Chairman of the Central Elections Committee orders immediate closure of Ramat Gan mayor's WhatsApp groups

Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Justice Noam Solberg, ordered the immediate closure of the WhatsApp groups of Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama Hacohen, and imposed a fine of NIS 18,000 on him, after he exploited security information for election propaganda.

Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Justice Noam Solberg, ordered today (Tuesday) the immediate closure of the WhatsApp groups and channels of Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama Hacohen, and imposed a fine of NIS 18,000 on him. In the ruling, Solberg determined that the mayor exploited security information to which he had unique access by virtue of his position, in order to gain members for his private groups for election propaganda. This is an additional violation of election propaganda laws by the mayor, after he had already received judicial instructions on this matter in the past. The petition was filed by the head of the opposition in the city, Liad Ilani, after Shama Hacohen opened groups named "Ramat Gan Emergency Updates" during the missile launches from Iran, and later used them for election propaganda. The ruling overturned a previous decision by the regional elections committee, which allowed Shama Hacohen to keep the groups while sending a message to residents that they could leave them. Solberg ordered the complete closure of all groups, prohibited highlighting the mayor's personal role even in official emergency groups, and required Shama Hacohen to pay Ilani NIS 18,000. In response, Ilani stated that this is the end of the mayor's boundless cynicism, who exploited residents' anxiety during the missile barrages.