New Delhi, Oct. 1 -- THE FIRST meeting in a decade between an Israeli prime minister and a Palestinian president was a historic scene. The smiles looked real. But the encounter was not. Gadi Eisenkot is the front-runner in Israel's election, not the country's prime minister. And he has yet to meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinians' ageing ruler.

The realistic-looking footage of the faux-summit purporting to show Mr Eisenkot embracing Mr Abbas was produced by Religious Zionism, a hard-right party led by Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's finance minister and an ally of Binyamin Netanyahu, its prime minister. It was aimed at convincing voters that Mr Eisenkot, a tough ex-general hoping to replace Mr Netanyahu in Israel's parliamentary election on Oc...