Elections Committee won't block Yisrael Beytenu slogan as anti-Arab

The Central Elections Committee on Wednesday ruled against a petition to disqualify Yisrael Beytenu’s campaign slogan “Ariel for Israel, Umm el-Fahm for Palestine” as racist and violating elections laws.The decision by Justice Salim Joubran, in his capacity as head of the committee, came hours after Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein had taken the same stand against Meretz MK Esawi Frej’s petition.Weinstein had told Joubran that he did not have the authority to block the ad, and had gone even further, saying that even if he had the authority, the content of the ad was not sufficiently problematic to be scrapped.The attorney-general said the High Court of Justice has ruled that freedom of speech when it comes to campaigning cannot be limited merely because advertising is distasteful, but only if it has a “practical certainty” to cause “danger and public disorder.”