Moshe Radman, one of the leaders of the protest opposing the judicial reform, published a screenshot showing the purchase of shares of BIG shopping center chain which today announced that it will close its stores in solidarity with the expected protests this Tuesday.
Radman wrote: "My friends, buy BIG and buy at BIG. For those who can buy shares of BIG, now is the time. The liberal public in Israel (from all ends of the spectrum) needs to show support and strength."
Users have since noted that the post could be considered stock market manipulation by artificially inflating a security, a serious violation of Israeli law, since it seems that he is encouraging the public to purchase the shares after they fell by about 3% during the trading day.
The Israeli law regarding such incidents states: "Whoever does one of the following is liable to imprisonment for five years or a fine five times the fine as stated in section 61(a)(4) of the Penal Law, and if he is a corporation - twenty-five times the fine as stated in the same section:"
" (1) Motivating or attempting to motivate a person to purchase or sell securities by saying, promising or forecasting - written, oral or otherwise - things that he knew or should have known were false or misleading, or by omitting material facts;"
" (2) Fraudulently influencing the price fluctuations of securities. Regarding this paragraph, it is presumed that the person who acted according to the provisions of section 56(a) regarding the stabilization of the price of securities did not influence in fraudulent ways as mentioned."
"Thus according to - Section 54A of the Securities Law, 5788-1968."
Radman himself later clarified, "This is not an investment recommendation, I am not a professional, and there is no guarantee of return or any kind of advice".