A petition to the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee: how it works

What exactly you can ask for, and the only remedy there is

Section 17B(a) of the Elections (Modes of Propaganda) Law, 5719-1959 (חוק הבחירות (דרכי תעמולה), התשי״ט-1959) empowers the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee for the Knesset, after giving the person concerned an opportunity to present their arguments to them, to give an order that prevents the commission of an offense under that Law, under Chapter 11 of the Knesset Elections Law [Consolidated Version], 5729-1969 (חוק הבחירות לכנסת [נוסח משולב], התשכ״ט-1969), under Chapter 9 of the Local Authorities (Elections) Law, 5725-1965 (חוק הרשויות המקומיות (בחירות), התשכ״ה-1965), or under section 4I of the Regional Councils (Date of General Elections) Law, 5754-1994 (חוק המועצות האזוריות (מועד בחירות כלליות), התשנ״ד-1994), or its continuation.

That is the whole remedy. The proceeding gives no compensation, does not determine civil liability and does not produce a declaratory judgment. It is a preventive tool, and that is also its strength: it is fast, and it is aimed at stopping a publication that is still having an effect. The word “continuation” is what makes it possible to challenge an old publication that is still available online too.

Alongside section 17B there is a complementary remedy in section 17C: until the 60th day after election day, the Committee Chairperson may give an order requiring a Knesset faction, a list of candidates or a candidate in special elections for the head of a local authority to remove notices and inscriptions displayed in breach of the law, and to clean or restore land that was defaced.

Who petitions, and who must be heard

Precision is needed here. Section 17B(a) does not define who the petitioner is. What it defines is who the “person concerned” is, who must be given an opportunity to argue before the order is given: “a member of the Central Elections Committee who is the representative of the Knesset faction for whose benefit propaganda constitutes or may constitute an offense under this Law, or the representative of a list under section 59 of the Knesset Elections Law [Consolidated Version], 5729-1969”.

In other words, the right to be heard belongs to the person the order may harm, not to the petitioner. In practice, the decisions I reviewed on the office’s pages were given in petitions that I filed and in which I represented myself: see CEC case (תב״כ) 20/26, CEC case 28-31, 33/26 and CEC case 50-52, 54-59/26.

Another point of the same kind: section 18 of the Law also gives a member of the Central Elections Committee and the representative of a list of candidates the power to bring a private criminal prosecution for an offense under the Law, an unusual power in Israeli criminal law; and section 19 provides that in such a case the Attorney General may not order the proceedings to be stopped.

Rules of procedure, court fees and how the hearing is held

Section 17E(a)(1) empowers the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee, with the approval of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee (of the Knesset), to set directives on the rules of procedure in applications and appeals under sections 17B to 17D. Under this power, the Elections (Modes of Propaganda) (Procedure in Applications and Appeals) Directives, 5775-2015 (הוראות הבחירות (דרכי תעמולה) (סדרי הדין בבקשות ועררים), התשע״ה-2015) were published.

Section 17E(a)(2) empowers them, with the approval of the same committee, to regulate the court fees payable in applications and appeals, and the exemption from them; and it provides that, despite section 39B of the Budget Foundations Law, 5745-1985 (חוק יסודות התקציב, התשמ״ה-1985), such a fee does not require the approval of the Minister of Finance. Under this power, the Elections (Modes of Propaganda) (Fees) (Temporary Provision) Directives, 5786-2026 (הוראות הבחירות (דרכי תעמולה) (אגרות) (הוראת שעה), התשפ״ו-2026) were published. Under the Schedule to the Directives, the fee for filing a proceeding is NIS 350 (Kovetz HaTakanot 12497, 4 August 2026), and the Directives are in force until 27 October 2027. A person who cannot pay and attaches proof that they receive an income support benefit or another payment listed in section 4 of the Directives is exempt from the fee.

Section 17E(a1) allows the Committee Chairperson, after considering the nature of the hearing and the practical possibility of holding it with the parties present, or at the parties’ request, to order that the hearing be held by video conference, provided that all the participants can see and hear each other in real time and state their position.

Delay: how much time do I have from the date of publication?

