Netanyahu Fined for Using Public Resources in Election Campaign Video

The Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, ruled on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu improperly used public resources for election campaign purposes. Sohlberg's decision addressed six petitions, five of which were accepted in full or in part. The ruling centered on a video posted on Netanyahu's official accounts following a visit to an IDF post in southern Lebanon. While the visit's stated purpose of boosting soldier morale was deemed legitimate, Sohlberg found that the subsequent video omitted these aspects, focusing instead on the government's and the Prime Minister's achievements. "This is, of course, election propaganda," Sohlberg wrote in his decision. He determined that the video utilized public filming and distribution resources, including material from the Government Press Office, and was based on Netanyahu's visit to an IDF post in Lebanon, a resource unavailable to other candidates. Consequently, the publication was deemed prohibited under the Law on Election Propaganda. In other related cases, Sohlberg ordered Netanyahu to remove publications from his social media accounts. The Prime Minister was ordered to pay a total of 29,000 shekels in expenses to the petitioners, including the "Otzmim be'Yisrael" organization.