Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg who chairs the Knesset Elections Committee on Monday sided with the Movement for Quality Government in Israel’s appeal, determining that the videos of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir handing out weapons to standby squads constitute prohibited election propaganda. Minister Ben Gvir has until January 14 to remove the videos.
Videos and images of Minister Ben Gvir handing out rifles to standby squads accompanied last November’s reports of his successful campaign to cut the red tape that prevented many Israelis from acquiring gun permits (See: Israel Issued More Gun Permits Since October 7 than in All the Preceding 20 Years Put Together).
Judge Sohlberg ordered Ben Gvir and his party, Otzma Yehudit, to pay the court expenses of NIS 7,000 ($1,889.32), stating that Ben Gvir’s goal was to “convey a political public message to the citizens of Israel.” Sohlberg also stated that this was an attempt by Ben Gvir to identify himself as part of official police action.
Minister Ben Gvir issued a statement saying, “When it comes to Ben Gvir, everything is permissible and everything is kosher, even at the expense of harming the citizens of Israel. Had it been any other elected official, no judge would have ordered them to delete publications that encourage more citizens to volunteer to serve in the standby squad and protect the people of Israel.
“Every other elected official is allowed to publicize their and their office’s activity, but only I am required to remove posts on social networks. This is political discrimination that harms the sense of security and the spirit of volunteerism of the citizens of Israel.
“With the cooperation of the police, we established more than 900 standby squads all over the country, for all the citizens of Israel, after everyone saw that in the Gaza envelope, wherever there was a skilled standby squad on October 7, the dimensions of the catastrophe were diminished.
“I will consider filing an appeal against the decision of the chairman of the election committee.”
Judge Sohlberg is an observant Jew who lives with his wife and daughters in Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion. He is considered one of the conservative justices.
