Israeli election campaign turns ugly with jibes, attacks against candidates

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
Cite

France-Presse, A. (2026, October 24). Israeli election campaign turns ugly with jibes, attacks against candidates. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3371998/israeli-election-campaign-turns-ugly-jibes-attacks-against-candidates

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-10-24 · by Agence France-Presse

Quick Summary

The Israeli election campaign has become increasingly contentious, with candidates using AI-generated content to spread negative stereotypes about their opponents, portraying them as harmful or untrustworthy. This tactic includes personal attacks and the exploitation of public fears and stereotypes, particularly around recent conflicts. As the vote approaches on Tuesday, polls indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is closely matched with his main rival Gadi Eisenkot from the centre-right.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-24, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Days ahead of October 27, 2026 Israeli elections, the campaign has become increasingly hostile, with candidates using poor-taste jibes and inflammatory attacks to sway voters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is neck and neck with that of his main rival Gadi Eisenkot. Activists are leveraging AI-generated images on social media to portray opponents as weak or untrustworthy. Some campaigns have even targeted the bereavement of candidates who lost loved ones during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack in Gaza. This aggressive strategy includes personal attacks and stereotypes designed to play on public fears and shape voter opinions ahead of the election day.

Written for “Israeli Election Campaign Turn Ugly” on 2026-10-24, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans left (beta estimate) Confidence high
Leaning: leans left for article 103504 (high confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-24

Story

📰 Israeli Election Campaign Turn Ugly
Politics · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
As Israeli election nears, campaign turns ugly same event · 100%
The Hindu · 0.97 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 29 📰 publisher trust 77
“Both articles describe the same ongoing and near-term political situation in Israel with campaigns turning ugly due to AI-generated content and inflammatory attacks, days before the elections.”
Arab voter turnout could make or break Netanyahu in Israeli election different event · 95%
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 14% hedged 5 of 35 📰 publisher trust 68
“The articles describe different aspects of the Israeli election campaign and do not focus on the same specific incident.”
Deepfakes, bots and distrust: How AI is shaping Israel's election different event · 95%
Deutsche Welle
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 8% hedged 5 of 59 📰 publisher trust 95
“Article A describes a specific deepfake video involving Gadi Eisenkot and Mansour Abbas posted to Netanyahu's account, while Article B discusses the broader trend of using AI-generated content in attacks during the election campaign.”
Trump endorses Netanyhu ahead of elections different event · 95%
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Centre further right than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 3 📰 publisher trust 60
“Article A reports a specific endorsement by Trump and related incidents, while Article B discusses broader trends in the Israeli election campaign involving attacks against candidates.”
Israel's far right find fertile ground among first-time voters different event · 95%
BBC News
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 11% hedged 6 of 55 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles discuss different aspects of the Israeli election campaign: one focuses on Itamar Ben-Gvir's rise to prominence and appeal among young voters, while the other covers general negative campaigning tactics across the political spectrum.”
Meet the 5 Israeli Politicians Trying to Replace Netanyahu – and Who Sadly Sound a Lot Like Him different event · 95%
Zeteo
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4
“The articles describe different aspects of the Israeli political situation; Article A focuses on the similarities among top contenders to replace Netanyahu, while Article B discusses the overall tone and tactics used in the election campaign.”
Far from fringe: How Israel’s mainstream parties vote with the far right different event · 95%
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 4% hedged 3 of 71 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles describe different aspects of the Israeli election; one focuses on the legislative changes and policies, while the other discusses campaign tactics and rhetoric.”
How Arab parties could hold critical balance of power in Israeli election different event · 95%
BBC News
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this 🔴 9% hedged 5 of 55 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles describe different aspects of the Israeli election campaign; one focuses on Arab parties potentially holding a balance of power, while the other discusses negative campaigning and attacks against candidates.”
How will the Israeli election work and when will the result be announced? different event · 90%
The Independent
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 16% hedged 5 of 32 📰 publisher trust 59
“The articles describe different aspects of the Israeli election process: one focuses on how the election will work and when results will be announced, while the other discusses the campaign tactics leading up to the election.”
In their own words: Israeli politicians' extreme speech surges ahead of elections different event · 75%
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 29 📰 publisher trust 64
“The articles discuss the overall trend of extreme speech and campaign tactics during the Israeli election but do not describe the exact same incident or occurrence.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
5
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 5 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
64/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-24 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 2967 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Agence France-Presse
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 213 articles by Agence France-Presse →

Topics

Hamas Israeli

Subjects

Israeli NORP · 2× Benjamin Netanyahu PERSON · 1× Gadi Eisenkot PERSON · 1× Hamas ORG · 1×

Narrative

Fuelled in part by a boom in AI-generated images flooding social media, candidates and activists are seeking to portray their opponents as weak, untrustworthy or damaging for the country as they play on stereotypes and fears to sway public opinion.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-24
2026-10-24 · South China Morning Post
Israeli election campaign turns ugly with jibes, attacks against candidates · assertive framing

Claims (5 extracted, 0 hedged)

Israeli election campaign turns ugly with jibes, attacks against candidates Helped by AI-generated content, candidates and activists seek to portray their opponents as weak, untrustworthy or damaging for the country Days asserted
candidates → turn → country
ahead of close-fought Israeli elections, campaigns have gone into overdrive with poor-taste jibes and inflammatory attacks against candidates, sometimes crossing red lines. asserted
campaigns → fight → lines
Fuelled in part by a boom in AI-generated images flooding social media, candidates and activists are seeking to portray their opponents as weak, untrustworthy or damaging for the country as they play on stereotypes and fears to sway public opinion. asserted
they → fuel → opinion
The electioneering has at times turned personal, with some candidates who lost loved ones in the wars following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack even having their bereavement dragged into the campaign. asserted
bereavement → turn → campaign
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, polls show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc neck and neck with that of his main centre-right rival Gadi Eisenkot. asserted
bloc → show → rival
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