Netanyahu Aide Builds AI Media Monitoring Tool for PM and Wife
Yonatan Orich, an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has developed an artificial intelligence tool designed to monitor Israeli media coverage in real-time for mentions of the Prime Minister and his wife, Sara Netanyahu. The system, built using the Claude AI engine for the Likud campaign, scans approximately 50 news sources every 90 seconds, prioritizing them by importance. Its purpose is to identify "spreading news" that may require a response and to generate two daily media summaries for the Prime Minister. Alerts are sent to two dedicated WhatsApp groups: one for mentions concerning Sara Netanyahu and another for reports on the Prime Minister and the Likud party.
Since September 1st, the system has conducted over 19,000 scans. In an 18-day period, it identified around 5,500 relevant mentions. On September 8th, a particularly busy day, 689 mentions were collected. Within 14 days, 226 events related to Sara Netanyahu were sent to her dedicated WhatsApp group. Orich defined specific "targets" for the system to track, including various formulations of Netanyahu's name, Sara Netanyahu, and the Likud party. Other political figures like Yair Golan, Gadi Eisenkot, Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett, and Avigdor Lieberman were also set for monitoring, though their parties were tracked more broadly than the individuals themselves.
The AI was instructed to act as a "senior media advisor to the Prime Minister's office" and to analyze key news items. It was tasked with explaining the importance of each story, recommending whether to respond immediately, later, or not at all, and identifying potential risks or opportunities. The system was also asked to provide a "media situation assessment" and suggest messaging points for Netanyahu or the Likud. However, an examination by Haaretz revealed that the AI analysis component experienced numerous failures. The system's code was initially exposed on a publicly accessible GitHub account, confirmed by Haaretz and network researchers to belong to Orich. This is not the first time Orich's work has been publicly exposed online; two years prior, documents related to a Qatar World Cup image campaign he worked on were similarly revealed.
The exposed code also contained sensitive information, including the unique identifiers for the WhatsApp groups and an access key. Haaretz reported that this information could have allowed unauthorized individuals to join the groups, view members and their phone numbers, access group content, and even send messages on behalf of the groups. Following Haaretz's inquiry, access to Orich's GitHub account was restricted, and the security vulnerability was removed.
