The Mandate Period / Daniela London Dekel
Daniela London Dekel describes how election propaganda in Israel has infiltrated every aspect of life, turning reality itself into campaign material. She reviews propaganda videos by Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, and Ofer Winter, and criticizes the use of the IDF, outposts, fallen soldiers, and collective memory for political purposes. The author notes Judge Solberg's ruling that the prime minister crossed the line between work and campaigning, and argues that the government's blatant lies evoke deep despair.
Daniela London Dekel writes a sharp personal column about election propaganda in Israel, which she says has ceased to be a limited campaign and has become reality itself. She opens with a description of a phone call she received from Itamar Ben-Gvir, and continues to review propaganda videos by Bezalel Smotrich riding a horse in Judea and Samaria, by Benny Gantz appearing on four billboards on the Ayalon Highway, by Yair Lapid with a ballot slip, and by Ofer Winter calling for the reoccupation of Gaza. The author sharply criticizes the Shas propaganda video, in which a combat soldier thanks his Haredi brother who evades service for protecting him with prayers. She notes the ruling of Judge Noam Solberg, chairman of the Central Elections Committee, who determined in five out of six petitions that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crossed the line between state work and election campaigning, using the IDF, outposts, and the government distribution system. London Dekel argues that there is no sentence, word, or syllable that is not a campaign, and that life, death, and memory have been nationalized for electoral purposes. She concludes with a description of the government's blatant lies, which she says cause a sane person to lose hope in the human race.