Days before Israelis return to the polls on October 27, a contest that has grown unusually close has also grown unusually ugly. Both camps have turned to a flood of AI-generated images and clips, using them to portray rivals as weak, untrustworthy or dangerous, and some of these fabrications have reached into grief itself, targeting bereaved parents and relatives of former hostages. Israel is voting for the first time since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the wounds of that day are now being fought over on screens. What remains open is whether this synthetic rancour will shape who tur
As Israel's election nears, AI-generated attacks and personal smears turn campaign ugly
Candidates who lost children in Gaza fighting, including Laly Derai, and relatives of former Hamas hostages have faced personal smears and threats.
"It is us or them," the caption reads, beneath two mothers of a former hostage
Mark
Both camps are using AI. Is this a case of two sides doing the same thing?
Mimi
Both have used it, yes. Eisenkot's birthday video had an AI Hamas figure and an AI Khamenei. Netanyahu's July video was about Eisenkot and Mansour Abbas. But the targets and themes differ, and the Arab-Israeli content is repeated across the Likud campaign.
Luke
Careful with "the same." The reporting shows both sides using AI, not that they did so at equal scale. It doesn't count videos for either camp.
Mark
The July video drew outrage over the young man's resemblance to Eisenkot's son. What's established there?
Mimi
Outrage followed over claims he was made to look like the son, who died fighting in Gaza in 2023. Eisenkot said he felt deep contempt after watching it.
Luke
And Netanyahu's party denied the resemblance claim. So the claim is attributed, not confirmed. The contempt is Eisenkot's reaction, which is on record.
Mark
What about the Channel 14 "monkey" remark?
Mimi
Netanyahu himself condemned it, along with opposition politicians. The word isn't necessarily a racial slur in Hebrew, but it landed in a campaign already full of racialised material.
Luke
Worth noting the source says "apparently racialised." Intent isn't established.
Mark
And Laly Derai?
Mimi
She says she faces a coordinated smear campaign, with posters, calls and comments. Her son was killed in 2024, and she says she's running partly to end this kind of rhetoric.
Luke
"Coordinated" is her description. The posters are reported as existing; who put them up isn't said.
Mark
What does the Facebook image of the two mothers add?
Mimi
It shows hostage families being pulled into the fight. The caption says "It is us or them."
Luke
It came from an unofficial supporters' page, not Likud itself. And we don't know how widely it spread. Whether any of this moves votes is unknown.
Il Polso
- Netanyahu's bloc and Eisenkot's bloc are neck and neck, so every clip and billboard carries outsized weight days before the October 27 vote.
- Both camps are flooding social media with AI-generated videos that mock, frame and threaten their opponents, and some crossed lines long ago.
- A fabricated video of a young man resembling Eisenkot's slain son sparked outrage, and a Likud post set two hostage mothers against each other.
- Posters and phone calls are pressing bereaved candidates like Laly Derai to step aside, while the Arab-Israeli coalition question hardens into the campaign's central fault line.
Days before Israelis return to the polls on October 27, a contest that has grown unusually close has also grown unusually ugly. Both camps have turned to a flood of AI-generated images and clips, using them to portray rivals as weak, untrustworthy or dangerous, and some of these fabrications have reached into grief itself, targeting bereaved parents and relatives of former hostages. Israel is voting for the first time since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the wounds of that day are now being fought over on screens. What remains open is whether this synthetic rancour will shape who turns out, and whether the place of Arab-Israeli parties in any future government will decide the fate of the nation.
On October 21, Gadi Eisenkot posted a birthday wish to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the video was made almost entirely of artificial figures. A Hamas fighter speaking from a tunnel and an AI likeness of Iran's supreme leader delivered its jabs, and the message was clear: this campaign would be fought with synthetic faces and sharp provocations.
With the vote on October 27 and the two blocs nearly level in the polls, both sides have pushed harder. Netanyahu's camp answered in July with a video that twisted a moment of Eisenkot's life into something cruel, and it has spent the campaign warning voters, through doctored clips and billboards, about a coalition that might include Arab-Israeli parties. Eisenkot, meanwhile, has been insulted with racialised language on a pro-Netanyahu channel.
