Israeli far-right justice minister wears 'fascist' perfume in election ad

Far-right Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has been featured in an election campaign ad spraying herself with a perfume labelled ‘Fascism’ a few weeks ahead of the legislative election.

The Hayamin Hehadash (New Right) party’s member could be seen and heard in the video prancing around and whispering seductively, in Hebrew, phrases like “Judicial reform,” “Separation of powers” and “Restraining the Supreme Court,” before she ended the campaign video with the tagline “To me, it smells like democracy.”

The move seems to be a dig at the activist courts and an appeal to grant more power to the legislative as well as an attempt to draw voters’ attention to Shaked’s party, which is falling behind in polls.

However, Shaked’s message left non-Hebrew speakers puzzled as to the intention of the Ad. It appeared to many as if the minister was making propaganda for Fascism.

On Monday, 18 March 2019, Shaked presented in front of the National Union of Israeli Students (NUIS) a “One-hundred” plan which, as she claims, would “revolutionize” the legislature.

The Supreme Court, according to her, is “a powerful political actor” in which the Attorney General “thwarts politics.”

The legislation election, which is scheduled for 9 April 2019, was triggered after the disbandment of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's fourth government in December 2018, following the government's reluctance to pass a law, supported by ultra-Orthodox parties, that would exempt ultra-Orthodox students from serving in the Israeli army.