Likud launches billboard ahead of elections with the four Horses Asses of the Apolcalypse

Likud billboard with Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem. August 16, 2026. 

Likud has apparently decided that the best way to kick off election season is to remind Israelis that, when it comes to political enemies, there is always room for a few more.

The party unveiled a billboard featuring Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem. Israeli social media accounts shared images of the billboard Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu helpfully reposted the image with the caption: “Don’t let them win.”

The billboard itself reportedly reads: “They want Netanyahu to lose, don’t let them win.”

The Jerusalem Post, however, believes the billboard is not actually in Jerusalem, as social media posts claimed, but in Tel Aviv overlooking the Ayalon Highway. Apparently even billboards are getting caught up in the Israeli election geography dispute.

Naturally, Israeli politicians were not going to let Likud have all the fun.

Yashar, the party led by former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, produced its own version. Its billboard read: “They want the IDF to collapse, don’t let Netanyahu win.”

“Netanyahu, we fixed for you,” the X/Twitter caption read. “Only Eisenkot will establish a fully Zionist government.”

Then MK Naama Lazimi entered the fray with perhaps the most politically loaded Photoshop job of the day.

She replaced Likud’s four villains with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Netanyahu’s current strategic adviser Yonatan Urich, former media adviser Eli Feldstein, and former political adviser Srulik Einhorn, all of whom are believed to be connected to the Qatargate affair.

Qatargate concerns an investigation into Netanyahu aides who allegedly received payments from Qatar while involved in hostage negotiations with Hamas. Nothing says Israeli political unity quite like accusing your opponent of being compromised by the country associated with Hamas.

Lazimi changed the billboard's message to: “They want Netanyahu to win, don’t let them lose.”

“Netanyahu, I updated this to the Qatargate version,” she wrote. “The invoice will be submitted on October 7.”

At this point, Israeli election campaigning has apparently evolved into a national Photoshop competition with the added benefit of an occasional national security implication.

And the polls suggest voters have plenty of choices. Eisenkot’s Yashar currently leads with 24 Knesset seats, followed by Netanyahu’s Likud with 22 and Naftali Bennett’s B'Yachad with 15.

The election has not even arrived yet, and the candidates are already putting each other on billboards with Ayatollahs, terrorists, foreign leaders and alleged scandal participants.

Israelis may want to buckle up. Election season is apparently going to be a long one.

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Hezbollah Furious That Lebanon Might Stop Letting Hezbollah Run Lebanon

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem is having a rough weekend. The terror group's secretary general blasted the newly signed Israel-Lebanon framework agreement as "null," a "humiliation," and an outrageous assault on the sacred tradition of heavily armed militias operating their own private state inside another state.

Apparently, nothing says "national sovereignty" quite like taking orders from Tehran while stockpiling rockets in civilian neighborhoods.

Speaking on Saturday, Qassem declared that any effort to tie Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon to Hezbollah giving up its arsenal crossed "all red lines." Translation: Israel is expected to leave, but Hezbollah is expected to keep enough missiles to redecorate northern Israel whenever the mood strikes.

“We say to the Lebanese authorities, it is time for you to retract your sins that are destroying Lebanon,” Qassem asserted.

That is certainly one way to describe the situation. Another would be to ask whether the organization that has dragged Lebanon into repeated wars, frightened away investors, and treated the country's sovereignty like an optional suggestion is perhaps looking in the wrong mirror.

The framework agreement, signed Friday by the United States, Israel, and Lebanon after days of negotiations in Washington, lays out a step by step plan to dismantle Hezbollah's terrorist infrastructure, disarm the group, and allow the IDF to withdraw from southern Lebanon as the threat disappears.

In other words, somebody finally proposed the radical idea that a country's army should be the country's army.

The agreement also calls for the United States to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces so the nation's military, instead of an Iranian proxy, can provide security within Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the deal, calling it “a major achievement for the State of Israel” in a public address.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the agreement as “the first step on the path to restoring Lebanon's sovereignty” in a post on X.

Qassem, meanwhile, appears to believe Lebanese sovereignty is best preserved by ensuring Hezbollah remains more heavily armed than the Lebanese government itself. It is a fascinating constitutional theory, albeit one that seems to exist nowhere outside the offices of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

For years Hezbollah has insisted it is merely defending Lebanon. Now that someone has suggested Lebanon might defend itself, Hezbollah suddenly finds the proposal deeply offensive.

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Hezbollah terrorists killed, 2 IDF troops slightly wounded in close quarter combat

Two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded on Thursday during a close-quarters engagement in southern Lebanon during which the troops killed a Hezbollah terrorist, the IDF said.

