Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Cameras Banned From Israeli Polling Stations In Decision Targeting Likud

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Cameras cannot be operated at polling stations, the head of Israel’s Central Elections Committee decided.

The decision is directed at the Likud party, which had planned to place cameras in more than 1,000 polling stations in Arab communities.

During the April election, Likud activists placed more than 1,200 cameras hidden in polling stations or on observers.

Likud officials said the cameras were aimed at preventing voter fraud. Critics of the practice said it was meant to lower Arab voter turnout and invalidate Arab votes.

The Central Election Committee chairman, Hanan Melcer, said in his ruling that such a practice would require legislation. His decision comes after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said there was no legal authority to place cameras in voting stations.

Melcer, a Supreme Court judge, wrote in his ruling that he would be in favor of a pilot program in which Central Elections Committee staff would visit polling stations with cameras to ensure fair voting.

Adalah-The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the Israel Democracy Institute, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Movement for Quality Government appealed to the Central Elections Committee to ban Likud from placing cameras in voting stations.

In some cases, 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.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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.