Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party came under fire Tuesday over an AI-generated campaign video targeting political rival Gadi Eisenkot, after many viewers said a young man featured in the clip resembled Eisenkot’s son Gal, who was killed fighting in Gaza.
The video, published Monday night, shows Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff and leader of the Yashar party, running with his arms open toward a young man portrayed as a symbol of Israeli unity. At the last moment, he changes direction and embraces Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas instead.
Netanyahu AI video sparks outrage over figure resembling Eisenkot’s fallen son
The young man is not identified in the video as Gal Eisenkot. However, many social media users said the figure immediately reminded them of Eisenkot’s fallen son, prompting sharp criticism of Netanyahu and Likud.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was held hostage by Hamas for 738 days, wrote that when she first saw Eisenkot running with open arms, she imagined Gal running toward his father.
“That kind of hug would have warmed the heart,” she wrote. “But what was I thinking? This is Netanyahu and his incitement machine.”
Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was murdered in Hamas captivity, shared a photograph of Gat with other hostages killed alongside her in a Gaza tunnel and wrote: “Benjamin, this is not everyone and not now.”
Former Likud minister Limor Livnat also condemned the video.
“How pathetic, Bibi,” she wrote. “Arthur Finkelstein would never have approved a video like this about a rival whose son fell in a war you managed and failed in, while your own son spends his time in Miami. How low can you go? Shame on you.”
Former IDF spokesman Avi Benayahu said the video demeaned Netanyahu himself.
The figure resembled his son Gal, who was killed in Gaza
“Prime minister, this is insulting. To you. This is humiliating. To you. This harms you. It will harm you,” he wrote. “Look again at this terrible and monstrous video about the bereaved father Eisenkot. Did you really publish this?”
The controversy was also covered by The New York Times.
Following the backlash, Netanyahu and Likud released a second version of the video in which the young male figure was replaced by a woman.
“There is a shocking attempt by extremists online to create false conspiracy theories in order to conceal the simple truth,” Netanyahu wrote alongside the revised clip. “Gadi Eisenkot has no government without the Arab parties and Yair Golan.”
Netanyahu adviser Jonatan Urich, who also shared the revised version, wrote: “For the avoidance of doubt.”
The replacement video preserved Likud’s original political message while removing the figure that viewers had associated with Gal Eisenkot.