Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Solberg ruled Tuesday that a video Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu filmed at an Israeli Air Force base contains elements of election propaganda and must be removed from his personal social media accounts, but may remain on official government channels.
The video, released last week, shows Netanyahu standing at an air force base with a fighter jet in the background, speaking on security matters. In the clip, Netanyahu addressed calls to retreat from military gains, stating: "I am not letting that happen, I will not let that happen," and used first-person plural throughout. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel petitioned the committee, arguing the video constituted use of public assets for election propaganda in violation of Section 2A of the Elections Law (Methods of Propaganda), 5719-1959.
Justice Solberg determined that the video's content is mixed: both election propaganda and a public message to other countries. Under the circumstances, the platform matters. On official accounts, the publication serves to convey a message on behalf of the state; on personal accounts, the message comes from the candidate. After publication on official channels, there is no clear official need for posting to personal accounts. Since there is no dispute that public assets were used in the video, an IDF base and an air force jet, publication on private accounts violates Section 2A.
The committee chairman ordered the video removed from private accounts but permitted it to remain on official government channels. Because the petition was granted only in part, Netanyahu and the Likud party were ordered to pay the petitioner costs of only 2,500 shekels.
