During the campaign before the last general elections in April, billboards went up throughout Arab communities and towns in the Galilee urging voters to boycott the vote. Many residents assumed the ads, which did not identify their sponsors, were an initiative of political forces in the Arab community such the Islamic Movement’s Northern Branch, which traditionally boycotts Israel’s national elections.

However, a Channel 12 news inquiry broadcast on Friday, September 6, revealed that the campaign was very likely commissioned and financed by right-wing Jewish settlers who hoped to significantly decrease Arab turnout at the polls.