Bat Yam Municipality Under Fire for Election Propaganda at Public Event
Translated & summarized from Haaretz by baba
The story in 4 lines · by baba
- Bat Yam Municipality advertised a public event with a political party's symbol.
- The use of municipal property for political campaigning is illegal.
- The municipality had previously promised to prevent such propaganda.
- A Knesset candidate and the mayor attended the event.
The Bat Yam Municipality is facing criticism after holding a Simchat Torah "Hakafot Shniyot" (second circuit) event on municipal property, which was advertised with the symbol of the Religious Zionism party. The municipality had previously committed to removing party symbols from its event advertisements and preventing political propaganda, but the religious community that organized the event continued to publicize it with the party's emblem.
Notable attendees at the event included Knesset candidate Simcha Rothman and the city's mayor, Tzviika Brot, who represents the Likud party. The use of municipal property for election campaign purposes is prohibited under Israeli election law, specifically the "Election Propaganda Methods" law. This incident follows a similar event last month where the party held an event in a municipal synagogue, which also contravened a directive from the Ministry of Interior prohibiting political campaigning on municipal assets.