The law sets no deadline for filing an application for an injunction. The argument you will hear from the other side is delay (laches), and it was expressly rejected in CEC case 28-31, 33/26. There the petitions were filed on 30 April 2026, while the earliest video was posted on 24 August 2025, about eight months earlier. It was held that as long as the videos are available and voters may come across them, an order may be given against the continuation of the offense under section 17B(a), and that the time that passed does not justify dismissal for that reason alone.

Still, you should not conclude from this that time does not matter. It is weighed at a different stage: when costs are awarded. In CEC case 50-52, 54-59/26 the considerations for costs were listed expressly, among them the number of videos in each petition and the dates they were posted.

Costs, in both directions

Section 17E(b) empowers the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee to order a party to pay costs and lawyer’s fees to another party in a proceeding under sections 17B to 17D. Further on, the same section adds another sanction: if the Chairperson finds that a party made improper use of the proceeding, or filed a frivolous proceeding that on its face shows no cause for giving an order, they may, regardless of the outcome of the proceeding, impose costs on that party in favor of the State Treasury at the rate they see fit.

How much is this in practice? In CEC case 20/26, NIS 5,000 was awarded to the petitioner. In CEC case 28-31, 33/26, NIS 27,000 was awarded in total, broken down by proceeding. In CEC case 50-52, 54-59/26, NIS 36,000 was awarded to the petitioner, and in addition NIS 27,500 to the ministries and the Attorney General. The considerations for costs listed there were: the petitions were similar in substance, so writing them did not require the same effort each time; the number of videos in each petition and the dates they were posted; the expectation that the issue would be resolved faster after an earlier decision on the same subject; and the parties’ conduct in filing their responses.

The opposite happens too. On 10 August 2026, a petition I filed against the Minister of Communications was dismissed outright. It concerned a video made with artificial intelligence ahead of the Likud primaries, and an illustration apparently made by digital means. It was held that the labeling duty in section 2A2 does not apply to propaganda in primary elections, and that section 2A2 also does not apply to the illustration, because the depictions in it are not “likely to appear as having been originally recorded”; and costs of NIS 5,000 in favor of the State Treasury were imposed on me. This is not a side remark: this proceeding carries a real financial risk for the petitioner.

Enforcing the order, and how it relates to criminal proceedings

Section 17B(c)(1) provides that section 6 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance (פקודת בזיון בית משפט) applies to an injunction; for this purpose the order is treated as a court order, and the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee has the powers that a court has under that section. Section 17B(c)(2) allows the fine to be imposed on a Knesset faction, a list of candidates or a candidate in special elections for the head of a local authority, even when the order was breached by another person acting on their behalf, provided they were given an opportunity to state their case. Section 17B(c)(3) adds an effective collection mechanism: offsetting the fine against party financing funds or against the advances, provided it does not exceed 10 percent of them.

As for criminal proceedings, section 17B(d) prevents double punishment: a person will not be punished under section 17 if they stood trial for breach of an injunction, and will not be put on trial for breach of an injunction if they were charged for the same act under section 17.

What a petition needs in order to succeed

A clear pattern emerges from the 2026 decisions. A successful petition does five things:

• It focuses on specific publications. Each publication with a date, platform, account and link. In CEC case 28-31, 33/26 the videos were listed by minister and by date of posting; in CEC case 20/26, 34 publications, broken down by platform and by language.
• It proves each of the two elements of the offense separately. The decision in CEC case 20/26 examined separately the content element (is this election propaganda) and the resource element (was a public resource used), and it rejected the first and accepted the second. A petition that deals with only one of them is exposed.
• It sends a warning first. A detailed letter before the proceeding narrows the dispute, and sometimes makes it unnecessary. In several of the cases, publications were removed before the hearing, and the petition about them became moot.
• It asks for a focused remedy. In CEC case 28-31, 33/26 two remedies were rejected: a general order about future publications, and an order requiring the party to supervise its elected officials, because they were “a general instruction to comply with the law, and that is self-evident”. Ask for the removal of a specific publication, not a general instruction.
• It prepares for the other side’s right to be heard. The order is given only after the person concerned has had an opportunity to argue (section 17B(a)), so you should be ready for a response and for a reply to it.

