Israeli Election Chief Orders Netanyahu to Remove Campaign Propaganda

Noam Solberg, vice president of the Supreme Court and chairman of the Central Elections Committee, largely sided with petitioners who accused Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu of using state resources and the military for electoral propaganda. Solberg ordered the removal of several publications and fined Netanyahu 29,000 shekels in legal costs.

In his ruling, Solberg emphasized that state security imperatives cannot be mixed with electoral propaganda. He criticized Netanyahu for leveraging his position, along with military and intelligence assets, for personal political gain. The judge accepted petitions concerning a June 15, 2026 press conference and a meeting with the IDF General Staff Forum, deeming both events to have "crossed the Rubicon" and served as illegitimate propaganda platforms. He mandated the immediate removal of content from these events from all official and private broadcast channels.

Solberg partially upheld petitions regarding a visit to southern Lebanon and an officer course graduation ceremony. In these instances, only passages deemed to glorify the Prime Minister and clearly electoral in nature must be removed.

However, Solberg dismissed petitions concerning the "Bible Path" designation and security messages related to Iran, considering them factual information that the state can legitimately convey to the public. Netanyahu is required to reimburse the legal costs of the petitioners, primarily the "Guardians of Israeli Democracy" and "Voters in Israel" associations.