At least 128 members of Congress were targeted by an Israeli-linked operation to spread pro-Israel military content amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, according to data shared with POLITICO from an Israeli disinformation watchdog group.
The existence of an influence campaign targeted at lawmakers was first made public in March. In it, around 600 fake profiles unleashed more than 2,000 coordinated comments per week backing Israel’s military actions, slamming Palestinian rights groups and dismissing claims of human rights abuses.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the operation was backed by the Israeli government, citing multiple unnamed Israeli officials, but the exact number of politicians targeted was not previously disclosed.
The posts were aimed at the social media accounts of at least 128 U.S. lawmakers, according to data from FakeReporter, the group that first exposed the network. Among the names of lawmakers on the list shared with POLITICO that weren’t previously known are Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Reps. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Shontel Brown (D-Ohio).
The list also includes House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
The size of the list reveals the influence operators blanketed much of Congress with their campaign. At the same time it also shows targeting of certain groups — the names skew heavily towards the House rather than the Senate, and the targets were predominantly Democratic lawmakers.
The commenters in the disinformation network posed as American social media users and routinely amplified pro-Israel messaging by sharing links to fake news outlets.
According to The New York Times, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs spent $2 million on the campaign and hired Israeli political marketing group STOIC to carry it out. FakeReporter hadn’t been able to confirm the perpetrators behind the pro-Israel comment clusters, but Meta last week published a separate report alleging that STOIC was behind the disinformation campaign and announcing that it had banned the company from its social media platforms.
POLITICO was not able to independently confirm that the Israeli government was behind the campaign.
But the approach would track with other state-sponsored disinformation attacks out of Iran, Russia, North Korea and China, which often involve the use of fake accounts on social media to spread narratives favorable to those governments. The disinformation campaign underscores the concerns about psy-ops muddying political discourse worldwide, including around major elections.
A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined comment on the report and pointed instead towards a statement denying involvement from the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs, which notes that the ministry “categorically” denies involvement.
“We would like to clarify that neither the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs nor the Voices of Israel have any connection or collaborative activities with the company STOIC,” the statement reads. “Any claims suggesting otherwise are completely unfounded and inaccurate.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) was one of the lawmakers targeted by online posts by the Israeli-backed campaign at least 88 times. When asked by POLITICO on Wednesday about the report, Blumenthal said he did not know “anything more about it than what I’ve read, I haven’t been contacted.”
“I want to know exactly what was done by whom and who was contacted,” Blumenthal said.
Spokespersons for the White House National Security Council declined to comment on the findings. Over a dozen other lawmakers targeted in the campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The Israeli watchdog group accused its own government of engaging in crude foreign influence operations that create enormous risk, while doing little to combat disinformation threats domestically.
“The foreign influence network operated against American lawmakers was an irresponsible, reckless, and anti-democratic act,” Achiya Schatz, executive director of FakeReporter said. “If Israel does not wish to be victims of foreign interventions, it must refrain from carrying them out by itself.”
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