Likud Demands Gadi Eizenkot Remove Digitally Altered Election Video or Face Legal Action

On Monday, Likud party lawyer Ilan Bombach sent a legal warning to Gadi Eizenkot, chairman of the "Yashar Im Eizenkot" party, demanding the removal of a digitally altered election campaign video. The video, published on August 23 across the party's Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts, features images of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside Jewish Torah leaders Yitzhak Goldknopf and Moshe Gafni. Bombach alleges the video violates election laws by including digitally manipulated content without proper disclosure, aiming to influence voters against Netanyahu and Likud.

Specifically, Bombach claims that between 8 and 11 seconds into the video, Netanyahu and the Knesset members appear standing side by side shaking hands, although they were never photographed together in this manner. The faces were digitally altered and placed in the image. The disclosure statements in the video are also criticized for being insufficiently prominent and failing to clearly indicate the digital manipulation.

Bombach demands that Eizenkot remove the video from all social media and digital platforms under his control by 12:00 PM the following day and refrain from reposting it in its current form. Failure to comply will result in an urgent petition to the Central Elections Committee. This preemptive legal step follows election regulations concerning petitions and requests.