Election Committee Head Rejects Bid to Ban AI Video Mocking Judges

The chairman of Israel's Central Elections Committee, Justice Noam Sohlberg, on Thursday rejected two petitions seeking to disqualify an artificial intelligence-generated video by the Religious Zionism party. The video depicted senior members of the judiciary as if they were participating in a protest against Minister Bezalel Smotrich and being forcibly removed by police.

The AI-generated figures in the video represented Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit, Supreme Court Justice Daphne Barak-Erez, and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. The petitions were filed by the Israel Bar Association and the Yisrael Beiteinu party.

The Israel Bar Association argued the video violated election regulations by threatening senior law enforcement officials. Yisrael Beiteinu contended that using likenesses of senior public officials in election propaganda infringed on prohibitions against using public assets for campaign purposes.

Justice Sohlberg dismissed both claims, ruling that no legal grounds existed to disqualify the video. He questioned whether the depicted officials would feel threatened and whether the relevant legal clause applied. Regarding the use of public assets, Sohlberg determined that using the likeness of a senior public official for criticism does not violate election laws.

Despite his legal ruling, Sohlberg expressed personal disapproval of the video, stating, "Watching the video in question was not easy for me personally, due to the figures included in it, and its bad and bitter taste - and there is no need to elaborate here." However, he emphasized that his decision was based on legal grounds, not personal taste, concluding, "In the absence of grounds, the video will stand for the voters' judgment, not for election law."