The engagement came amid a “targeted ground operation” conducted by the 162nd Division to bolster the military’s forward position in the country, the IDF added.

Soldiers in the area also located "numerous weapons, including rifles, vests, grenades, and additional weapons," the IDF said.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Thursday that there was no end in sight to the war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Katz to Hezbollah chief Qassem: You will 'not live to see' Israel’s full response

Amid the operations, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem that he would not live to see the extent of the “very heavy price” the group would pay for its earlier attacks on Israel during Passover, saying he would be “at the bottom of hell” alongside slain members of Iran and its proxy network.

Katz’s comments came following a Thursday situational assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other top military officials at “the pit,” the IDF’s command center beneath the Kiyra military compound. IDF soldiers are seen operating in southern Lebanon, April 1, 2026.Earlier that morning, military sources said that the IDF had begun demolishing homes in southern Lebanese villages located along the border with Israel.

According to the sources, the houses targeted by the military were used by the Hezbollah terrorist group as bases to launch anti-tank fire and conduct reconnaissance of Israeli forces.The demolitions were being carried out in accordance with orders issued by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who last week instructed the IDF to begin destroying homes and bridges south of the Litani River.

"We have ordered an acceleration in the destruction of Lebanese homes in contact-line villages to neutralize threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanun and Rafah in Gaza," Katz said at the time, adding that the military will continue to allow residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate northward.

IDF in Southern Lebanon April 1, 2026

IDF captures Hezbollah terrorists, sources observe 'low morale' among fightersEarlier, IDF divisions continued their ground incursion into southern Lebanon overnight on Wednesday, maneuvering deeper into Lebanese territory, security sources said.

Several Hezbollah fighters were detained as prisoners of war after surrendering to Israeli forces in the past 24 hours, sources added, saying they were transferred over for interrogation.IDF sources observed "low morale" among the terrorists who were captured, most from the capital, Beirut. Other fighters were said to have managed to flee north of the Litani River.Furthermore, the fighters were said to have employed heavy guerrilla warfare, using the demolished homes as hiding spots between rounds of fire aimed at Israeli troops.

Last week, defense sources told The Jerusalem Post that Israel plans to keep “effective control” of southern Lebanon even for an indefinite period after the current war ends, presuming that Hezbollah will not yet have disarmed.

IDF kills over 40 Hezbollah terrorists in last 24 hours

Later on Thursday, the IDF said that it had killed over 40 Hezbollah terrorists and struck dozens of terror infrastructure sites through air, naval, and ground operations in Lebanon.

"In the past 24 hours, the Israeli Air Force struck dozens of headquarters, weapons storage facilities, launch sites, and anti-tank missile positions. The Israeli Navy also conducted a precise strike targeting a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in southern Lebanon," the military said.

Additionally, ground operations included an offensive from the 91st Division, which killed a Hezbollah terrorist cell in southern Lebanon, soldiers from the 36th Division engaging and killing three Hezbollah terrorists on motorcycles, the 146th Division dismantling over 180 terror infrastructure sites, and the 162nd Division locating numerous weapons.

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IAF Strikes Hezbollah vehicle in Southern Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces are determined to operate within the parameters of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, they said, as reported by the Jewish News Syndicate. 

An Israeli Air Force (IAF) plane attacked an "engineering vehicle" in Southern Lebanon on Wednesday after spotting Hezbollah members trying to fix infrastructure, which broke the November ceasefire, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Thursday morning.

"Despite Hezbollah's efforts to come back to Southern Lebanon, the IDF is committed to sticking to the deals between Israel and Lebanon and will act to remove any danger to Israel and its people," the statement emphasized.

Just this week, Israeli forces hit a car with Hezbollah fighters who were about to attack, according to the army's Tuesday statement.

The IDF mentioned that soldiers are continuously working to neutralize threats and take apart Hezbollah's setups in Southern Lebanon, following the ceasefire agreement on November 26 between Jerusalem and Beirut, which was officially extended on Sunday to February 18.

Hezbollah's Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, stated on Monday that his group would not accept any excuses for delaying Israel's military withdrawal.

On Friday, Jerusalem declared that pulling out the troops would take more time than the 60 days agreed upon in the ceasefire.

"The IDF's withdrawal is based on the Lebanese Armed Forces taking control in Southern Lebanon, ensuring the agreement is fully followed, and Hezbollah moving back across the Litani River," said the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

"Since Lebanon has not fully enforced the ceasefire agreement, the step-by-step withdrawal will go on, in close coordination with the United States," the statement added.

Jerusalem "will not put its communities and citizens at risk and will demand the complete fulfillment of the goals of the conflict in the north, which is to ensure residents can safely return home," it concluded.

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