One typically associates covert online campaigns to influence American politics with geopolitical rivals of the U.S., like Russia and China. But it turns out that some of the recent meddling is coming from a staunch U.S. ally: Israel.
According to shocking reports in The New York Times and Haaretz this week, citing current and former Israeli officials and documents obtained by the publications, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs hired an Israeli political marketing firm to secretly influence American lawmakers and voters through fake social media accounts and news websites. These accounts and websites posted positions supporting Israel’s military operation in Gaza, criticizing pro-Palestinian groups, and spreading disinformation about antisemitism on American college campuses. (Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs has denied funding the operation.)
The Times reported that “the operation is the first documented case of the Israeli government’s organizing a campaign to influence the U.S. government” according to social media experts. The commissioned marketing firm created hundreds of social media accounts on X, Facebook and Instagram that posed as local constituents, students and activist citizens and posted comments online using ChatGPT-generated content. These accounts, which accumulated over 40,000 followers, often targeted U.S. lawmakers — particularly Black Democratic lawmakers, such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. — with replies. While Meta said this week that it had detected some of the AI-generated content and started taking it down, at least some of the accounts on X remain active.
Hakeem Jeffries speaks (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file)
The efficacy of this operation is unclear; at least some of the accounts appear manifestly fake and use awkward and repetitive language. But regardless of its effectiveness, this was not a minor effort. According to the Times, the ministry allocated the project a $2 million budget.
This isn’t “special friend of the U.S.” behavior. It’s adversarial, rogue-state behavior. And it’s a brazen gesture of disrespect for both the United States’ sovereignty and the sanctity of democracy.
That disrespect is only made greater by the scale of American politicians’ support for Israel. After Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged that “as long as America exists” it will always help defend Israel. Since the war began, the U.S. has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, shared intelligence with Israel, and given it exceptional diplomatic support. Yet the Israeli government has largely ignored or openly chafed at U.S. requests that it reduce civilian casualties in an operation that human rights experts have characterized as genocidal. It has barely and only grudgingly cooperated with U.S. demands to allow more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip while it has induced a man-made famine. It has repeatedly bucked the Biden administration’s efforts to draw some kind of line in the sand over attacking the city of Rafah.
And now it turns out that Israel is not just acting like a prickly and belligerent friend, but like an outright foe, surreptitiously undermining American democracy to advance its own interests. Generating a bot army to support Israel and criticize its opponents suggests a lack of faith that most Americans’ long-standing sympathy for Israel will endure throughout a military operation that has indiscriminately killed civilians en masse. Instead of changing in response to increasing horror in American public opinion, Israel has deployed a dishonorable strategy for altering our ability to understand what the American public’s opinion is.
The severity of Israel’s actions are compounded by the reality of the upcoming election. Because support for Israel has become a wedge issue in the Democratic Party, Israel is interfering in the 2024 elections by attempting to stoke polarization around the issue. This is precisely the kind of thing that the U.S. sanctions Moscow over.
The revelation of Israel’s influence operation takes the tragicomic imbalance in the U.S.-Israeli relationship to a new extreme. Though Washington has refused to take any serious steps to cut off aid to Israel, the latter continues poking a thumb in the eye of its greatest benefactor. But until Biden comes to his senses and treats Israel like any other nation, Israel can continue to disrespect its most important ally, secure in the knowledge it won’t face any consequences.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com