Israel allegedly conducted a covert influence campaign to gain support from U.S. politicians and the American public for its Gaza offensive last year. The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, responsible for connecting Jews worldwide with Israel, reportedly funded this operation with approximately $2 million. The campaign was executed by Stoic, a political marketing firm based in Tel Aviv.
The influence campaign began in October and remains active on social media platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram. At its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts posing as real Americans to post pro-Israel comments. These accounts specifically targeted U.S. politicians, focusing on Black Democrats such as Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Raphael Warnock, urging them to continue funding Israel’s military. Posts were often generated using the AI tool ChatGPT.
The campaign also created three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles. These sites, with names like Non-Agenda and UnFold Magazine, rewrote material from outlets like CNN and The Wall Street Journal to promote Israel’s stance during the war. Fake accounts on Reddit then linked to these articles to increase their reach.
The Israeli government’s connection to this influence operation was verified by four current and former members of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and related documents. FakeReporter, an Israeli misinformation watchdog, initially identified the effort in March. Last week, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, confirmed and disrupted the operation. Meta removed 510 Facebook accounts, 11 Facebook pages, 32 Instagram accounts, and one Facebook group tied to the campaign. OpenAI noted that Stoic had created fictional personas and biographies meant to stand in for real people on social media services used in Israel, Canada, and the United States to post anti-Islamic messages.
Despite the elaborate setup, the campaign did not have a significant impact. Meta and OpenAI reported that many followers of the fake accounts were likely bots, limiting their reach. Moreover, the effort was marked by several sloppy mistakes. For instance, profile pictures sometimes did not match the fictional personas, and some accounts with photos of Black men posted about being “middle-aged Jewish women.”
The campaign signals the lengths Israel was willing to go to influence American opinion on the Gaza conflict. While coordinated government-backed campaigns are not uncommon, proving their direct involvement is typically difficult. However, this case stands out as a documented instance of the Israeli government organizing a campaign to sway U.S. politics. Achiya Schatz, executive director of FakeReporter, criticized Israel’s involvement, calling it “extremely irresponsible.”
The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs denied involvement in the campaign, and Stoic did not respond to requests for comment. The campaign’s limited impact highlights the challenges and ethical concerns surrounding state-sponsored influence operations in the digital age.
