The very existence of the interview with retired Brigadier General Dedi Simhi on Channel 12 last Saturday (May 23) reflected an ethical lapse. Simhi, who appeared on the program “Meet the Press” to announce that he would run in the upcoming Knesset elections, was until very recently a regular panelist on Channel 12.

We are already used to these conflicts of interest: Another Channel 12 panelist, Boaz Bismuth, served Likud onscreen (and before that, as editor of “Israel Hayom”), only to jump to the Likud list and a seat in the Knesset. But a more significant problem lay in what Simhi said to journalists Ben Caspit and Daphna Liel, who didn’t pause even for a second to address the vitriol in his comments.

The Seventh Eye’s election project, which we presented in the “Book of Narratives,” focuses on exposing and dismantling the false narratives and manipulative tactics that will be disseminated in the media during the election campaign — and recommends ways to deal with them on air. Caspit’s and Liel’s interview with Simhi is an excellent example.

The first question addressed to Simhi was: Which bloc do you represent? To which Simhi replied: "I am from the bloc of Israel." A seemingly trivial statement, but actually a clear expression of the false narrative "We are of Israel — they are not," which is used to delegitimize political candidates and parties.

The term "of Israel" is a red flag for identifying manipulation through polarization in its most extreme form: removing the "other" from the collective of Israeli society, thus marking him as unworthy of participating in the political game, to the point of being a traitor.

This figure of speech was taken from the frightened words of a girl from Sderot, who asked the security forces who came to rescue her and her sister from a vehicle in the midst of the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023: "Are you of Israel?" That is, not Hamas terrorists.

These moving words, seen as a symbol of hope and unity in the face of an external threat, were appropriated by the Bibist right wing and became a dog whistle indicating which elements of society, the media, and politicians are "of Israel," meaning supporters of the Netanyahu camp, and which betrayed the state and Israeli society by opposing government policy before and after October 7th.

Following his declaration that he is "from the bloc of Israel," Simhi confirms that he was offered a seat in the ruling Likud, and so the manipulative connection is made that joining Netanyahu is indeed "of Israel."

Politicians and media figures who use this term, which also featured in an advertising campaign by Channel 14, the propaganda channel serving the Netanyahu government, are engaging in cynical emotional manipulation, as the trigger for the October 7 massacre is pulled and the rage and fear it arouses are directed at those who are allegedly not "of Israel."

Of course, the manipulative use of the term is built on an essential logical fallacy: after all, the October 7th blunder occurred on the Netanyahu government's watch. Therefore, to justify this position, which so blatantly contradicts the real facts about the massacre and the endless war that followed in its wake, the interviewee turns to another false narrative from the list: rewriting history.

According to Simhi, "The disaster of the massacre on October 7 is 97% the responsibility of the IDF and the security services." Even when asked who would take the blame for the remaining 3 percent, the phrase "Netanyahu's government" was not mentioned. "There is enough responsibility and blame for everyone. Even Ben-Gurion, who was prime minister, has responsibility," was the answer.

Simhi later agreed that while the IDF and the Shin Bet are fully responsible for the high number of casualties, the hostages, and the loss of direction in the early days, the political echelon still bears some responsibility for the failure. Even then, the defensive officer was careful to say that responsibility lies with all 120 members of Knesset, and not with the government, God forbid, or its leader.

This is also an example of the false narrative designed to whitewash Netanyahu, his government, and the coalition parties, and remove responsibility and blame for the most serious security failure in Israel's history from the political echelon.

The manipulation is carried out through an artificial separation between "parts" of the failure, on the basis of which Simhi slams the IDF and the Shin Bet with a general and controversial claim, devoid of evidence or proof, intended to criticize and undermine trust in these institutions in order to restore trust in the government — and as a diversionary tactic intended to replace a substantive discussion of the October 7 failure and acceptance of responsibility.

There is no doubt that the Israeli security establishment failed miserably in protecting Israeli citizens on October 7th. A failure for which hundreds of its people paid with their lives and for which its leaders will forever bear a mark of shame. However, this does not in the least diminish the political echelon's guilt and responsibility for the failure and its dire consequences.

The framing of the responsibility lying either with the military or the political echelon is based on another manipulation that characterizes false propaganda: a false dichotomy, which ignores the third possibility, according to which both the political and military echelons are culpable and guilty for the failure.

As mentioned, Caspit and Liel, the broadcast’s hosts, did not call out these false manipulations, and facilitated their spread without contradiction or refutation. In doing so, they helped spread and instill manipulative and false political propaganda in the minds of their viewers, during an election period, instead of protecting them from it.

The false narratives we listed in the "Narrative Book" are expected to be disseminated in countless forms during the election campaign. The role of the media is not to be a hollow conduit for conveying messages, but a gatekeeper that oversees the government and gives the public the tools to vote in a way that’s informed, truthful, and free from manipulation.

This article was published in Hebrew on May 25, 2026
Translation: Harriet Brown