{"id":553419,"date":"2026-07-22T04:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/553419\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T04:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:13:13","slug":"netanyahu-ai-video-sparks-outrage-over-figure-resembling-eisenkots-fallen-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/553419\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu AI video sparks outrage over figure resembling Eisenkot\u2019s fallen son"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party came under fire Tuesday over an AI-generated campaign video targeting political rival Gadi Eisenkot<\/a>, after many viewers said a young man featured in the clip resembled Eisenkot\u2019s son Gal, who was killed fighting in Gaza.<\/p>\n

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\u2019am leader Mansour Abbas instead.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu AI video sparks outrage over figure resembling Eisenkot\u2019s fallen son<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\u2019s fallen son, prompting sharp criticism of Netanyahu and Likud.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of hug would have warmed the heart,\u201d she wrote. \u201cBut what was I thinking? This is Netanyahu and his incitement machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

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: \u201cBenjamin, this is not everyone and not now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Likud minister Limor Livnat also condemned the video.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow pathetic, Bibi,\u201d she wrote. \u201cArthur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former IDF spokesman Avi Benayahu said the video demeaned Netanyahu himself.<\/p>\n

\"\u05d4\u05e1\u05e8\u05d8\u05d5\u05df<\/a>\"\u05d4\u05e1\u05e8\u05d8\u05d5\u05df<\/p>\n

The figure resembled his son Gal, who was killed in Gaza<\/p>\n

\u201cPrime minister, this is insulting. To you. This is humiliating. To you. This harms you. It will harm you,\u201d he wrote. \u201cLook again at this terrible and monstrous video about the bereaved father Eisenkot. Did you really publish this?\u201d<\/p>\n

The controversy was also covered by The New York Times.<\/p>\n

Following the backlash, Netanyahu and Likud released a second version of the video in which the young male figure was replaced by a woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a shocking attempt by extremists online to create false conspiracy theories in order to conceal the simple truth,\u201d Netanyahu wrote alongside the revised clip. \u201cGadi Eisenkot has no government without the Arab parties and Yair Golan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu adviser Jonatan Urich, who also shared the revised version, wrote: \u201cFor the avoidance of doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The replacement video preserved Likud\u2019s original political message while removing the figure that viewers had associated with Gal Eisenkot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party came under fire Tuesday over an AI-generated campaign video targeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-553419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}