Eisenkot election billboard in Cyprus said vandalized with Palestinian colors, but photo appears to be AI fake
Blood-like red ostensibly painted over face of Yashar chief and former IDF head, but closer examination indicates fakery; twin billboards aimed at Israeli tourists had sparked anger among locals
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A Yashar party election billboard in Cyprus was smeared with the colors of the Palestinian flag late Friday, Cypriot and Israeli media reported, with blood red splashed on the face of party head and former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot.
Update: However, closer inspection of images of the alleged defacing suggested that the pictures were AI-generated.
The twin billboards display the Hebrew messages “Israelis, enjoy! You deserve it” and “Relaxed? Enjoyed? Now come back and win!” to passengers heading out of and into the Larnaca airport, respectively.
Both billboards showed Eisenkot’s face alongside an Israeli flag and the party name. A photo published by local media purportedly showed the “enjoy!” billboard daubed red, black and green, with the Israeli flag left largely untouched. There was no immediate comment from Yashar or Eisenkot.
Examination of the photograph suggested that the colors had been manipulated, and that the paint splash appeared unnatural, pointing to AI fakery.
Israeli media literacy lecturer Tal Hagin posted on X that it was curious that the pictures of the damage showed the sign from the exact same angle, and posted what he said was a second such image in which part of the pole holding the sign was blurred out.
In one other angle of the image I did find, the manipulation is even more prevalent:
1. The "NICHE" sign has been warped, with the letters not making any sense.
2. A part of the pole is blurred out. pic.twitter.com/K3D9rsBi0G— Tal Hagin (@talhagin) August 3, 2026
The billboard campaign targets Israeli tourists who flock to the Mediterranean island for vacation, but sparked anger among locals when it went up along a highway between Larnaca and Limasol last week.
One Cypriot influencer-politician said the campaign infringes on the island nation’s sovereignty.
It is apparently the first-ever foreign political billboard campaign in Cyprus, though there are no legal restrictions on such advertising, according to local outlet Cyprus Mail.
הושחת שלט הדרכים של גדי איזנקוט ומפלגת "ישר!" שהוצב בקפריסין בין לרנקה ללימסול@DovGilHar
צילום עבור כאן חדשות: ליאון וידל pic.twitter.com/xTJuNBUCn3
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 3, 2026
Polls ahead of the October 27 Knesset election indicate the centrist Yashar will emerge as the largest parliamentary faction in the next election, making Eisenkot the presumptive candidate to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Eisenkot, who briefly joined the government as part of the Blue and White party at the start of the Gaza war, currently leads the political front that seeks to oust Netanyahu.
The Times of Israel Community.