Thousands of text messages were sent to members of The Democrats during the party’s primary campaign, portraying candidate Nimerod Shefer as a “far-left man who kowtows to those who justify 7 October.” The messages were presented as part of an apparent smear campaign against Shefer.
A check found that the person who sent the messages was actually Shefer’s own personal spokesman. According to the report, the aim was to make party members feel disgusted by what they would believe was a blackening campaign run by rival candidate Ronen Tzur, even though the attack was created by Shefer’s camp itself.
Shefer apologized on X, writing: “I apologize. One of the text messages sent today as part of the primaries came from my team, but was written in a way that made it look like it was meant to attack me. The text echoed Ronen Tzur’s messages and was therefore attributed to him. That is not the spirit I want to bring to politics, and the fact that I did not know about the move does not absolve me of responsibility. The responsibility is entirely mine. I called Ronen to apologize, and I also apologize to my party colleagues.”
The episode comes only two weeks after the party approved new bylaws that explicitly allow expulsion for anyone who uses defamatory false propaganda. The affair is expected to be an early test for party chairman Yair Golan.
