Baruch Marzel, number 4 on the Ha'am Itanu / Yachad ticket, was forced by the Elections Committee to remove a Facebook status he posted Sunday, which included a photograph of two IDF soldiers in uniform, holding a Yachad sign.
The soldiers' faces were blurred out but a military vehicle was visible behind them. The caption read: “In the IDF, too, they know: only Marzel will wipe the smile off Zoabi” - a reference to provocative MK Hanin Zoabi (United Arab List).
The IDF Elections Officer, Col. Efi Rosen, was not amused, and he turned to the Chairman of the Elections Committee, Judge Salim Jubran, in a request to issue a restraining order against Marzel and Yachad.
Rosen claimed that the status violated Section 2b(b) of the Elections Law.
The motion was accepted Thursday afternoon.
Judge Jubran rote in his decision that “both the pictures and the text in the status clearly violate the section's instructions. The photo, as noted, shows two soldiers in a way that creates the impression that the IDF is identified with the respondents, with an emphasis on [Marzel]. The text that he appended to the status declares such support, in actual fact.”
Judge Jubran issued the restraining order as requested.