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The Joint List, an alliance of three Arab parties in Israel, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday of sharing an artificial-intelligence-generated image to exaggerate Arab voter turnout in parliamentary elections, Anadolu Agency reported.
Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi also disputed Netanyahu’s claims, saying turnout in Jewish towns remained significantly higher than in Arab communities.
Netanyahu posted an image on “X” showing people outside a polling station and said 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,” Netanyahu wrote.
The prime minister also shared a photograph of Tibi standing in front of a bus. Tibi had posted the image on his own “X” account several days earlier.
“Buses are heading toward polling stations, and reports indicate long queues in Arab towns,” Netanyahu wrote.
Netanyahu said right-wing strongholds appeared slow to mobilize and warned supporters that failing to vote could lead to a government led by Arab parties.
In a statement condemning his conduct, the Joint List said the image presented as 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,” the alliance said.
The Joint List warned that the image could give Arab voters the misleading impression that participation was already sufficiently high and encourage them to stay home.
It said turnout in Arab communities was encouraging but remained below that across the wider Israeli electorate, particularly in right-wing strongholds and settlements. The alliance urged Arab voters to keep going to polling stations despite obstacles.
In a video statement, Tibi said the Israeli right was misrepresenting Arab participation.
“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 saying Arab voters could still narrow it.
Netanyahu had not immediately responded to the Joint List’s statement or Tibi’s remarks.
Figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics two days earlier said Arab citizens accounted for 18% of eligible voters, Israeli citizens for 77%, and people classified as having no specified religion for the remaining 5%.
Polling stations opened at 7 am local time (0500 GMT) and were scheduled to close at 10 pm (2000 GMT). Television stations were expected to release exit polls after voting ended, with preliminary results due early Wednesday. Official results were scheduled to be announced on Nov. 4.
