A coordinated network of more than 100 social media accounts was allegedly used to target political rivals of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and had ties to a consulting firm working on his party’s election campaign, according to an investigation reportedly conducted by the FakeReporter organization.
Ben-Gvir, who leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, denied the investigation conducted by FakeReporter, which is a research organization that works to combat malicious online activity and fake news.
FakeReporter had alleged that the accounts spread messages targeting political rivals in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) and Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter (People of Israel party), along with Channel 14, according to a Monday N12 report.
According to the report, FakeReporter said that some of the accounts used images and identities generated by artificial intelligence.
FakeReporter further alleged a link between the network’s activity and a consulting company involved in Otzma Yehudit’s campaign. No admission or confirmation of a direct connection between the company and the operation of the accounts has been published.
Ben-Gvir's office claims report funded by 'foreign money'
Ben-Gvir’s office rejected the allegations and attacked the organization behind the investigation.
“The same ‘investigation,’ the same left-wing elements, and the same FakeReporter of the radical left,” the minister’s office told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday following the N12 report.
Ben-Gvir’s office also accused the FakeReporter organization’s backers of being supported by “an army of foreign money interfering in Israeli elections.” His office did not provide evidence for the allegation in the statement.
“Before the previous elections, they also told us that behind Prime Minister Netanyahu stood an ‘army of fakes,’ and then the public went to the polls and decided,” Ben-Gvir’s office stated.
“They will continue to bark; we will continue to win,” the statement added.
FakeReporter reportedly said it had previously identified dozens of coordinated accounts on X, including approximately 90 users who published hundreds of posts against him.
The organization alleged that many of the posts appeared within short periods and used similar wording, and that some of the accounts had previously promoted messages supportive of Ben-Gvir. It later said it removed around 100 accounts from X following its reports, according to N12.
Ofer Winter responds to Ben-Gvir's bot network
Winter strongly condemned the report that bots were used against him and his right-wing party, stating that Ben-Gvir should be focusing on his ministerial role of overseeing the police and combating crime.
“Protection rackets are surging, crime is running rampant, and there is no decisive victory on any front. Our reservists are being worked to the bone in reserve duty over the holidays, while a minister in Israel is busy with influence operations aimed at harming right-wing parties,” Winter stated.
Winter added that his party would work to “change this path.”
“During this intermediate holiday week, we are going around and meeting people across Israel, who want something new and different, not bots but action, not declarations but results,” he stated.
The People of Israel Party has sought to bring fresh faces into the Knesset and candidates who were not part of the political or security establishment during the period surrounding the October 7 failures.