Mapping Israel’s Secret Influence Campaign On U.S. Lawmakers over Gaza

Gaza,Influence operation,Netanyahu

Israel Secretly Targets U.S. Lawmakers With Influence Campaign on Gaza War

“Israel organized and paid for an influence campaign last year targeting U.S. lawmakers and the American public with pro-Israel messaging, as it aimed to foster support for its actions in the war with Gaza, according to officials involved in the effort and documents related to the operation.

The covert campaign was commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, a government body that connects Jews around the world with the State of Israel, four Israeli officials said. The ministry allocated about $2 million to the operation and hired Stoic, a political marketing firm in Tel Aviv, to carry it out, according to the officials and the documents.” — NY Times

Who was targeted in the Influence Campaign? How was it carried out? Who paid for the operation? Who was involved? Follow along with this interactive relationship map based on the NY Times, Axios and The Verge articles. Click on any face of image for details.

Covert influence campaign

“The covert influence campaign was one of the efforts disrupted by Meta, according to its quarterly threat report issued at the end of May. In the report, Meta said it had identified a network of more than 500 fake accounts traced to Israel that posted pro-Israel messages on Instagram and Facebook.

Meta noted that the campaign’s accounts impersonated local Jewish students, African Americans, and “concerned” citizens and left messages on the pages of legitimate news organizations and public figures. The topics of the comments included campus antisemitism, calls to release hostages taken during Hamas’ October 7th attack, and anti-Islam material.

Israel’s influence campaign remains active on Elon Musk’s X/Twitter

OpenAI similarly reported it had disrupted a campaign in Israel using its tools. At the time, it wasn’t known that the Israeli government was behind the campaign. The campaign remains active on X, according to the Times.” — The Verge

“Netanyahu is prolonging war in Gaza”

• After responding that he doesn’t want to comment, Biden then said, “there is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”
• Netanyahu’s radical right-wing coalition partners ultranationalist ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have threatened to leave the coalition and topple the government if the current proposal turns into an agreement.
• But the two ultra-orthodox parties in Netanyahu’s coalition announced they support the deal and called on Netanyahu to push forward with it regardless of political pressure.
• The President mentioned that the judicial overhaul Netanyahu was pushing for before Oct. 7 “hasn’t been helpful” for the country and said the Israeli prime minister had got “blowback” from the Israeli military for wanting to change the country’s supreme court before the war. — Axios

TakeAway: Understand how Israel’s influence operation worked and helps Netanyahu prolong the war in Gaza.

Deepak
DemLabs

DISCLAIMER: ALTHOUGH THE DATA FOUND IN THIS BLOG AND INFOGRAPHIC HAS BEEN PRODUCED AND PROCESSED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED CAN BE MADE REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, LEGALITY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY SUCH INFORMATION. THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES TO ANY USES OF THE INFORMATION WHETHER ISOLATED OR AGGREGATE USES THEREOF.