A boy rides a scooter past a tent showing greeting messages for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at a camp sheltering displaced Palestinians erected in a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (Photo: AFP)
Social media researchers have uncovered an Israeli digital operation aimed at influencing young English-speaking people's opinions of the Gaza war, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday. The majority of its targets were young American Democrats.
The campaign, discovered by an Israeli online watchdog, Fake Reporter, involved creating fake news websites, as well as hundreds of fake social media accounts, in an attempt to advance "Israeli interests" by amplifying claims made by the Israeli government. The claims were focused on the Israeli allegations that that members of the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, were involved in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 Hamas.
The Israeli allegations led to several major donors, including the US, to pull funding from the agency. UNRWA reacted to the allegations by firing most of the workers accused, and an independent investigation was launched. Last Thursday, the European Union's top humanitarian aid official, Janez Lenarcic, said he had yet to see any evidence from Israel that would support its accusations.
Researchers at Fake Reporter, found three "news sites" associated with the campaign against UNRWA. The sites published "reports" that were copied from news outlets including CNN and The Guardian.
The watchdog's research also found that over 500 different avatars were created on the same dates, using similar profile pictures and naming conventions, and shared other characteristics that indicated they are all part of the same system. The accounts published posts with almost identical wording and links to what Fake Reporter called "the three main assets" in the influence operation: UnFold Magazine, Non-Agenda and The Moral Alliance. The report stated that UnFold's X profile was created on the same day as a large number of the avatars were also created.
The operation was launched a few weeks after the war started and is active still today. According to Fake Reporter, the campaign mostly targeted the social media accounts of American politicians, particularly African-American Democratic lawmakers.
Since the war broke out, and with the US presidential election looming in November, tense discussions have been happening in the Democratic party regarding America's support for Israel. The younger progressive wing of the party wants President Joe Biden to limit aid to Israel and are demanding an immediate cease-fire. The report suggests that targeting Democrat African-American lawmakers could be an attempt to deter the extent to which they support Palestinians.