Smotrich posts AI video showing High Court chief, AG being dragged away by guards; opposition pans him

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posts an AI-generated video on his social media accounts showing the president of the High Court, another court justice and the attorney general being dragged away from a protest by security guards.

The video, which draws outcry from the political opposition, comes shortly after Smotrich presents a plan for a far-reaching plan to sap the High Court of its power.

The video purports to show Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Supreme Court Justice Daphne Barak Erez and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara being forcibly taken away from a protest against the overhaul.

משחררים את החסימה. כן סמוטריץ! pic.twitter.com/s59NULke2S

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) September 15, 2026

“Freeing up the stoppage,” Smotrich writes on his X post featuring the AI video. The slogan is the name given to his new judicial overhaul, an allusion to the numerous decisions by the High Court of Justice over the last four years that have struck down government-backed legislation and government decisions.

Gadi Eisenkot, head of the leading opposition Yashar party, says he “totally condemns the disgraceful and violent video,” and accuses Smotrich and his far-right Religious Zionism party of being “ready to drag Israeli society into the abyss — again,” a reference to the unprecedented public protests and societal schism brought about by the outgoing government’s judicial overhaul agenda, crucial parts of which passed over the last four years but some of which was frozen by the court.

Opposition Yachad party chair Naftali Bennett similarly accuses Smotrich of stoking societal division with the video, while Israel Bar Association head Amit Becher calls the video “an act of incitement and violence” which “exposes the intentions of Smotrich, [Religious Zionsm MK Simcha] Rothman, and in fact the [Benjamin] Netanyahu coalition, which is working to destroy a Jewish and democratic Israel.”

Smotrich and his party published their new overhaul agenda earlier today, pledging, if elected, to pass a law to allow the Knesset to override Supreme Court decisions striking down legislation; limit the ability of civil rights groups and government watchdogs to petition the court; further weaken the institution of the attorney general; and reduce legal constraints on government ministers, among other controversial reforms.