Israel Elections Committee orders Shas to remove campaign video

Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg ordered the Shas party and its leader, MK Aryeh Deri, on Sunday to remove an election campaign video published on Saturday evening from all social media accounts. The video features a man appearing to be a religious soldier returning home on Friday evening, concluding with text claiming 30,000 soldiers voted for Shas in the previous election, followed by the party's ballot slip. The ruling followed a petition by the 'Yashar for Israel with Eisenkot' party, which argued the video violated prohibitions against using the IDF in election propaganda and the use of identifying letters for a candidate list before the 42-day period preceding Election Day. Justice Sohlberg ruled that the petition's arguments justified an interim injunction, ordering the removal of the video and requiring Shas to respond to the petition within two days. The Chairman noted that the Elections (Modes of Propaganda) Law prohibits using the IDF in a manner that creates the impression of identification with a political party.