Attorney General Dr. Avichai Mandelblit has problems with the Shas party election campaign, which the attorney general says is “election bribery” and therefore illegal.
In the opinion sent by Mandelblit to Central Election Committee Chairman Justice Meltzer he wrote: “An injunction must be issued prohibiting the continued publication of the caption that “all the new supporters are entitled to a special Torah scroll that will be put into the Kosel!”, part of Shas’ election campaign.
Shas responded: “The patronizing approach that seeks to establish a division between those who are show gratitude with a silly hat and between the dedication of a letter in the Torah as a gesture of gratitude is contempt for the voter’s intelligence. According to the hegemony, the sephardi voter is primitive and ignorant, and the ability to choose disappears from him when he decides to choose the Torah. This is the position that lies behind the attorney general and it is contrary to the liberal values of multiculturalism.”
Shas adds, “The aspiration to ‘pray’ and educate all the citizens of Israel under one roof called a ‘reasonable voter’ is doomed to failure, and it does not stand in a liberal conception that values the recognition of minority cultures.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
The way this is reported, sounds like the Attorney General is correct. This has nothing to do with being primitive or not. The difference between a bribe and an election promise is that a bribe points specifically to the voter and gives the specific voter (supporter) something in exchange for a specific vote. Also, it is a question of the source of funds. So, if Shas promised (that if they get elected) to give everyone in the country (whether or not they voted or supported Shas) a new Torah Scroll – and specifically paid for by tax money – then it would a campaign promise instead of a bribe and should be a perfectly legal campaign.