Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Likud Placed 1,200 Hidden Cameras In Polling Stations In Arab Communities

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Likud Party placed some 1,200 hidden cameras in polling stations in Arab communities, in order to catch fraudulent voting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters Tuesday afternoon that cameras are necessary to “ensure a fair vote.”

“There should be cameras everywhere, not hidden ones,” he said.

Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday to vote for a national legislature. Political parties can hire their own polling-station observers. Likud confirmed to Israeli media outlets that it hired 1,200 poll workers and gave them the cameras.

Some of the cameras were body cameras hidden on observers and party activists, the others were installed in the polling stations by right-wing activists, according to reports. Dozens of cameras were confiscated by police during the morning and afternoon.

Central Elections Committee chairman Hanan Melcer, a Supreme Court justice, issued an order prohibiting filming voters inside polling stations, unless there is a specific concern about real voter fraud.  Voters cannot be filmed arriving at the polling station or during voting.

Cameras are permitted after the polls close while the ballots are being counted. But everyone involved must be informed of the filming, which is then noted in the polling station’s minutes.

The head of the Arab party Balad Jamal Zahalka, in a complaint filed with the elections committee, called the cameras “an illegal measure meant to scare away voters.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.