Arab alliance accuses Netanyahu of using fake image to exaggerate voter turnout

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout and Rania Abushamala

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL (AA) - The Joint List, an alliance of three Arab parties in Israel, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday of using a fake image generated by artificial intelligence to exaggerate Arab voter turnout in parliamentary elections.

Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi also challenged Netanyahu’s claims, saying turnout in Jewish towns remained significantly higher than in Arab communities.

Netanyahu posted an image on the US social media platform 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 premier 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.

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.

In a video statement, Tibi said 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 said.

Tibi urged voters to remain at polling stations until they had cast their ballots despite “obstruction and delays.”

He warned that the turnout gap could negatively affect the election outcome, while stressing that Arab voters could still narrow it.

There was no immediate response from Netanyahu to the Joint List’s statement or Tibi’s remarks.

Arab citizens account for 18% of eligible voters, Israeli citizens 77%, and people classified as having no specified religion the remaining 5%, according to figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics two days earlier.

Polling stations opened at 7 am local time (0500GMT) and are scheduled to close at 10 pm (2000GMT)

Television stations are expected to release exit polls when voting ends, with preliminary results emerging early Wednesday. Official results are scheduled to be announced on Nov. 4.

Rania R.a. Abushamala