Israeli Supreme Court Judge Bans AI-Generated Election Video Showing Gadi Eizenkot and Mahmoud Abbas

On Sunday, Supreme Court Justice Noam Solberg, chairman of Israel's Central Elections Committee, ruled that an AI-generated election video posted by the Religious Zionism party violates election laws and must be removed. The video, shared on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Facebook page, depicted former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot shaking hands with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, followed by Joint List MK Mansour Abbas joining them. Although the clip was created using artificial intelligence, it was designed to appear real, misleading viewers about a political connection that does not exist.

Justice Solberg accepted petitions from the "Yashar LeIsrael with Eizenkot" party and the "Choosing Israel" association, which challenged the video's legality. He emphasized that the video falsely implies a political alliance between Eizenkot and Mansour Abbas, violating Section 13 of the Elections Law that prohibits unfair interference in election propaganda. The judge also noted that the AI disclaimer added to the video was insufficient to prevent deception, as it was not always clearly visible on Facebook.

Consequently, Justice Solberg ordered Finance Minister Smotrich and his party to remove the video from all social media accounts. This decision underscores the legal boundaries regarding AI-generated content in Israeli election campaigns and the importance of preventing misleading political messaging.