Labor pushed for sociallyminded Likud voters to switch camps on Sunday, while
Likud Beytenu put Welfare and Social Services Minister Moshe Kahlon at the fore
of its televised campaign.
“I’m from a family that for generations has
voted for the Likud with our eyes shut,” Ezra Cohen said in a television ad
Labor premiered on Sunday. “I, personally, am going to vote for the first time
for the Alignment [Labor’s name from 1965- 1984] led by Shelly
Yacimovich. Believe me, I am breaking a family tradition.”
The
clip also featured former Finance Ministry accountant-general Prof. Yaron
Zelekha praising Yacimovich’s economic plan and a quote from former Prime
Minister’s Office director-general Eyal Gabai saying “unless Shelly Yacimovich is
prime minister, there will not be a change.”
The sound-bite from Gabai does not
specify if the change would be for better or for worse.
Meanwhile, Likud
Beytenu released commercials featuring Kahlon, who is considered the Likud’s
most social-minded minister and is very popular after lowering cellphone service
prices as Communications Minister. Kahlon is taking a break from politics
and is not on the party’s list for next week’s election.
Kahlon expressed
support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s reelection, saying that leading
the country is not child’s play.
“The only party with a leader who can
give answers to the big problems [is Likud Beytenu],” Kahlon said. “I want to
sleep peacefully at night, and for my family to do the same.”
Yacimovich
slammed the Likud Beytenu ad, saying that “Netanyahu does not have one
socioeconomic person who can whitewash the way he has tortured the Israeli
public for four years, other than Kahlon, who abandoned him because of those
[economic] policies.”
The Labor leader pointed out that Kahlon did not
mention social or economic policies in the commercial.
“Everyone in
Israel knows what Kahlon thinks of Bibi and why he left,” Yacimovich stated.
“It’s because of a wild, irresponsible economic policy.”
Also Sunday,
Central Election Committee chairman Elyakim Rubinstein ruled that performances
by artists at Labor and Meretz campaign events are illegal, and asked
Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein to investigate the parties.
Following a
complaint by Likud Beytenu, Rubinstein determined that singer Efrat Gosh’s
performance at a December 3 Labor conference and that of several musicians and
artists at a Meretz event on December 10 broke the Election Law.
Last
month, Rubinstein made the same ruling about singer Sarit Hadad’s performance at
a Likud campaign event and asked Weinstein to deal with the
case.
According to the Election Law, parties may not use performances by
artists as part of their campaign.