Netanyahu uses fake image to exaggerate Arab voter turnout

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of using an AI-generated fake image to exaggerate Arab voter turnout in the Oct. 27 parliamentary elections.

Netanyahu on Tuesday posted an image X showing people outside a polling station, claiming it depicted Arab voters in the southern city of Rahat.

"This is what is happening today in Rahat. You cannot stay home; go out immediately and vote Likud. We are fighting for our homeland," he wrote.

The British public broadcaster BBC, however, later analyzed the image and identified it as AI-generated or manipulated.

Netanyahu also shared a photograph of Tibi standing in front of a bus, which the Arab lawmaker had posted on his own X account several days earlier.

"Buses are heading toward polling stations, and reports indicate long queues in Arab towns," Netanyahu wrote.

He claimed that right-wing strongholds appeared slow to mobilize, warning his supporters that failing to vote could result in a government led by Arab parties.

The Joint List, an alliance of three Arab parties in Israel, also dismissed and challenged the claims.

In a statement condemning Netanyahu's conduct, the Joint List said the image purportedly showing voters in Rahat was "not real and generated by artificial intelligence."

The alliance accused Netanyahu of using fabricated images to incite against Arabs.

"Netanyahu is afraid of high turnout in our community because he knows it will bring down his government," it said.

The alliance warned that the image presented a misleading picture that could lull Arab voters into staying home by suggesting participation was already sufficiently high.

While turnout in Arab communities was encouraging, it said, a gap remained compared with the wider Israeli electorate, particularly in right-wing strongholds and settlements.

It urged Arab voters to continue heading to polling stations despite obstacles.

Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi, meanwhile, said that turnout in Jewish towns remained significantly higher than in Arab communities.

In a video statement Tuesday, he said that Arab participation was being misrepresented by the Israeli right.

"Since the morning, turnout in Arab towns has indeed been higher than in the past, but turnout in Jewish towns is higher, and there is a large gap between turnout in Jewish and Arab communities," he added.

Arab citizens account for 18% of eligible voters while Israeli citizens constitutes 77%, according to figures released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics two days earlier.