India, Oct. 25 -- The ballots for Tuesday's Israeli election have not yet been cast, but the information war that will shape how 6.8 million eligible voters understand their choices has been raging for months, and it is being fought with weapons that have no precedent in Israeli electoral history: artificial intelligence-generated video, bot networks recycled from psychological operations against Iran, voter surveillance applications and deepfake imagery that exploits the face of a soldier killed in Gaza.

Polls show the blocs linked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition, led by former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, are locked in a virtual tie before Tuesday's general election. Efforts to mobilise supporters, win ...