The left-wing Meretz party has become embroiled in an angry debate over its anti-hareidi religious advertisements that others have labeled anti-Semitic, One advertisement on Egged buses for the upcoming Jerusalem elections stated "Putting a Meretz end to the hareidization of the city" before Egged yanked the posters. United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Knesset Member Avraham Ravitz charged that the ads contained a "hint of racism."

Meretz member Nechama Ben-Eliahu admitted that some criticism of the ads was justifiable but said that most of Jerusalem residents "resent this rule of the mob… who crush our legitimate right to have secular schools and secular neighborhoods and whatever."