Israeli Elections
Israel experts warned that the Sept. 17 elections could be exposed to numerous cyber attacks, as well as attempts to sway voters.
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In response to a Likud Party petition, committee head Justice Hanan Melcer rules that an NGO initiative to bus 15,000 Arab voters to polling stations is illegal.
Having learned the painful lesson in April that every vote counts, the parties are planning everything from social media blitzes to fleets of buses to bring supporters to the polls.
Central Elections Committee posts 3,000 camera-equipped observers at voting stations, with instructions to notify police if anyone is found filming illegally.
Doors opened at 7 a.m. to 6,394,030 eligible voters, with most stations scheduled to close at 10 p.m.
His announcement drew the expected condemnations from the left; on the right, some criticized the Israeli prime minister for waiting until now to implement this move.
So says Mark Levin, author of “Unfreedom of the Press,” on the cusp of the second round of national elections in the Jewish state.
The initiative intends to combat alleged voter fraud in Arab towns by adding a “feeling of security” for workers at polling stations.
The Sept. 17 election is a struggle “over our right to be ultra-Orthodox, to observe the commandments, to lead a life of Torah and faith,” says UTJ Party leader Yaakov Litzman.
“It’s about balancing values,” says Yamina Party co-leader Naftali Bennett. “What do we do during half a year if we have rockets from Hezbollah and no prime minister? Israel is not Luxembourg.”
At the last weekly Cabinet meeting before national elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his pledge to annex the Jordan Valley, noting that the release of the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan is imminent.
