Complaint filed against MK Gilad Kariv over call to fund flights for voters

Following the report by our correspondent Yishai Friedman, which included documentation of MK Gilad Kariv calling on members of the "Democrats" party to assist in financing flight tickets for family members and friends staying abroad so they could arrive in Israel and vote in the upcoming elections, we report today (Tuesday) that an official complaint has been filed with the police.

Advocate Shamai Glick from the "B'Tsalmo" organization sent an urgent letter to the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, and to the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, demanding an immediate investigation into the MK. The matters exposed raise a significant legal question regarding the prohibition of providing benefits in connection with voting in elections.

In his appeal, Advocate Glick claimed that the documentation points to a blatant violation of the Elections Law (Propaganda Methods), which explicitly prohibits the provision of benefits with the aim of influencing voters. The demand for an investigation comes amid concerns that the promise to finance flight tickets worth thousands of shekels constitutes election bribery and harms the integrity of the democratic process.

As previously reported, our correspondent Yishai Friedman exposed a recording of MK Gilad Kariv from the Democrats party in which he calls on party members to spend their own money to assist in paying for flight tickets for family members and friends abroad, with the aim of bringing them to Israel ahead of the elections. The exposure highlighted concentrated efforts among left-wing parties and elements identified with the Kaplan protests to bring Israelis staying abroad to the country, whose potential support is estimated at about three mandates.