 "Israel poll body bans broadcast of Netanyahu presser")
Israel's electoral authorities blocked the broadcast of a press conference today by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as voters went to the polls, saying that "propaganda" was banned on election day.
In response to an appeal by Netanyahu's rivals, Central Elections Committee chairman Salim Jubran said that electoral law forbids the airing of "propaganda on TV and radio channels".
He quoted a decision from the previous election in 2013, which decreed that everything voiced by politicians on an election day is "blatant propaganda".
"All the politicians are speaking to the press today ... and it was blatant election propaganda," he said.
"The only one they decided to ban from speaking to the press was me!" he spluttered.
"But nobody will shut our mouths. In a democracy, a Likud prime minister also has the right to say his piece," he said.
The last polls published on Friday indicated a narrow win for Isaac Herzog's centre-left Zionist Union, although even if Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party loses he could stay in power by forging a coalition.
In response to an appeal by Netanyahu's rivals, Central Elections Committee chairman Salim Jubran said that electoral law forbids the airing of "propaganda on TV and radio channels".
He quoted a decision from the previous election in 2013, which decreed that everything voiced by politicians on an election day is "blatant propaganda".
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Netanyahu responded furiously in a video posted on Facebook.
"All the politicians are speaking to the press today ... and it was blatant election propaganda," he said.
"The only one they decided to ban from speaking to the press was me!" he spluttered.
"But nobody will shut our mouths. In a democracy, a Likud prime minister also has the right to say his piece," he said.
The last polls published on Friday indicated a narrow win for Isaac Herzog's centre-left Zionist Union, although even if Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party loses he could stay in power by forging a coalition.
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