeli book industry over the Law for the Protection of Literature and of Authors in Israel cooled down, Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev has rekindled the controversy. In March, Regev announced that she intended to repeal the law, although it was to remain in effect for a pilot period of three years, until February 2017. On May 30, just eight days after the opening of the Knesset summer session, and through a rather quick procedure, the law was canceled definitively.
Thus, Regev revived yet another cultural confrontation that seems to be taking place between highbrow intellectuals and the public at large, who seek to buy books at a cheap price. However, this presentation of the issue, which is naturally most convenient for Regev, fails to take into consideration the situation in the local book industry prior to the passing of the law.
