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.

"I know of no other law enacted with the view of allowing for an evaluation period. This is a temporary provision, and each year a report is submitted to the [Knesset] Education Committee. What's more, an official was specially appointed [to oversee the process] — we have taken every precaution," professor Eugene Kandel, the former chairman of the Israeli National Economic Council, who was involved in the legislative process, told Al-Monitor.

The need for the law emerged against the backdrop of the stiff competition between the two major bookstore chains, Tzomet-Sfarim and Steimatzky, with each seeking to lure customers with cut-rate deals. Thus, for instance, 4-for-100 shekel ($26) deals or a-second-book-for-a-shekel bargains were offered. The law, which came into effect in 2014, banned the sale of books for less than their list price for the first 18 months after publication, except during the Hebrew Book Week, when a discount of up to 20% was allowed. Discounts were to become legal only following that initial period. The price of digital books, which is lower than that of paper books, is also protected under the law.