Shas Removes Election Jingle Featuring 13-Year-Old Singer After Legal Complaint

The Shas party removed its election jingle video titled "On the Path of Faith I Chose," which featured 13-year-old singer Benia Granot, following a complaint from the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. The complaint highlighted that Israeli election law prohibits involving children under 15 in political campaign materials. Shas stated it was unaware of the singer's age when the video was published and promptly took it down from all party platforms after the issue was raised.

Sativ Lavneh Lehav, head of policy and legislation at the Movement for Quality Government, praised Shas for acting quickly and emphasized that the law aims to protect children from political exploitation. She reiterated that children under 15 must remain outside election propaganda and vowed to ensure all parties comply with the law throughout the election campaign.

This incident follows a separate directive from Central Elections Committee judge Noam Solberg, who ordered Shas to remove another campaign video titled "A Father's Life," which depicted a Haredi Israeli family including a combat soldier and a yeshiva student. That video was initially published on Aryeh Deri's X (formerly Twitter) account. Shas had accompanied the video with a statement highlighting the contribution of over 30,000 soldiers and reservists who voted for the party in the previous elections, according to official data.