Fake Iranian accounts ‘campaigned for Netanyahu’ ahead of Israeli election

A network of 1,653 X (Twitter) profiles posing as Iranian users reportedly boosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election campaign ahead of the country's recent vote, according to a report by Haaretz. The accounts, which claimed to belong to Iranians living in or outside Iran, posted messages in Hebrew urging Israelis to vote for Netanyahu "on behalf of the Iranian people."

Their activity intensified on election day, with multiple accounts publishing identical messages and responding to posts in coordinated bursts. Expose, a social media monitoring company, found that around 1,600 of the accounts had previously been identified in an influence operation promoting Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah, as an alternative to the Iranian government.

Despite the findings, the Central Elections Committee rejected a petition against Netanyahu, Likud, and the Prime Minister's Office, citing the unknown identities of the account operators. The Prime Minister's Office and Likud denied any connection to the accounts.