Israel's Central Elections Committee has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for a second time, to pay legal costs and remove a video from his personal social media accounts after ruling that footage filmed at a military base amounted to "election propaganda."
Israel's Channel 7 reported Tuesday that committee chairman Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg ordered Netanyahu to delete a video filmed at Tel Nof Air Base from his personal accounts and pay 2,500 shekels (about $821) in costs.
Sohlberg found that publishing the video on Netanyahu's personal accounts violated election law because it used public resources, including a military base and an Israeli Air Force aircraft, according to the broadcaster.
The ruling, however, allowed Netanyahu to keep the video on his official accounts.
Netanyahu posted the video from Tel Nof Air Base in central Israel on Sept. 29, with an Israeli Air Force aircraft visible in the background.
In the clip, he warned that Israel could face attacks ahead of the election, saying there were "indications that our enemies will try to attack us before the elections," according to Israel's Channel 15.
The decision came after Sohlberg on Sunday accepted five petitions against Netanyahu concerning the use of official speeches and the Israeli military for election propaganda on his personal social media accounts.
The petitions included a video showing Netanyahu during a visit to an Israeli military position in southern Lebanon.
Sohlberg ruled that the edited clip focused on the achievements of the government and prime minister, while parts relating to boosting soldiers' morale and honoring them had been removed.
"This is, of course, election propaganda," the committee chairman said.
He ordered Netanyahu to remove the posts and pay 29,000 shekels (about $9,000) in costs.
Israel is scheduled to hold a Knesset election on Oct. 27, with parties in Netanyahu's governing coalition, led by his Likud party, competing against opposition parties.
Recent polls have not shown either bloc independently securing the 61 seats needed to form a government.
A poll by Israel's public broadcaster KAN on Sunday gave opposition parties 52 seats compared with 51 for Netanyahu's coalition.
Netanyahu has headed the current government since late December 2022 -- a government described as the most right-wing in Israel's history.
He is standing trial on corruption charges, which he denies, while the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for him over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