The human cost is sharpest for those whose losses are already public. Laly Derai, whose son died in Gaza, is running for a new far-right party and says her grief has been turned into a weapon against her, with posters, threatening calls and messages reaching even her children's school buses. She says it has only hardened her resolve. Relatives of former hostages have been set against one another in an image captioned "It is us or them."
With days left, the question is whether this climate of smears will keep voters away or drive them to the polls, and whether the role of Arab-Israeli parties will become the issue that decides the country's direction.
On Oct 21, Gadi Eisenkot posted a short video on X wishing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a happy 77th birthday. The cast was artificial: a string of AI-generated characters, beginning with a Hamas member speaking from inside a tunnel. "What can we wish for the person who has been protecting us for 20 years?" the militant asks. The line plays on theories that Netanyahu deliberately helped Hamas stay in power in Gaza, a charge he vehemently denies. An AI rendering of Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, follows, telling Netanyahu that one more round without victory means he will "make you a bomb as a present."
It is a small example of how rough the run-up to the Oct 27 vote has become. With polls showing Netanyahu's bloc neck and neck with the bloc led by his main centre-right rival, Eisenkot, campaigns have gone into overdrive. Candidates and activists are using a flood of AI-generated images on social media to paint opponents as weak, untrustworthy or dangerous for the country, leaning on stereotypes and fears. Some of the attacks have crossed lines.
Netanyahu's side has used the same tools against Eisenkot. In July, he posted a video showing Eisenkot turning down a hug from a young man in a T-shirt reading "Israel unity" and embracing Arab-Israeli candidate Mansour Abbas instead. Outrage followed over claims that the young man had been made to resemble Eisenkot's son, who was killed fighting in Gaza in 2023. Netanyahu's party denied it. In an interview on Channel 13, Eisenkot said the video left him with "deep contempt for Netanyahu and his entourage."
Netanyahu's camp has also used AI throughout the campaign to stoke fear of a possible opposition coalition that includes Arab-Israeli parties. One set of clips shows Jewish opposition politicians pulling off masks to reveal Arab-Israeli candidates beneath. Another shows Arabs looming over what appears to be a crumbling parliament building. Likud billboards across the country pair the faces of Arab-Israeli politicians with the slogan "The Right or Palestine."
Thair Abu Ras, head of the Forum for Regional Thinking at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, called it incitement, "especially from Prime Minister Netanyahu's camp." He told AFP the right wing views an Arab party in any coalition as illegitimate and is trying to impose that view on the Eisenkot coalition too.
Racialised remarks have also been aimed at Eisenkot, the son of Moroccan Jews. In October, a senior commentator on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 described him as "a monkey." The word is not necessarily a racial slur in Hebrew, but the comment drew wide condemnation from opposition politicians and from Netanyahu himself.
This is the first Israeli election since Hamas's Oct 7, 2023 attack, and a number of candidates have lives shaped by that day or the wars after it. Grief has not shielded them. Laly Derai, whose son was killed fighting in Gaza in 2024, is running for Amcha Israel, a new far-right party that advocates universal conscription, an increasingly contentious issue because of exemptions for religious students. She says she faces a coordinated smear campaign that has invoked her son's death and accused her of betraying his memory. Posters urging her to withdraw so as not to "put the country in danger" have appeared around the West Bank settlement where she lives. She told AFP the campaign has strengthened her resolve to enter politics to end such hateful rhetoric. On public broadcaster KAN she described phone calls at all hours, disgusting social media comments, and signs near her children's school buses.
Relatives of hostages once held by Hamas have been drawn in as well. On Oct 20, an unofficial Facebook page for Likud supporters posted an image setting two mothers of a former hostage against each other. Likud candidate Talik Gvili appears calm before an Israeli flag, while Einav Zangauker, a vocal Netanyahu critic, looks frenzied amid red-tinted protesters. The caption reads: "It is us or them."
With days left, what to watch is whether the AI-driven smears and racialised remarks affect turnout, and whether the role of an Arab-Israeli party in any coalition becomes the central fault line of the vote.
Citazioni salienti
It's incitement, especially from Prime Minister Netanyahu's camp.— Thair Abu Ras, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
They're trying to break me, but this campaign has reinforced my decision to enter politics to end this hate-filled rhetoric (paraphrased).— Laly Derai, Amcha Israel candidate, to AFP
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