Ramat Gan Mayor Fined for Misusing WhatsApp Groups

Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama-Hacohen has been ordered by the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, to immediately close WhatsApp groups he established during the recent conflict and pay 18,000 shekels in legal costs to the city's opposition leader, Lior Ilani. The ruling stems from Shama-Hacohen's use of security information, accessed through his mayoral role, to recruit members for private groups that were subsequently used for election propaganda.

During the recent conflict, Shama-Hacohen created "Ramat Gan Emergency Updates" groups to inform residents about missile launches and defense instructions. However, Sohlberg determined that the mayor leveraged his unique access to security intelligence to draw residents into private groups where he also disseminated political messages, effectively transforming public information into a tool for personal political recruitment.

An investigation from April revealed that Shama-Hacohen operated at least 24 WhatsApp groups with hundreds of participants each, including stickers featuring his image. In some instances, he provided emergency guidance, such as instructing residents to leave safe rooms five minutes before the official Home Front Command announcement. The IDF Spokesperson later clarified that his messages were not coordinated with the Home Front Command and urged the public to rely solely on official directives.

This is not the first time Shama-Hacohen has faced such a ruling. In July 2023, Judge Sohlberg rejected a similar appeal by the mayor and the Ramat Gan Municipality, finding that municipal groups were used to direct residents to private groups for propaganda. In that case, the mayor and municipality were ordered to pay 10,000 shekels in legal costs, half from Shama-Hacohen's personal funds.

Sohlberg emphasized that this was a repeated offense, stating, "This is not the first violation by the mayor of propaganda laws regarding his use of municipal WhatsApp groups." He argued that for someone who had already received judicial instructions on the matter, "there is room for severity, not leniency." While the regional election committee initially allowed the groups to remain with restrictions, Sohlberg overturned this, asserting that the accumulated audience in the groups, resulting from the improper use of public resources, also necessitated their closure. The mayor is permitted to establish new private groups in accordance with the law, and the municipality can operate official emergency channels without his personal promotion.