Labor party activists handed out free fruit in apparent violation of Israeli elections law on Friday – just days after a court injunction prevented the Jewish Home party from doing the same – according to witnesses and the Labor party’s own Facebook page.
Blue-clad Labor party activists handed out oranges to customers at the main entrance to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market, according to security expert Michael Wolfowicz, who is an Arutz Sheva columnist. The oranges included stickers referencing “Bibi” (the nickname for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – ed.) and his ‘sour’ policies.
When confronted, Wolfowicz recounted, the activists gave a rather creative response, maintaining that – unlike Jewish Home, which was served with an injunction after a judge accepted complaints that handing out free gifts violated anti-bribery laws – the party was only “handing out stickers and the stickers were merely attached to the oranges.”
Several customers reportedly confronted Labor over the move, with some in the crowd growing visibly angry over the campaign and starting a chant in Netanyahu’s support, according to Wolfowicz.
The Labor activists were eventually shooed away by Jerusalem Municipality workers, who said that the party did not have a permit to hawk politics – or oranges – at the market.
In contrast, Wolfowicz added, the activists had arrived at the same time as Likud MK Yisrael Katz joined Likud youth to shake hands with vendors – a fully legal campaign strategy.
The flop did not deter Labor, however.
Hours later, the party proudly posted incriminating evidence of the event to its official “Zionist Camp” Facebook page, with the caption, “young champions lighting up the field with the sourest oranges ever.”
When asked for a response, Labor representatives responded by denying the event ever took place, claiming “the Labor Zionist Camp party did not give out anything in the Mahane Yehuda market.”
Additional replies to the representative with the screenshot from Labor’s own Facebook page have remained unanswered.
