Israeli Court Orders Shas Party to Remove Election Propaganda Video Over IDF Use

The Central Elections Committee chairman, Judge Noam Solberg, has ordered the Shas party and its leader, MK Aryeh Deri, to remove an election propaganda video from social media. The decision follows a petition filed by the "Yashar!" party, which claimed the video improperly used imagery associated with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the party's election list letters, violating election laws. The video features a religious soldier returning home for Shabbat, with a caption stating that 30,000 soldiers voted for Shas in the last elections, and shows a ballot with the Shas letters. "Yashar!" argued this could create the false impression of IDF endorsement of Shas and that the use of the list letters was premature, as it occurred before the legally permitted 42-day pre-election period. Judge Solberg ruled that the petition had sufficient merit to warrant a temporary injunction, instructing Shas and Deri to remove the video immediately and respond to the petition within two days. Israeli election law prohibits using the IDF in election propaganda in a way that suggests military affiliation with a party, and forbids using election list letters outside the official campaign period.