Reality TV is turning Israel into “a society seeking fame and publicity,” MK Yitzchak Herzog warned this week. Herzog called for legislation that would limit children’s participation in reality TV programs.

“The time has come to draw a line when it comes to the profiteering by some of the interests here,” he said. The power wielded by those with financial interests “must be balanced out by power used in defense of children’s welfare,” he added.

The legislation is meant to protect all children and not only those who actively participate in the shows, he explained. “What children learn in the morning is forgotten when they watch television that night,” Herzog argued.

“Children want to be celebrities, without understanding the implications,” he warned.

Herzog is a former Welfare Minister and the current chairman of the Labor party’s Knesset faction.

He is not the first to express concern over the effect reality TV shows can have on participants. MK Ronit Tirosh recently proposed that such shows be required to provide participants with psychological counseling to help them deal with the emotional aftermath of their experience.