Judge Solberg orders Ben-Gvir to remove flotilla video over campaign violation

Israel's Supreme Court has ordered National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to remove a video from all his social media accounts. The ruling, issued by Deputy President Justice Noam Sohlberg, stated that the video depicted election propaganda through the use of public assets, violating election law.

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the video... constitutes election propaganda through the use of public assets, in violation of Section 2A of the Elections Law (Election Propaganda Methods), 1959.

The 38-second video showed Ben-Gvir touring a detention facility at the Port of Ashdod, where Sumud flotilla activists were seen bound. The minister waved an Israeli flag in the footage. Justice Sohlberg concluded that filming inside an Israel Prison Service facility, with uniformed personnel present, and subsequently publishing the footage on Ben-Gvir's personal accounts clearly indicated a political campaigning purpose.

Ben-Gvir was ordered to pay NIS 8,000 in legal costs to the Movement for Quality Government, which filed the petition. The National Security Ministry and the Israel Prison Service were jointly ordered to pay an additional NIS 15,000, bringing the total to NIS 23,000.

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the circumstances of the recording - filming inside an Israel Prison Service facility, in the presence of uniformed personnel, and later publishing the footage on the minister’s personal accounts - clearly indicate a political campaigning purpose.

The court clarified that its discussion was limited to election propaganda law and did not address broader public or international reactions to the video. The ruling emphasized that state assets, including facilities and personnel, belong to the public and cannot be used for private election campaigns, reinforcing the boundary between public office and political candidacy.

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state assets, including uniforms, facilities, and security personnel, belong to the public and cannot be used as tools in a private election campaign.