Iranian Disinformation Campaign Targeting Israeli Elections Uncovered

Cybersecurity experts have uncovered a sophisticated disinformation campaign orchestrated by Iran, aimed at influencing Israel's upcoming parliamentary elections. A detailed investigation by the platform Golden Owl analyzed over 21,000 publications across Hebrew, Arabic, English, and Russian between August 22 and September 22.

The network comprised 35 suspicious profiles, including 32 accounts posing as ordinary Israeli citizens and three Hebrew-language channels impersonating independent media outlets. These accounts disseminated provocative content on sensitive Israeli issues, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's responsibility for the October 7th events, corruption scandals, the ultra-Orthodox draft, potential new military conflicts, and claims of election fraud.

Evidence of centralized control was observed, including synchronized posting, identical text repetition, sudden profile persona changes, and the use of content previously linked to Iranian influence operations. The campaign reached over 947,000 views and garnered more than 9,000 user reactions.

An additional 362 accounts were identified as regularly sharing the network's posts. Researchers believe these users were likely unaware of the disinformation's true origin and were misled into amplifying the content.