Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released an AI-generated video today (Wednesday) responding to the political storm triggered by Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas’s recent remarks in Arabic. Netanyahu captioned the post simply “Trojan Horse.”
The video shows Gadi Eisenkot and Avigdor Lieberman riding atop a large wooden horse being carried toward a gate labeled “Government of Israel.” Hidden inside the horse are Abbas and Democrats chairman Yair Golan, smiling at each other. Abbas signals to Golan to stay quiet. The video is designed to convey Netanyahu’s claim that any future government led by his rivals would rely on Abbas’s support.
Netanyahu chose to respond to the political firestorm not with a lengthy written statement but with an AI video. In the tweet accompanying the video, he used just two words: “Trojan Horse.” The video draws on the familiar imagery of the Trojan Horse story to present Netanyahu’s political argument. Eisenkot and Lieberman appear riding the large wooden horse, which is carried by people toward a gate bearing the inscription “Government of Israel.” Inside the horse, Abbas and Golan are shown hiding and smiling at each other. The two are portrayed as if they would enter the government concealed inside the “horse” that Eisenkot and Lieberman are leading. Abbas also signals to Golan to be quiet. At the end of the video, a message appears stating that “Eisenkot will form a government with Yair Golan and the ultra-Orthodox parties.” The video itself is a propaganda message from Netanyahu and does not in itself indicate any agreements to form such a government.
The video was released against the backdrop of a political storm that developed following remarks Abbas made in Arabic, in which he addressed recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and the need to conduct himself in a way that would prevent Ra’am from being disqualified from running for the Knesset. The remarks triggered a wave of sharp responses. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Abbas “a dangerous enemy—a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and claimed he operates using the “taqiyya” method. Gilad Erdan claimed Abbas is “working the public with open eyes,” and MK Tally Gotliv called for preventing Ra’am from running for the Knesset. Otzma Yehudit also announced that following the remarks, it intends to file a demand to disqualify Abbas from running in the elections.
Netanyahu’s response takes the debate surrounding Abbas a step further and connects it directly to the battle over the composition of the next government. Through the Trojan Horse imagery, Netanyahu seeks to portray Eisenkot and Lieberman as those who might enable, according to his claim, the entry of Abbas and Golan into centers of influence in a future government. The choice to depict Abbas and Golan hiding inside the horse is meant to illustrate Netanyahu’s claim that voters might get a government with a different composition than what is presented to them publicly. This is a political message from Netanyahu as part of his battle against his rivals, not an established fact about the composition of a future coalition.
The debate over cooperation with Ra’am has accompanied the political system since the party joined the coalition formed by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid after the 2021 elections. Since then, the possibility of relying on Abbas to form a government has become one of the prominent lines of conflict between the political camps.