Gadi Eizenkot Challenges Netanyahu Over Use of Soldiers in Election Campaign Ads
Translated & summarized from Walla by baba
Gadi Eizenkot's party Yisrael! petitioned Israel's Central Elections Committee to force Netanyahu and Likud to remove election ads featuring IDF soldiers, citing legal violations. The petition follows a recent committee ruling restricting soldier appearances in campaigns and a separate order to remove a Netanyahu video with children.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Gadi Eizenkot's Yisrael! party petitions to remove Likud ads featuring IDF soldiers and operational footage.
- Petition cites recurring use of soldiers in Netanyahu's Facebook profile and campaign videos.
- Likud previously requested a ban on soldier use in election propaganda, accepted by the Elections Committee.
- Committee ruled repeated soldier appearances may misuse public assets in election campaigns.
- Recently, the committee ordered removal of a Netanyahu video featuring children, citing election law violations.
- Netanyahu posted a video from a Jerusalem mall visit showing interaction with children days before removal order.
Gadi Eizenkot, through his party Yisrael!, filed a petition on Wednesday with the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Solberg, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party remove numerous election propaganda materials featuring IDF soldiers, uniforms, and operational footage, which they claim violate the law. The petition highlights recurring use of soldiers in Netanyahu's Facebook profile picture, a video from August 5 showing Netanyahu interacting with new combat recruits, and other videos and posts incorporating soldiers, pilots, officers, weaponry, and operational scenes from Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Yisrael! argues this is not incidental but a consistent pattern over months, with Netanyahu shown alongside soldiers in uniform, speaking to them, shaking hands, and awarding ranks. The petition notes that Likud itself previously requested the Elections Committee to prohibit the use of soldiers in election propaganda, a standard the committee accepted. Yisrael! insists Likud must now respect this precedent when it appears on Netanyahu's personal page.
This petition follows a recent ruling by Judge Solberg on a Likud petition against Yisrael!, which determined that prominent and repeated use of soldiers in uniform in election campaigns may constitute improper use of public assets. Last week, the committee ordered the removal of a Netanyahu video featuring children, following a petition claiming it violated rules against involving children in election propaganda. Days earlier, Netanyahu posted a video from a visit to Malha Mall in Jerusalem, showing him interacting with visitors, including many children.
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