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

The video sparked widespread outrage and was met with angry reactions on social media, backfiring against Netanyahu and Likud. The story of the clip is that it shows Eisenkot with a gentle face running forward with open arms to hug a loved one, under the slogan of national unity. In contrast, the video shows a handsome Jewish young man, Eisenkot's son, who was killed at the beginning of the war in Gaza, also welcoming his father with open arms.

But when Eisenkot reaches him, he does not embrace him but goes ahead 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 video's creators 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

And they see any inclusion of Arabs in the government as 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, and that was a short but positive experience.

Eisenkot dismissed the video and refused to comment on it, calling it trivial. As for Mansour Abbas, he said the video is a vile racist clip indicating that Netanyahu and his colleagues in Likud leadership are ready to sink into any racist abyss to prevent their electoral defeat. 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, and I met with him and his envoys several times, and he negotiated with me to join his government in 2021 at his home.'

But reactions on the street took a sharper turn, and experts described them as lacking values and ethics, taking an unprecedented form of harshness and violence, without mercy, and showing that its creators do not hesitate to use war dead in partisan propaganda, 'who died defending Israel and Israelis.'

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

Mothers of several fallen soldiers issued stark criticism of Netanyahu for this appalling use of the dead. Einav Tenne-Shvoker, whose son was held captive by Hamas for two years, said: 'Netanyahu's son has been loitering 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 bereaved father, having lost his son and two of his nephews in that war, and this brings people closer to him rather than alienating them, as Likud believes. Avi Benayahu wrote: 'Know that this vulgarity will cause you severe damage. You are the one who loses.'

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

It is known that Eisenkot saved Netanyahu's government together with Gantz in October 2023, following the Hamas attack. At that time, Netanyahu appeared collapsed, and his government was shaky. Some ministers raised the idea of taking responsibility for failures and resigning. 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 stage, Eisenkot realized that Netanyahu was prolonging the war and refraining from signing deals to free hostages for partisan and personal reasons, not for security purposes.

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