The New Hope party was allegedly responsible for the smear campaign directed at Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, an investigation conducted by the Central Elections Committee revealed this week.

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Bennett appealed to the committee to examine the issue after several anonymous articles appeared on the Outbrain digital media showing him in a bad light.

According to Channel 12 News, a dozen articles published about Bennett were marked as "sponsored" and described him as a "reckless" candidate for prime ministership who not only does not aim to transform the government but will end up cooperating with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the elections.

After Bennett's appeal, Committee Chairman Justice Uzi Vogelman requested a response from Outbrain, which allegedly revealed that the person who sponsored the publications was most likely New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar.

Although the committee has not ruled on whether to obligate Outbrain to reveal the identity of the sponsor, the fact that the digital media's response was drafted by Sa'ar and New Hope's lawyers makes it seem that they were indeed the driving force behind the publications.

New Hope said it was "working to bring to the public's attention information that was published in leading Israeli media [outlets.] Ahead of Purim, the time has come to take off Bennett's mask and tell the public with a clear voice what Bennett and Yamina are trying to hide – that voting for Bennett is tantamount to voting for Netanyahu."

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Could the March 23 elections be postponed over the third coronavirus outbreak? Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch said Wednesday that "were anyone to ask the Health Ministry, now, in the middle of a lockdown, whether to hold the elections, any sensible person would say to postpone it until after the lockdown because there's great risk in holding elections with such a [high] morbidity rate."

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In an interview with local radio station 103FM, Kisch said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not addressed the issue at this time and that the responsibility falls on the Central Elections Committee.

Kisch later told Israel Hayom that he spoke out of concern for public health alone rather than a desire to postpone the elections. "From a health perspective, it would be very dangerous [to hold the elections now.] We are doing everything to bring down the morbidity rate."

A Likud statement said that this was not the party's official position and that it has no intention to postpone the elections.

Central Elections Committee Director-General Orly Adas refrained from commenting on Kisch's remarks that they might have to postpone the March 23 elections, saying only it was a political matter on which the Knesset must rule.

Adas said that the committee is preparing to hold the elections even in the case of thousands of new cases. To reduce crowds, they will increase the number of polling stations by about 30%, set up special voting booths in nursing homes and assisted living residences where those in sick or in quarantine will be able to vote, and open drive-through voting stations.

To postpone the election, the Knesset must pass a special law by an 80-MK majority vote.

Elections in Israel have only ever been postponed once, due to the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

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In 2017, the Likud successfully passed a new law in the Knesset dubbed the V15 Law that requires politically active organizations to register as a political entity with the State Comptroller's Office as if it was a party, and hence be subject to various campaign finance disclosure requirements and regulations if its activities are valued at more than NIS 102,000 ($28,000).

As far as Israel Hayom can tell, the Israeli Alliance has not registered as a political entity and has not disclosed its financial records in full despite meeting the threshold set by the V15 Law.

The organization may not be required to register as a political entity because it is technically not backing any particular party or political affiliation, but it appears that it may very well be targeting only specific voters through various tools that distribute ads on social networks to specific audiences, and that could be in violation of the law.

This could mean that while it is not in violation of the law in its official activities, it is, in fact, helping drive up turnout in specific areas in a way that increases the chances of victory for certain parties.

In its petition on Thursday, the Likud said that the "Israeli alliance is fully coordinating its activities with Blue and White and other civil society organizations on the Left." It further said that "following a query that has been filed with the State Comptroller's Office, it appears that the Israeli Alliance has not properly registered as political entity that is involved in electioneering, as is required by Israel's campaign finance laws, and this means that its activities in this election campaign are illegal."

Facebook provided Israel Hayom with the following statement following the Israel Hayom investigation: "The Facebook Ad Library includes the ads of every page that uses our apps and services. For ads that deal with elections or political matters, the library shows who has seen the ad and the expenses and exposure of each ad, and it saves the ads for seven years. It also includes information on the page that promotes the ad, the 'paid for by' statement, phone number, email of the advertiser, the link to its site and other ads of that advertiser. The report is updated daily and is accessible to everyone. We are committed to being transparent but also to maintaining the privacy of people on the platform."

The Israeli Alliance issued the following statement: "We love Israel. We are disheartened to see the state holding one election after another in this never-ending cycle. In order to avoid another fourth early election, we call on all Israelis from all parts of Israel and from all political persuasions to go out and vote. A third time is enough, and it depends only on Israelis. Those who feel hurt by activity undertaken by civil society and fears that Israelis will exercise their democratic right should think hard what their motives are.

"It is unfortunate that Israel Hayom has not carried out its duty as a major media organization to encourage turnout for everyone and has ignored our requests for collaboration on the matter, and has instead chosen to suppress such initiatives."

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On Wednesday, small business owners were slated to hold an emergency meeting in the Knesset to demand that work proceed as usual on Election Day, rather than the public having the day off.

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If the election is held as expected on March 2, 2020, it will be the fourth national day off in less than a year, including the day municipal elections were held.

The meeting, which will be chaired by MK Keren Barak (Likud), is scheduled to discuss a report prepared by economist Dr. Roby Nathanson for the Lahav-Israel Chamber of Independent Organizations and Businesses, which shows that a day off will cost small and mid-size businesses 2.5 billion to 3 billion shekels ($7.2 billion-$8.6 billion).

The report has prompted organizations representing small businesses to demand that Election Day be a regular workday. MKs Miki Zohar (Likud) and Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu) have already submitted a bill to cancel the traditional Election Day "holiday."

The bill would need to pass with a majority vote of 61 MKs, which is unlikely.

The head of the Central Elections Committee has opposed the cancellation of the day off, arguing that it would make it difficult to find people to staff polling places. In the last election, the CEC budget was increased by 12% and stood at some 320 million shekels ($92 million).

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Since the April 9 election, the number of eligible voters has increased by 0.8%, or 48,000. Of all eligible voters, 79% are Jewish; 16% are Arabs, and 5% belong to other sectors.

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The Central Elections Committee's voter rolls include some 6.4 million names, some 570,000 or roughly 10% more than the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The discrepancy between the number of eligible voters counted by the CBS and the number of names on the voter rolls can be explained by the fact that the CBS counts only Israelis living in Israel, whereas the voter rolls, as per election law, include Israeli citizens who have been living abroad for an extended period of time.

The CBS says that some of the Israelis abroad have died and the Interior Ministry's Population Registry does not reflect that.

According to the numbers, some 14% of eligible voters are ages 18-24, while 30% are ages 25-39. Another 31% are ages 40-59. Voters age 60 and over account for 25% of eligible voters.

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