The Religious Zionism party contacted the Haaretz newspaper on Sunday, demanding it register with the state comptroller as a body that is involved in elections before the party appeals to the elections council.
A letter to the newspaper's publisher, Amos Schocken, states that an August call to action addressed to Haaretz readers, was an attempt to impact the results of the upcoming elections for the Knesset, intending to prevent the Likud and its leader, Benyamin Netanyahu, from forming a government.
According to Religious Zionism, this call to action violates article 10c of the party funding law, since it constitutes "election involvement" as defined in article 1 of the law, all while Haaretz did not register with the state comptroller as a body that is "involved in elections."
The party notes that it demands that the newspaper not create a database for voters, refrain from addressing voters of specific political persuasions with the intent of motivating them to vote for any specific party or not to vote for a specific party, and refrain from publishing propaganda through advertisements whose goals are to cause voters to vote or not to vote for a specific party, and/or from any activities that serve as election propaganda against the head of the Likud, Benyamin Netanyahu and/or the right-wing bloc parties, or to publish election propaganda that supports any other party or bloc.
The letter ends with the demand that Haaretz must fulfill the party's demands by tomorrow (Monday) at 2:00 PM, and if not the party will contact the head of the elections council, and request that he instruct Haaretz to register with the comptroller as a "body that is involved in elections" and to refrain from actions that are considered "elections involvement."
Religious Zionism party chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich stated: "The double standard that the left, including Yair Lapid, holds has to stop. They support freedom of speech only when it serves them and they silence nationalist and Zionist voices through strange appeals. while Channel 14 expresses legitimate and varied opinions, Haaretz chose to openly act as a political player during these elections by sending a message to its readers, and it joins the majority of the media in Israel that already have been serving as propaganda channels for the left and against the right for years. The days that the left silences and the right stays silent are over."