Ehud Manor's family requested - and the "Democrats" campaign was shelved
First publication: Photos of party members were displayed alongside elected officials from the coalition, with the line "I will not be silent because my country has changed its face." The family of the late songwriter contacted the party - and the campaign, which had been successful among the left-wing bloc, was deleted from all platforms.
The Democrats party launched a new election campaign using a line from the song "I Have No Other Country." However, the family of the late Ehud Manor, the song's writer, clarified to the party that these materials should not be used for political purposes - and the campaign was shelved and completely deleted. The campaign showed members of the Democrats list photographed in half-images, with elected officials from the coalition in the other half - darkened - under the headline: "I will not be silent because my country has changed its face."
The Democrats stated: "We highly respect the Manor family and their work over the years. As soon as it was brought to our attention that the campaign was using copyrighted materials, we acted immediately and removed it from all platforms without delay."
Recently, candidates from the party, under instructions from campaign staff, uploaded the photos uniformly to all pages, from party leader Yair Golan - whose photo was split with that of Benjamin Netanyahu, to the last on the list. In the left-wing bloc, the campaign had great success and resonance on social media. MK Naama Lazimi, whose photo was split with Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, uploaded the photo and wrote:
"Even the democratic-liberal camp has values. A wagon full of values. For years they told us to be silent. Not to 'radicalize.' Not to annoy. To be modest. Meanwhile, Kahanists rule in the government, started a regime coup and trampled democracy, turned Hamas into an asset, financed Jewish terror and divided the country into those who serve and pay and those who receive everything by virtue of their proximity to power. Those who brought the country to its most difficult days, validated Kahanism, racism and nationalism and erased the word 'peace' from our lives - called us extremists, just because we refused to accept it. Just because we told the truth with our heads held high. So no, we did not radicalize. The country has changed its face and we do not intend to give up on our beloved country."
Similar texts were uploaded by other candidates such as Efrat Rayten, Gilad Kariv and Moshe Radman, who wrote: "For years they told our camp to be silent. Not to annoy, to 'wink' at the other side. And meanwhile they brought Kahanists into the government, tried to dismantle democracy, turned Hamas into an asset, financed Jewish terror and looted the treasury. And they still dare to call us extremists because we do not agree to accept it. So no. This country is changing its face and we do not intend to stand aside, do not intend to give up on this place and do not intend to ask for permission from anyone to stand up for our values."
The "Yashar" party of Gadi Eisenkot distributed a video against the Likud, to the tune of the party's well-known jingle, in which, among other things, sentences like "Likud is a disaster" and "There is not one achievement - so we will call you leftists" are said. On the other hand, the Likud put up a billboard showing Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Supreme Leader of Iran Mojtaba Khamenei - under the caption "They want Netanyahu to lose - do not let them win." The campaign was also published in the Iranian Tasnim agency, which is affiliated with the regime, where the headline was: "Netanyahu's fear of the leader of the revolution has also spread to the elections in Israel."
