Israel's political forces were desperately trying to win on Monday, to the point where fraud tactics have become a real part of election day.
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Third time is a charm as far as Israel's democracy goes, with voters turned out in the highest numbers than not just the previous two elections, but in over a decade.
But it also means that politicians are pulling out all the stops in order to get ahead, and they are paying for it.
Benny Gantz's Blue and White received a 3,000 shekel ($560) fine for violating election law by using symbols of the State of Israel in its campaign materials.
Blue and White struck back, petitioning to the Central Elections Committee that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliberately circulated a doctored video of Gantz that appears to show him in his car calling on voters not to vote for Blue and White. The committee agreed and ordered Likud to take down any content the includes that doctored video.
Facebook played its part in countering underhanded election tactics, removing fake accounts aiming to suppress voting and deleting a video posted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violating campaign laws that prohibit citing new polling numbers in the three days.
"Attempts are being made across the web to suppress the participation of Arab citizens of Israel," said Morshed Bebar, who led an investigation by the Democratic Bloc, according to Haaretz.
Many of the comments on the fake Facebook accounts targeted Arab-Israelis.
"To support the Joint List you must be a lesbian and support LGBT people, like Aida Touma," read one comment, alluding to the no. 5 on the Joint List ticket Aida Touma-Sliman.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS
