Gadi Eisenkot Files Complaint Against Smotrich Over Use of Children in Campaign Video

Gadi Eisenkot's party, Yashar!, filed a petition on Thursday with the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Solberg, demanding that Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the Religious Zionist Party remove a campaign video posted on Smotrich's X account titled "Bringing Reservists Home." The petition, submitted by attorney Uri Haberman, argues that the video unlawfully uses children in violation of Section 2C of the 1959 Elections Law concerning campaign methods.

Yashar! also contends that the video should have been labeled as AI-generated content because it portrays Smotrich as supporting reservists, while Yashar! claims Smotrich has actually promoted legislation enabling ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions, harming the IDF and Israel's security. The party emphasized that true Religious Zionism upholds values of service and shared burden, and accused Smotrich of encouraging draft evasion and undermining reservists, thus misrepresenting those values.

Yashar! demanded the video's removal by 4 p.m. on the day of the petition and indicated this was an initial step before pursuing further legal action. The full petition was attached to the submission.