Tzohar election initiative calls on politicians to honor their rivals

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and other politicians signed a document on Tuesday that calls for the upcoming April election to be conducted in a "pure spirit," the Tzohar spokesperson said in a press release. Tzohar is an NGO devoted to promoting better understanding in Israeli society between religious and secular people, also providing a system of ordained rabbis who marry couples circumventing bureaucracy by the rabbinate.Those who sign the document pledge to present views held by their rivals "decently" - even when they strongly believe them to be wrong, to speak of other parties and people active in them in a style that is respectful and "not demeaning." Family members of rival politicians are to be left out of the political discourse, the press release said. Last December, Education Minister Naftali Bennett riled against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when it was released he nudged the Walla! news site to publish a story claiming that Bennett's wife worked as a pastry chef in a non-kosher restaurants in New York. Walla! refused the request. A fake news story claiming that the wife of Benny Gantz used to take part in protests led by Machsom Watch surfaced in early 2019 on a social media account of rapper Yoav Eliasi [The Shadow] but was later refuted by Gantz.