NYT reveals how Israel sought support in US with propaganda campaigns

The New York Times (NYT) has revealed that the Netanyahu-led government allegedly funded an operation involving fake social media accounts to promote pro-Israel content and sway U.S. officials.

According to the NYT report, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs spearheaded this initiative to garner support for Israeli military funding from U.S. lawmakers.

Last year, Israel conducted a covert campaign targeting U.S. lawmakers and the American public with pro-Israel messages amid the conflict with Gaza. The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, responsible for connecting Jews worldwide with Israel, allocated approximately $2 million for this effort and hired Stoic, a political marketing firm based in Tel Aviv, to execute the campaign, NYT reported.

Beginning in October, the campaign utilized hundreds of fake accounts on platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments, particularly aimed at Black Democratic lawmakers such as Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Raphael Warnock.

These posts urged continued U.S. military funding for Israel. Additionally, ChatGPT was used to generating many of these posts, and three fake news sites were created to disseminate pro-Israel articles.

NYT confirmed Israel’s involvement through four officials and related documents, marking the first documented case of Israel organizing a campaign to influence U.S. politics. FakeReporter, an Israeli misinformation watchdog, identified the campaign in March. Recently, Meta and OpenAI acknowledged finding and disrupting the operation.

Israel denies allegations

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs denied any connection to the campaign or Stoic. Despite accumulating over 40,000 followers across social media platforms, Meta and OpenAI indicated the campaign had limited impact, with many followers likely bots.

This revelation highlights the extent to which Israel went to influence American opinion during the Gaza conflict. It underscores the complexity and challenge of identifying and disrupting government-backed influence campaigns.