The Bayit Yehudi Party withdrew an advertisement featuring IDF soldiers, after
Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer petitioned the Central Election
Committee with the argument that it was illegal and deceived the public because
it used a doctored photo.
However, the party plans to continue featuring
IDF soldiers in its campaign advertising.
Oppenheimer referred to an
advertisement featuring four IDF soldiers in the desert, one sporting a kippa
and tzitzit, and the text, “We love the country, we serve the
country.”
According to the Peace Now leader, Bayit Yehudi is attempting
to “appropriate military service and use the IDF and its soldiers as part of its
election campaign.”
The section of the Election Law dealing with campaign
advertisements reads: “Election propaganda may not use the IDF in a way that
creates an impression that the IDF identifies with a party or list of
candidates; this article does not prevent a party or list of candidates from
expressing support for the IDF.”
“The IDF is the army of the nation and
not the army of the Bayit Yehudi [Party],” Oppenheimer wrote. “It has secular
and religious, leftists and rightists, settlers and kibbutzniks, kippa-wearers
and atheists, Beduin, Druse, Israel natives and new immigrants.”
He added
that “the attempt of any party to appropriate the army hurts the IDF and its
soldiers, first and foremost, and creates a false image that the IDF represents
a political stream within Israeli society.”
In addition, Oppenheimer
pointed out that images in the ads had been doctored to add a kippa to a
soldier’s head.
A Bayit Yehudi spokesman responded that “it’s hard to say
we fell out of our chairs [from surprise] when we heard that Yariv Oppenheimer,
leader of Peace Now, opposes an advertisement that supports IDF
soldiers.”
The spokesman added, “We are done using that specific
advertisement, thanks to the free publicity from Peace Now, and we’ll be happy
if they give us more publicity services on the rest of our ads that embrace IDF
soldiers. Oppenheimer’s attacks helped build many Jewish homes in Israel, and
now they help build the Bayit Yehudi [Hebrew for ‘Jewish Home’]. In the
end, Oppenheimer will vote for us.”
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