Netanyahu AI Campaign Video Sparks Outrage Over Alleged Depiction of Eisenkot's Son Killed in Gaza War

In a video published by Netanyahu, Eisenkot hugs Arab lawmaker Mansour Abbas, running past a young man that many say resembles the former IDF chief's son Gal, who was killed in Gaza in December 2023 during a hostage rescue operation

July 22nd, 00AM July 22nd, 00AM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came under fire over an AI-generated electoral campaign video over claims that the video mocks political rival Gadi Eisenkot with a depiction of his late son, who was killed in Gaza.

In the video, Eisenkot is seen running through a flower field with his arms outstretched toward a young man with the words "Israel's Unity" printed on his T-shirt.

The music swells as the two come within reach, only for Eisenkot to run past him and straight into the hugging embrace of Arab Israeli lawmaker Mansour Abbas, who leads the United Arab List in the Knesset.

The young man is left behind, with open arms and a disappointed expression on his face, and walks away. Many critics said he looks uncannily similar to Eisenkot's son Gal, who was killed in December 2023 during a hostage rescue operation, just days after the first cease-fire between Israel and Hamas expired.

The video ends with a caption reading: "Eisenkot has no government without Yair Golan and the Arab parties."

Last year, Eisenkot said that his son and other soldiers have paid with their lives because of the Netanyahu government's "cowardice, political hesitation, and the political and ideological considerations of those who want to return to the settlement of the Gaza Strip and see big dreams and a miracle manifest in complete opposition to the goals of the war."

Speaking to Haaretz Hebrew correspondent Noa Epstein on Tuesday, Mansour Abbas said it was an "attempt to play on nationalist instincts and sow division between different communities and sectors."

"We want to serve and solve the problems of all Israelis, Jews and Arabs alike. Likud, or Netanyahu, always uses this tool of delegitimization – against Mansour Abbas, against Yair Golan, and now against Eisenkot as well," he said.

The Democrats lawmaker MK Naama Lazimi wrote that the video "is yet another glimpse into Netanyahu's rotten and malicious character."

"It may be the lowest point we've seen so far in this election campaign, but we shouldn't forget who Netanyahu is. Above all, he is the man who, knowingly, sacrificed hostages while they were being tortured and enduring unimaginable suffering in captivity at the hands of the organization he made sure to fund."

Gil Dickmann, the cousin of slain hostage Carmel Gat, who was murdered in Hamas captivity, wrote that the video shows that "Netanyahu has lost the ability to see human beings. That's why he stands there with a blank face at Gal Eisenkot's funeral, while everyone else is shattered and broken. That's why he posts a video dripping with malice in which Gadi runs toward a youth who so resembles his fallen son."

Einav Zangauker, the mother of freed Gaza hostage Matan Zangauker and a prominent activist during efforts to return the hostages who were held in Gaza, told Haaretz that watching the video felt "like a punch in the stomach."

"This isn't politics. It isn't the legitimate rivalry between two candidates for prime minister. It's an attack on the dignity of a bereaved father. This is the absolute lowest of the low," she said.

"We've seen this kind of behavior before, this kind of contempt. Members of the coalition stopped at nothing when they were confronted by bereaved fathers and siblings demanding an end to the war and the return of both the living hostages and the dead. We must not accept the exploitation of bereavement as part of the political discourse," she added.

Several hours later, following the flood of backlash and criticism, Netanyahu published a second AI-generated video identical to the first, except that the young man was replaced by a woman. Alongside the video, he wrote: "There is a shocking attempt by extremists online to fabricate false conspiracies in order to obscure the simple truth: Gadi Eisenkot has no path to forming a government without the Arab parties and Yair Golan."

Netanyahu's adviser, Yonatan Urich, who also shared the video, wrote alongside it: "To remove any doubt."

In the latest polls, Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party leads with 24 seats, with the opposition bloc holding 69 seats compared with 51 for the coalition. However, the Jewish opposition parties still cannot form a majority without support from the Arab parties.

A recent poll published last month by Reichman University's Institute for Liberty and Responsibility showed that Most voters supporting the current opposition parties said they favor forming a government with the Arab parties in various coalition arrangements, while an overwhelming majority of supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc completely object to the idea, a new poll found.