Likud Election Ad Deemed Misleading by Court

The Likud party has been ordered to clarify that its recent Arabic-language billboards, featuring politicians like Gadi Eisenkot, Yair Golan, Naftali Bennett, and Avigdor Lieberman alongside Mansour Abbas and Ahmad Tibi, are not affiliated with the Yachad party led by Eisenkot. The order came from Noam Sohlberg, Deputy President of the Supreme Court and Chairman of the Election Committee, who ruled that the Likud campaign used colors associated with Yachad to mislead the public. The Likud must publish a clarification in Hebrew within two hours of Saturday nightfall and remove the billboards as soon as possible. Sohlberg stated that the Likud must invest resources to ensure this clarification reaches the public, as the signage could create a false impression of a political connection between Yachad and other parties. The billboards were placed in various locations, including a large display on Highway 1 in the Gush Dan area, and in regions with non-Arabic speaking populations. Sohlberg also noted the possibility of a broader order for authorities to remove the signs. This is not the first time the Election Committee has required clarifications for campaign materials; in 2013, the Likud Beitenu party successfully petitioned to remove ads featuring Naftali Bennett alongside then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing they misled the public into believing the parties were running together. The committee at that time, chaired by retired Judge Elyakim Rubinstein, agreed that the campaign could create a false impression of a joint run or agreement between the parties, leading to the removal of those signs.