Mr. Sharon, of Likud, was attacking his Labor adversary, and the judge, Mishael Cheshin, concluded that Mr. Sharon was campaigning.
Only one of his commercials attacked the Likud leader, just as only one of Mr. Sharon's attacked the prime minister.
Mr. Olmert has been attacked by Likud absolutists.
Mr. Sharon, running for prime minister on the Likud ticket, has repeatedly attacked the Barak government for negotiating while violence continues.
But a treaty never materialized, and Hamas kept attacking, while the Likud leader, Netanyahu, vowed to make Israelis safe.
Herzog's manifesto too appears to have been crafted to bring in as many Israelis under his umbrella as possible rather than leave any hostages to fortune – not least after a virulent attack ad launched by Likud suggested that a vote for Herzog and Livni could bring Islamic State to Jerusalem.
As the day waned, he panicked, realising that the shock of Mombasa, and also a Palestinian attack that afternoon on the Likud office in a northern Israeli town, were keeping the party faithful at home.
Netanyahu was defeated in 1999 by Labour's Ehud Barak, but in 2001, capitalizing on increasing attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, Likud candidate Ariel Sharon convincingly defeated Barak.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud opposition, cited the rocket in a blanket attack on Mr. Olmert's policies, especially his American-sponsored talks with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also defended the decision to free those behind deadly attacks at a meeting of his Likud party on Monday.
