Israel Election Official Orders Netanyahu to Remove State Emblem from Political Post

The Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, issued an interim order Tuesday evening directing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to amend a political post on his personal accounts. The post, which praised Dovidi Ben-Tzion for withdrawing from Ophir Vinter's "Am Yisrael" list and urged other list members to follow suit, included an illustration with the caption "Important Update from the Prime Minister." This illustration featured the state emblem twice.

Netanyahu's post stated, "I commend Dovidi Ben-Tzion for his important decision to withdraw from Vinter's party after realizing that Vinter's run endangers the right-wing bloc and will lead to the establishment of a left-wing government of Golan, Lieberman, Bennett, and the Arab parties. I call on the rest of the list members to act similarly to ensure the victory of the right."

The Elections Committee's announcement cited Section 2a of the Elections Law (Propaganda Methods), 1959, which prohibits the use of public tangible or intangible assets in election propaganda. Sohlberg noted that the state emblem has been repeatedly recognized as an intangible public asset and that the publication appeared to be election propaganda.

"At this stage, it has been sufficiently proven that the publication involves a violation of the section. The Chairman of the Elections Committee has issued an interim order, effective until further notice, to remove the state emblems from the illustration, or alternatively, to remove the illustration from the publication. The hearing on the petition continues," the announcement read.