The Knesset’s Finance Committee approved a proposal on Tuesday that would require the Bezeq and Hot phone companies to allow customers to call emergency numbers even after their service was disconnected.  Any customer who loses phone service following a failure to pay their bills should be allowed emergency calls for two months, the committee decided.

The law will apply only to Bezeq and Hot, and not to cellular telephone service providers.  Representatives from various emergency services thanked the committee and MK Meir Porush (UTJ), who wrote the proposal.

Representatives from Bezeq asked to be given six months to prepare to implement the proposal.  The committee granted their request.