Yashar Party head Gadi Eisenkot filed a petition to the Central Elections Committee against Religious Zionist Party head and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Friday, demanding that Smotrich remove an AI-generated video claiming that Eisenkot would advocate for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
According to a Walla report on Friday, the petition decried the video as a “manipulative attempt by the Religious Zionist Party to deliberately deceive the electorate.”
The video, posted to X/Twitter by Smotrich on Tuesday, portrays Eisenkot shaking hands and posing with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Ra’am party leader MK Mansour Abbas.
The video also shows an Israeli flag being replaced with a Palestinian flag with text that reads “an Eisenkot government means the creation of a Palestinian state.”
Yashar Party requests General Elections Committee set a 'clear boundary' on AI-generated content
Yashar requested that the chairman of the General Elections Committee make a decision to “set a clear boundary,” outlining that “an election campaign cannot become an arena where lies, manipulations, and fake AI content replace facts.”
Eisenkot’s petition accused Smotrich of attempting to “spread hatred, lies, and mislead voters,” stating that “there is no place for lying, deception, and manipulation in the current election system.”
Following the submission of the petition, the Yashar Party claimed in a statement that Smotrich “instead of dealing with reality and his failures,” chooses to “spread propaganda based on artificial images.”
Smotrich hit back at the petition in a post on X/Twitter on Friday. Directly addressing Eisenkot, Smotrich claimed that “no petition will succeed in hiding the truth.”
“Your government, with Yair Golan and Mansour Abbas, will establish a Palestinian state. This isn't me saying it. Your ministers are saying it,” Smotrich continued.