Is an online initiative aimed at getting Israelis out to vote in the March 2 election actually an improper means of helping the Left?
An Israel Hayom exclusive has already caused a firestorm in Israel prompting outrage at Likud, which said on Tuesday that it might petition the Central Elections Committee to see if the organization behind the campaign is in violation of Israel's campaign finance laws.
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The organization behind this initiative is called The Israeli Alliance. It was formed by a group of Israeli left-wing activists who created a Facebook page called "Third Time is Enough," referring to the upcoming election being the third early election Israel is holding in less than a year because of the political stalemate.
The group has been actively using this page to harness the discontent among many Israelis over the fact that they are once again going to the polls, with memes and captions such as, "This time we must not let a single vote stay at home."
The Facebook page has the ostensible goal of making the March 2 vote come to a decisive outcome so that another election won't have to be called. The organization operating the page, The Israeli Alliance, was founded in 2017 and its director general has in the past been associated with the Labor party.
According to Facebook's publicly available data, in the run-up to the September 2019 election, the Israeli Alliance ran at least six Facebook pages, including the following: "Those who don't vote are worthless," "My first time," and "Down with the high cost of living." One of the pages was in Russian.
The pages' themes make it abundantly clear that while they do not endorse a specific party or candidate, they would very much like to see a change of governments in Israel, with posts that are unmistakably against incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with multiple attacks on his alleged corruption.
On its English website, at least as of Monday, The Israeli Alliance says it is funded "by the donations of thousands of Israelis who agreed to join us in the effort of making a difference in Israeli society. The Israeli Alliance is also supported by Jewish donors from across the world."
Its Hebrew site, as of Monday, states that the Tides Foundation, an organization backed by Jewish left-wing financier George Soros is also one of its donors, but the Israeli Alliance told Israel Hayom that its ties to that foundation were severed about a year ago.
Soros has backed many left-wing groups, including those that have been accused of actively promoting anti-Israeli activity. Soros has also been linked to many groups that have been supportive of various Democratic candidates in the US, including former President Barack Obama.
The Justice Ministry records show that the Israeli Alliance received more than 3.3 million shekels ($981,000) in donations in 2018, including NIS 2.9 million shekels ($847 million) from abroad.
In the six weeks leading to the Sept. 17 vote, the organization spent more than NIS 2.7 million ($788,000) on Facebook advertising and this time around it has already spent NIS 300,000 ($87,000 ), including NIS 130,000 over the past week alone.
In 2015, the V15 organization spent significant funds to promote the unseating of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The organization was accused of being a de facto political arm of the Left, although it claimed that it was not promoting any specific candidate.
In 2017, the Likud successfully passed a new law in the Knesset dubbed the V15 Law that requires politically active organizations to register as a political entity with the State Comptroller's Office as if it was a party, and hence be subject to various campaign finance disclosure requirements and regulations if its activities are valued at more than NIS 102,000 ($28,000).
As far as Israel Hayom can tell, the Israeli Alliance has not registered as a political entity and has not disclosed its financial records in full despite meeting the threshold set by the V15 Law.
The organization may not be required to register as a political entity because it is technically not backing any particular party or political affiliation, but it appears that it may very well be targeting only specific voters through various tools that distribute ads on social networks to specific audiences.
This could mean that while it is not in violation of the law, it is, in fact, helping drive up turnout in specific areas in a way that increases the chances of victory for certain parties.
Facebook provided Israel Hayom with the following statement: "The Facebook Ad Library includes the ads of every page that uses our apps and services. For ads that deal with elections or political matters, the library shows who has seen the ad and the expenses and exposure of each ad, and it saves the ads for seven years. It also includes information on the page that promotes the ad, the 'paid for by' statement, phone number, email of the advertiser, the link to its site and other ads of that advertiser. The report is updated daily and is accessible to everyone. We are committed to being transparent but also to maintaining the privacy of people on the platform."
The Israeli Alliance issued the following statement: "We love Israel. We are disheartened to see the state holding one election after another in this never-ending cycle. In order to avoid another fourth early election, we call on all Israelis from all parts of Israel and from all political persuasions to go out and vote. A third time is enough, and it depends only on Israelis. Those who feel hurt by activity undertaken by civil society and fears that Israelis will exercise their democratic right should think hard what their motives are.
"It is unfortunate that Israel Hayom has not carried out its duty as a major media organization to encourage turnout for everyone and has ignored our requests for collaboration on the matter, and has instead chosen to suppress such initiatives."
