Election Committee banned racist ads used by the Likud in Jaffa and Karmiel

The Central Election Committee on Thursday banned campaign ads used by Likud candidates in the Karmiel and Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal elections, saying they were racist and offensive. Central Election Committee Chairman Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran ordered the candidates to stop the campaigns immediately, deeming them “racist and almost certain to hurt the feelings of Arab citizens and disrupt public order.” Likud campaign ads in Jaffa said “Silence the Muezzin in Jaffa? Only the Likud can.” Another ad showed a picture of Jaffa with the slogan “Returning Jaffa to Israel.”

Racist campaign in Jaffa: "Silence the Muezzin in Jaffa? Only the Likud can." (Photo: Hadashot Yaffo)

Racist campaign in Jaffa: “Silence the Muezzin in Jaffa? Only the Likud can.” (Photo: Hadashot Yaffo)

In Karmiel Likud ran a campaign against building a fictitious mosque. As part of the campaign against the new Hadash-Meretz local movement, numerous residents received a phone call from a man with an Arab accent who introduced himself as “Nabil” and invited them to a cornerstone laying ceremony for a mosque in the town. The Likud’s campaign jingle played in the background.  MK Omer Bar-Lev (Labor) petitioned the committee and Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar to ban parties running in Jerusalem, Karmiel, Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Upper Nazareth. Joubran, however, merely ordered that the Likud candidates in Karmiel and Tel Aviv-Jaffa not use the offensive advertising material. According to “Haaretz”, Joubran’s decision to ban the advertising campaign in two of the races was made despite Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein’s position that the election committee had no authority over online and street ads. Joubran’s decision states that the committee chairman is authorized to disqualify racist and inflammatory election campaigns regardless of how it is conveyed.