Tobacco legislation reform and industry response in Israel

New progressive tobacco control legislation in Israel restricted advertising of all tobacco and related products, including heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes. The three main elements comprised: (1) advertising bans in all media, including broadcast, outdoor, internet and print media, but excluding newspapers (effective March 2019); (2) bans on point-of-sale displays except in specialised tobacco and alcohol outlets (effective January 2020); and (3) plain packaging (effective January 2020).1–3 During the initial implementation phase, an active tobacco control coalition communicated via social media (‘WhatsApp’) regarding tobacco industry tactics to bypass legislative efforts, test the limits of the legislation and/or test the government’s ability to enforce the legislation. The coalition included civil society and professional organisations from a wide range of disciplines, including public health, medicine, public policy, public administration and communications.3Table 1 provides a detailed account of the policies, industry…

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