According to a report by The New York Times, the Israeli government organized and funded a clandestine influence campaign last year aimed at swaying American lawmakers and public sentiment in favor of Israel's actions during the war with Gaza. Officials involved in the effort and related documents confirmed these details, the report claims.
The covert operation was, according to the Times, commissioned by Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which allocated approximately $2 million and hired Stoic, a political marketing company based in Tel Aviv, to execute it. Commencing in October and still active on the platform X, the campaign employed hundreds of fictitious accounts masquerading as real Americans on X, Facebook, and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments.
"Israel's role in this is reckless and probably ineffective," Achiya Schatz, the executive director of FakeReporter, an Israeli misinformation watchdog, told the Times. "That Israel ran an operation that interferes in US politics is extremely irresponsible."
The accounts targeted more than a dozen members of Congress, with a focus on Black and Democratic representatives such as Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader from New York, and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia. The posts urged these lawmakers to continue funding Israel's military efforts against Gaza.
One fake account, commenting on a post by Representative Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York, stated: "Hamas is perpetrating the conflict," substituting the word "terrorist" for "militant" when referring to Hamas, the Islamist group. The campaign also utilized ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, to generate many of the posts. Additionally, it created three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles.
While the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs denied involvement and claimed no connection to Stoic, the Times reported that four current and former ministry members confirmed the government's role in the campaign. Stoic did not respond to requests for comment from the newspaper.
"Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs ordered the operation, which used fake social media accounts urging US lawmakers to fund Israel's military, according to officials and documents about the effort," the Times article stated.
The secretive campaign highlighted the lengths Israel was willing to go to shape American opinion on the war in Gaza, a conflict that has drawn criticism from many Americans who have called for President Biden to withdraw support for Israel due to mounting civilian deaths in the region.
