Netanyahu shares AI-generated campaign video showing fictional group call

In short: Benjamin Netanyahu posted an AI-generated campaign video that shows a made-up group phone call between well-known political figures celebrating his possible election loss.

What happened

Benjamin Netanyahu shared an AI-generated campaign video on X on Friday, September 4, 2026, according to reporting by The New York Times. The video is labeled as AI-generated and is presented as election messaging from Netanyahu’s Likud party.

The clip shows fictional scenes of a character representing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaking on a group call with characters representing Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The video depicts them discussing a party to celebrate Netanyahu losing re-election.

In the video, the Mamdani character calls the Erdoğan character to ask if he will attend. Erdoğan’s character replies that he is coming “with Khamenei and those who are left.” Khamenei’s character appears on a hospital bed with bandages and says, “Finally, we will overthrow Netanyahu!” Abbas’s character says he is “five minutes from Kfar Saba,” a city in central Israel.

The celebration is then abruptly called off, with the Mamdani character telling the others to cancel the party. The video ends with the message, “They want Netanyahu to fall. Don’t let them win. Likud.”

Why it matters

This is a clear example of political propaganda made with AI, meaning the people and scenes are generated by software rather than recorded in real life. It can look like a real video, a bit like a movie scene made to resemble the news, even though it has no basis in actual events or documented communications. For viewers, it is a reminder to check whether political clips are real footage or synthetic content before trusting or sharing them.

Source: NYTimes