Elections chief orders Likud, Facebook to remove manipulated video of Gantz

The head of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Justice Neal Hendel, ordered Likud and Facebook to remove an altered clip of rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz that purports to show him calling on voters not to vote Blue and White.

Hendel agreed with a Blue and White petition, which argued that the video amounted to election fraud.

“As this is false and misleading propaganda… the chairman of the committee is asked to issue an injunction against continuing to spread the propaganda,” the party’s petition said.

In the clip shared by Netanyahu, Gantz appeals to Israeli voters, “Don’t give up until the last moment. Don’t put Blue and White in the ballot box.”

In the accompanying text, Netanyahu wrote, “Listen to Benny Gantz. One more seat for Likud and we’ll win.”

https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/1234454317161177088

But the video cut Gantz off mid-sentence, right before he insists not voting Blue and White will force yet another election. In the unedited original video [Hebrew], produced by Blue and White, Gantz says, “Don’t give up until the last moment. Don’t put ‘Blue and White’ in the ballot box — and we’ll end up going to fourth elections. Let’s finish this.”

Blue and White argued in the petition against Netanyahu’s Likud party that the video violated an Israeli election law barring the publication of misleading campaign materials.

The video was removed by 8 p.m. from Likud’s social media accounts.

In a bid to buy time on election day and delay the removal, Likud’s attorneys attempted to fight the petition, arguing before Justice Hendel that there was no clear proof which video — the one in which Gantz calls not to vote for him, or the one in which he does the opposite — is the original.

“Since the petitioners presented two videos and offered no evidence on the question of which was the doctored one, one could argue for each that it is the original, or conversely, that either is the doctored video. It not inconceivable, given our past experience…that this whole incident is a Blue and White manipulation.”

Blue and White’s attorney, Oded Gazit, called Likud’s argument “nothing short of shameless. [Likud’s argument] that Blue and White doctored a video in order to hurt itself is a new level of shamelessness, and an attempt to continue to trample over the electioneering laws.”

Gantz himself responded to the video on social media accounts, accusing Netanyahu of “spreading poison.”

“Netanyahu is under pressure, so he is again spreading fake news with an edited and false video,” Gantz wrote on Twitter.

Israeli election laws prohibit parties from issuing campaign materials that “unjustly interfere” with the campaign messaging of another party.

Separately, Blue and White issued a statement warning of low turnout in “base areas” and said its top four lawmakers would “stay in the field” until polls close at 10 p.m.

“MK Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon and MK Gabi Ashkenazi will maintain their presence in the Sharon region, including Herzliya, Raanana, Kfar Saba and Kiryat Ono,” the statement said. “Blue and White chairman, Benny Gantz, and MK Yair Lapid will maintain their presence in Tel Aviv.”

It was unclear if the statement was based on genuinely low levels of voting for Blue and White or was part of so-called “gevalt” campaigning meant to gin up support by frightening voters.

Blue and White sources told The Times of Israel that voter turnout was “significantly lower” in Tel Aviv than across the rest of the country. They said the party’s final push is now entirely focused on Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, with all its MKs set to be campaigning across the central region until polls close at 10 p.m.

“It’s very, very close,” they claimed.

Opinion polls published Friday, the last day before the elections when surveys could be published by law, forecast Netanyahu and his right-wing partners receiving more seats than Blue and White and its allies, but again coming short of a majority.

Raoul Wootliff contributed to this report.