We know that the Rabbanut holds a "monopoly" in Israel on using the word kosher and granting kashrut certification. No other supervising agency besides for the Rabbanut is allowed to declare a place as kosher. The Rabbanut is allowed to start legal action against any organization that does, and in recent months it has. Most of the time, other kashrut agencies simply avoid using the word kosher and stick with more vague and generic terms such as authorized and supervised but not "kosher".

Since Tzohar announced that they are opening up a kashrut supervision division, the Rabbanut has been at odds with them. I am not sure why because there are many other kashrut agencies that the Rabbanut works very nicely with. It is possible that they perceive Tzohar as trying to work as an alternative to the Rabbanut rather than in addition to the Rabbanut, unlike the various "Badatzes" that, for the most part, authorize in addition to the Rabbanut and are not seen as actual competition.

Tzohar announced that they have been in discussions with the Rabbanut over the past few months to find a way to allow Tzohar to give kashrut certification and to ensure the various legal decisions and guidance form the Comptroller are being adhered to. To that end, yesterday the Rabbanut amended their document, giving instructions how the owner of a food establishment could post detailed information about the kashrut status of the food, without using the word kosher with the guidelines based on all the recent legal decisions form the past couple of years.

I don't quite get what the big deal is, as this status has been in affect already. I am not sure how this agreement or discussion with Tzohar changes anything. it seems like it maybe encouraged the Rabbanut to formalize on paper the rules that are already in place. Maybe it clarified a little better what types of words and wordings are allowed and what is not allowed.

After Tzohar took some credit for getting the Rabbanut to back down and meet Tzohar and amend their rules. the Rabbanut itself denied any such cooperation with Tzohar on this matter.

The Rabbanut clarified and said that in recent months they have started legal action against food establishments that have broken the rules and used the word kosher  against the law and now they have simply clarified their policy of enforcement according to the decisions and rulings of the courts and the government legal counsel.

sources: Ynet, Hamechadesh, INN, Datili, Kipa, Srugim

this sounds like making a big news story out of nothing. The rules haven't changed. The Rabbanut just hired a secretary to edit a document with the guidelines that have been in place already anyway.