Interesting Legal Developments in Israel

Some interesting and important legal developments over the past couple of days:

• The government yesterday successfully passed the new law that would provide free education for children from 3 years old. This will be a big boost to working parents who currently must pay for private daycare for children at that age. On the other hand it came under criticism saying that sending children to school at that age for a full day is not appropriate from a developmental point of view.
  I guess any parent who thinks that is not going to be forced to send their kid for the full day. However, parents who are working and must find arrangements, often expensive, for their little kids - this law will be a big help.
  
  The funding for this law will be achieved by a general 4% cut of budgets from across the government departments.
  
• It will now be illegal for companies to charge more money for milk that has a mehadrin hechsher than for milk that does not.
  The supervisors office says that 50% of the milk on the market has mehadrin hechshers. Milk products that are under supervision include 1% and 3% milk along with some various soft cheeses and sour creams. This new amendment to the controlled prices law would affect all these controlled prices on milk products. (source: INN)
  
• Minister Uzi Landau recently proposed a law that would put the Rabbanut into the electric company. The electric company would be producing "kosher electricity" that would be under supervision of the Rabbanut (and I assume the private hechshers would also somehow eventually get involved). This would get rid of the need for many private generators, often installed in a manner that does not necessarily meet safety standards.
  
  Landau's proposed law was scrapped after an outcry that this is religious legislation that would end up being paid for, at least in large part, by the secular public that sees no need for such "kosher electricity". That would force already high prices to increase even more.
  
  After a brief period of being "off the table", it looks like it might make a comeback. Deputy Minister of Finance Yitzchak Cohen of SHAS is pushing to get this kosher electricity law back. (source: Globes)
  
• There was recently a request of the Minister of Religious Services to make the official policy that mikvaot should be made accessible to single women. That suggestion is now sitting in the Supreme Court.
  
  The Kolech organization for women's equality has petitioned the Supreme Court, mentioning the Minister Yaakov Margi and Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, to force the ministry, under whose authority includes the mikva supervision and control, to issue new directives that would allow anybody to use the mikva. This would mean the women who currently would not be allowed in, assuming the mikva lady knew to ask or to prevent them from using it, would now be allowed in with no questions asked, and they would not need to "dress up", so to speak to trick the mikva lady to  let them in. (source: Ynet)
  
• A new law was proposed today by MK Uri Ariel that would prohibit the use of Nazi-related names and symbols. The law was proposed in the ministerial committee, and initial voting on it will begin Wednesday.
  
  According to the proposed law, those responsible for images such as those we have recently seen, would be slapped with up to half a year in jail and a fine up to 100,000 NIS.