Though the man does not unequivocally resemble Gal Eisenkot, he appears approximately the same age, and the location chosen \u2014 a blissful field of flowers \u2014 was seen by detractors as implying a heavenly setting.<\/p>\n
\t Eisenkot\u2019s son was killed while serving in Gaza in December 2023. In addition, two of the ex-general\u2019s nephews<\/a> were killed during the war.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition \t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n The Yashar chairman is widely seen as Netanyahu\u2019s chief challenger in the October 27 election, with recent polls placing his Yashar party ahead of Netanyahu\u2019s Likud as the largest in the Knesset if elections were held today.<\/p>\n \u05d2\u05d3\u05d9, \u05d6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8 pic.twitter.com\/awy47dINmq<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Benjamin Netanyahu \u2013 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05df \u05e0\u05ea\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 (@netanyahu) July 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Responding to criticism of the ad, Likud denied that the figure in the video was intended to resemble Eisenkot\u2019s son.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe attempt by extremist elements to draw such a shocking comparison is merely an effort to conceal the simple fact that Gadi has no government without Yair Golan and the Arab parties,\u201d the party said.<\/p>\n Later, Netanyahu\u2019s embattled aide<\/a> Jonatan Urich posted a new version of the ad<\/a>, in which the \u201cIsraeli unity\u201d shirt was worn by a woman instead.<\/p>\n \u201cTo remove any doubt,\u201d he wrote in the post.<\/p>\n Yashar shares supercut of Likud praise of Abbas<\/p>\n In an apparent response to the ad, Yashar published a supercut<\/a> of Netanyahu\u2019s own political faction allying with Mansour Abbas over the years, featuring several politicians who are now ministers in the government praising the Ra\u2019am chairman.<\/p>\n The clip featured now-Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli saying he was \u201cvery impressed by the very moderate line represented by Mansour Abbas,\u201d and that he\u2019d \u201cbe very happy to see him as regional cooperation minister.\u201d<\/p>\n It also included footage of now-Justice Minister Yariv Levin praising Abbas in the Knesset, and now-Culture Minister Miki Zohar telling a TV interviewer that he was \u201cnot opposed\u201d to including Abbas in a coalition.<\/p>\n \t It also showed Abbas himself, heckling Netanyahu on the floor of the parliament, saying: \u201cYou invited me to [the Prime Minister\u2019s Residence four times!\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Ra\u2019am chairman, Netanyahu sought to include him<\/a>\u00a0in a government, though the entreaty ultimately failed.<\/p>\n Instead, Abbas served in the Bennett-Lapid government, which briefly unseated Netanyahu, lasting about a year before the elections that returned the Likud chief to the premiership.<\/p>\n The Yashar ad ended with the phrase: \u201cNetanyahu has no government without the non-Zionist parties.\u201d<\/p>\n The current government includes two ultra-Orthodox parties, one of which (United Torah Judaism) is officially anti-Zionist, and both of which (UTJ and Shas) have worked to codify longstanding exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students from mandatory military service.<\/p>\n \t Pledges by opposition politicians to only include \u201cZionist\u201d parties in the next government are generally understood to exclude both the current Arab-majority parties and the ultra-Orthodox parties.<\/p>\n In a similar response to the premier\u2019s ad, Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz shared a similar AI-generated clip, in which Netanyahu, rather than Eisenkot, was depicted running through the field, ignoring a soldier in uniform and instead embracing Yisrael Goldknopf, the UTJ chairman.<\/p>\n Goldknopf was depicted holding a protest sign, of the sort often seen in Haredi anti-draft demonstrations<\/a>, reading: \u201cWe will die and not enlist.\u201d<\/p>\n The ad ended with the phrase: \u201cBibi has no government without Goldknopf.\u201d<\/p>\n \u05e8\u05e7 \u05de\u05de\u05e9\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05ea \u05e8\u05d7\u05d1\u05d4 \u05ea\u05d3\u05d0\u05d2 \u05dc\u05de\u05e9\u05e8\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05dc\u05d1\u05d9\u05d8\u05d7\u05d5\u05df. pic.twitter.com\/HmeIawIFXF<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d2\u05e0\u05e5 \u2013 Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) July 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Smotrich ad mocks gay, Reform left-wing MKs<\/p>\n Netanyahu\u2019s video was the latest in a series of AI-generated campaign ads released by coalition parties as part of a broader campaign portraying any government headed by Eisenkot as necessarily a left-wing coalition dependent on Ra\u2019am and Yair Golan\u2019s Democrats.\n<\/p>\n Any such government would also presumably include the right-wing Avigdor Liberman and Naftali Bennett and their parties.<\/p>\n On Monday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich\u2019s Religious Zionism party released an AI-generated ad targeting members of the Democrats\u2019 newly elected Knesset slate, writing \u201cthese are Eisenkot and Tropper\u2019s partners,\u201d referring to former Blue and White MK Chili Tropper, who has joined forces with Yoaz Hendel\u2019s Reservists party to form a new slate.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t a broad, Zionist government \u2014 it\u2019s a left-wing government,\u201d the ad continued.<\/p>\n \u05e7\u05d1\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d1\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05d7\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d1\u05db\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05de\u05de\u05e9\u05dc\u05ea \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6\u05e0\u05e7\u05d5\u05d8-\u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8. <\/p>\n \u05d5\u05d6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05e7\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05de\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05de\u05d3\u05de\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd >>> pic.twitter.com\/ji3IhNOIHJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 \u05d4\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d3\u05ea\u05d9\u05ea (@zionutdatit) July 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The video depicted MK Gilad Kariv, a Reform rabbi, surrounded by Palestinian flags, pigs and bacon, with the caption \u201cGilad \u2018Bar Mitzvahs for dogs\u2019 Kariv\u201d \u2014 a reference Kariv condemned as antisemitic and denigrating to Reform Judaism.\n<\/p>\n Meanwhile, MK Naama Lazimi was depicted flanked by portraits of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong, while activist Naor Narkis, who ran in the primaries but was not elected to a realistic spot in the slate, was shown surrounded by Pride flags, in an apparent attempt to denigrate him for being openly gay.<\/p>\n Neither video was labeled as AI-generated, despite a law passed by the Knesset last week requiring election and campaign materials created with AI to be identified as such.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tScreenshot from an AI-generated ad shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 21, 2026, against election rival Gadi Eisenkot (Via Facebook)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tRa\u2019am MK Mansour Abbas speaks during a 40 signatures debate at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 19, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/F260714CG246-e1784112820713-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center), Justice Minister Yariv Levin (left), and Defense Minister Israel Katz (right), with ultra-Orthodox MKs Yitzchak Goldknopf, Moshe Gafni and Meir Porush behind them, seen in the Knesset shortly before the vote on a law banning arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers and legitimizing ongoing mass ultra-Orthodox non-enlistment, July 14, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n
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