A note on provisional relief: in CEC case 114/26, filed on 13 August 2026 about a video that included children under the age of 15 (an alleged breach of section 2C), a temporary order was given on the same day, about two and a quarter hours after it was filed, to remove the video immediately from all the social media accounts, with permission to upload it again after the relevant parts were cut out, and a date was set for the respondents’ response. In other words, the proceeding can act quickly when the matter is urgent.

Further reading: Using public resources in election propaganda, What counts as election propaganda, and the overview page May a minister film election propaganda in their office?. To compare with other proceedings: Administrative enforcement: powers and oversight and Temporary injunction. For matters of publications and reputation: Defamation and reputation.

Frequently asked questions

Who can file a petition with the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee? Section 17B(a) does not define who the petitioner is. What it defines is who the “person concerned” is, who must be given an opportunity to present their arguments before the order is given: a member of the Central Elections Committee who is the representative of the Knesset faction for whose benefit propaganda constitutes or may constitute an offense, or the representative of a list under section 59 of the Knesset Elections Law. In practice, the 2026 decisions reviewed on this site were given in petitions filed by a private lawyer, on his own behalf.

What remedy can you get in this proceeding? Only an injunction: an order that prevents the commission of an offense under the Elections (Modes of Propaganda) Law or under the parallel chapters of the election laws, or its continuation (section 17B(a)). The proceeding gives no compensation and no declaratory remedy. A complementary remedy exists in section 17C: an order to remove notices and to clean or restore land, which may be given until the 60th day after election day.

How long do I have to file after the post went up? The law sets no deadline. A delay argument was rejected in CEC case 28-31, 33/26, where the petitions were filed about eight months after the earliest publication: it was held that as long as the publication is available and voters may come across it, an order may be given against the continuation of the offense. Still, the dates of publication are weighed at the costs stage.

Does the proceeding involve a court fee? Yes. Section 17E(a)(2) empowers the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee, with the approval of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee (of the Knesset), to regulate by directives the court fees in applications and appeals under sections 17B to 17D, and the exemption from them. Under this power, the Elections (Modes of Propaganda) (Fees) (Temporary Provision) Directives, 5786-2026 were published. Under the Schedule to the Directives, the fee for filing a proceeding is NIS 350, and the Directives are in force until 27 October 2027. The Chairperson may order a refund of the fee, in full or in part, if the proceeding was withdrawn or struck out at the request of the person who brought it, ended in a settlement, or the respondent corrected the breach following the proceeding (section 5 of the Directives).

Do I risk being ordered to pay costs if the petition is dismissed? Yes. Section 17E(b) empowers the Committee Chairperson to order a party to pay costs and lawyer’s fees to another party, and, if they find that the proceeding was used improperly or that a frivolous proceeding was filed that on its face shows no cause, to impose costs in favor of the State Treasury, regardless of the outcome of the proceeding. In practice, on 10 August 2026 a petition I filed against the Minister of Communications was dismissed outright for lack of cause, and costs of NIS 5,000 in favor of the State Treasury were imposed on me.

What happens if the order is breached? Section 17B(c)(1) applies section 6 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance to an injunction, and the order is treated as a court order. The fine may also be imposed on a Knesset faction, a list of candidates or a candidate in special elections for the head of a local authority, including when the order was breached by a person acting on their behalf, after they were given an opportunity to state their case; and the fine may be offset against party financing funds or against the advances, up to 10 percent of them.

What must be attached to the petition, and how do you file it? Under the Elections (Modes of Propaganda) (Procedure in Applications and Appeals) Directives, 5775-2015, the petition is filed in the computerized system of the Central Elections Committee, by 14:00 on Sunday to Thursday, and the facts in it are verified by an affidavit (section 2). In the petition you describe the propaganda and the date it was published, and you attach the correspondence from an advance approach to the respondent, or explain why there was none (section 2(b)); you also attach a copy or photo of the propaganda, if it can be obtained with reasonable diligence (section 3). The respondents are the candidate, the Knesset faction or the list for whose benefit the propaganda was made, the person who initiated its publication and anyone who may be harmed (section 5), and the petitioner serves the petition on them directly (section 6). When filing, you attach proof of payment of the fee or of eligibility for an exemption.