As part of the violent election campaign imposed by the Israeli right, the media team of the ruling Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, released an AI-generated video attacking the main contender for prime minister, Gadi Eisenkot, showing him disowning his son who was killed in the Gaza battles for the sake of electoral alliances.

The video caused widespread anger and was met with furious reactions on social media, turning the tables against Netanyahu and Likud. The clip shows Eisenkot with a gentle face running forward with open arms to hug a loved one under the banner of national unity. In contrast, the video shows a handsome young Jewish man, Eisenkot's son, who was killed at the start of the war in Gaza, also greeting his father with open arms.

But when Eisenkot reaches him, he does not hug him but goes on to hug someone else. To the surprise, it turns out that this person is the Arab Knesset member Mansour Abbas, who heads the United Arab List.

Fueling Hostility Against Arabs

The creators of the video intended to exploit the sharply anti-Arab atmosphere in the Israeli street, especially after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and to portray Eisenkot as someone who seeks at any cost to form a leftist government based on an Arab party.

Archival photo of the head of the United Arab List of the Islamic Movement, Knesset member Mansour Abbas, and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett

They consider any inclusion of Arabs in the government a step akin to treason. Therefore, opposition leaders Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid, and Benny Gantz also tried to abandon such an idea, even though they formed a government with the participation of Mansour Abbas in 2021, which was a short but positive experience.

Eisenkot dismissed the video as trivial and refused to comment on it. As for Mansour Abbas, he said the video is vile and racist, indicating that Netanyahu and his colleagues in the Likud leadership are ready to stoop to any racist low to prevent their downfall in the elections. He added: ‘But I assure you that Netanyahu will be the first to call me after the elections to join his government, just as he did in previous elections. I met with him and his envoys several times, and he negotiated with me to join his government in 2021 at his home.’

But the reactions in the street took a sharper turn. Experts described the video as lacking values and ethics, taking an unprecedented form of harshness and violence without mercy, showing that its creators do not hesitate to use war dead in party propaganda, ‘those who died defending Israel and Israelis.’

Demonstration of Palestinian and Israeli women peace activists in Tel Aviv mid-month (AP)

Mothers of several bereaved soldiers came out with sharp criticism of Netanyahu for this gruesome use of the dead. Einav Tenzgovker, whose son was held captive by Hamas for two years, said: ‘Netanyahu’s son has been hanging out in Miami for three years, and he is using fighters who sacrificed their lives to serve his election campaign.’

Some election campaign experts said that with this heinous act, Likud actually served Eisenkot's campaign. He is a grieving father who lost his son and two of his nephews in that war, and this brings people closer to him, not away, as Likud believes. Avi Benyahu wrote: ‘Know that this filth will cause you severe damage. You are the one who will lose.’

Former Israeli minister Gadi Eisenkot during a demonstration in Tel Aviv (Archive - Reuters)

It is known that Eisenkot, together with Gantz, saved Netanyahu's government in October 2023 following the Hamas attack. At the time, Netanyahu appeared broken and his government shaky. Some ministers raised the idea of taking responsibility for failures and resigning, but Eisenkot did not ask for a ministerial post and joined the war leadership in the government to contribute his experience as a former army chief of staff. He remained in the government for eight months, despite disagreeing with Netanyahu on many decisions. At a certain point, Eisenkot became convinced that Netanyahu was prolonging the war and refraining from signing deals to free prisoners for partisan and personal reasons, not for security.

Eisenkot decided to compete for prime minister in the upcoming elections. He established a new party called ‘Yashar’ (Straight). Within three months, he became Netanyahu's main rival. In the past week, he surpassed Netanyahu in five opinion polls. In the question of suitability for prime minister, Eisenkot received 43 percent support, saying he is more suitable for the post than Netanyahu, who got 37 percent. He also outperformed Bennett and other opposition candidates for this position.