Accompanied by an Arabic rap song, the election ad shows actors dressed up as Islamic State fighters driving a white truck across the desert. Two of them are waving black ISIL flags, while a sign attached to the bumper of the car reads "Just not Bibi," referring to the current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The "militants" pull next to another car and ask the driver in Hebrew how to get to Jerusalem. "Turn left," he answers. Then bullet holes appear on the screen with the words "The left will give in to terror." The fake terrorists drive away, heading for the capital of Israel, yelling and shooting in the air. The Arabic rap song's lyrics include the line: "Ever since I was a child I knew I wanted to be a soldier and belong to Fatah, Hamas and Abbas."
The video was uploaded on Netanyahu's Facebook and Twitter accounts with a warning: "This time choose: Likud headed by Netanyahu or a weak and submissive leftist government with Tzipi [Livni] and Buji [Yitzhak Herzog]," referring to the leaders of Israel's Labor Party and the center-left Hatnuah, which formed a coalition known as the Zionist Union.
The slogan "Us or them" has become the core of Netanyahu's election campaign. The new government will be led by the largest party, another ad says, warning that every vote against Likud would strengthen the Left. "It's either us of them," it says.
הרכבת הממשלה הבאה תוטל על המפלגה הגדולה ביותר. כל קול שאינו לליכוד - מחזק את השמאל. זה או אנחנו, או הם pic.twitter.com/lTwYvY0BpT
— בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) 12 февраля 2015
According to the Likud campaigners, it's Benjamin Netanyahu who is truly focused on securing Israel's future.
While the media tries to distract with phony "scandals", I'm focused on securing Israel's future. RETWEET & Watch: https://t.co/2kqNJDwDxi
— בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) 8 февраля 2015
However, the Zionist Union has already slammed the controversial video and denounced Benjamin Netanyahu's security policies as a "colossal failure." "He freed terrorists with blood on their hands and strengthened Hamas, and during his tenure Iran became a state that has reached the nuclear threshold," the official statement of the left-wing parties reads.
Meanwhile, February polls indicate that a right-of-center coalition has the potential to win the Knesset race, allowing Benjamin Netanyahu to retain his post as Prime Minister of the country, Israeli media outlets note.
