Netanyahu Fined for Using Public Resources for Election Propaganda

The Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, ruled on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu improperly used public resources for election propaganda. Sohlberg determined that material published on Netanyahu's official social media accounts, including during a visit to an IDF post in southern Lebanon, constituted prohibited election propaganda.

While the stated purpose of the visit was to boost soldiers' morale, Sohlberg found that parts of a video documenting the visit were edited to emphasize the government's achievements and the Prime Minister's role, labeling it "election propaganda." He noted that the video utilized public filming and distribution resources, specifically documentation from the Government Press Office (GPO), and was based on the Prime Minister's visit to an IDF post in Lebanon, a resource unavailable to other candidates.

Sohlberg's ruling stated that this constituted a violation of the law regarding propaganda methods. In addition to the Lebanon visit footage, the committee chairman found that public resources were illegally used for election propaganda in other instances as well. He ordered Netanyahu to remove these materials from his social media accounts.

Overall, five out of six petitions concerning the matter were accepted, either fully or partially. As a result of the ruling, Netanyahu was ordered to pay 29,000 shekels in personal expenses to the petitioners, including the "Otzmim LeYisrael" association.