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Commentator Yinon Magal, seen as a Netanyahu-aligned media figure, called Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot a “monkey,” prompting criticism of Netanyahu for initial silence before he eventually condemned the remark as “highly inappropriate.” Netanyahu simultaneously accused his political opponents of despising Likud voters, incorrectly claiming a businesswoman had called Likud supporters chimpanzees and baboons. The episode, emerging just over a week before the October 27 election, became another flashpoint in the heated campaign between Netanyahu's bloc and Eisenkot's Yashar party.