Coordinated Fake Iranian Accounts Boosted Netanyahu Ahead of Israel Vote

A digital network consisting of 1,653 accounts on the social media platform X appeared to coordinate efforts to support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the election held last week. According to a report published by Haaretz on Friday, these accounts posed as users from Iran and amplified the prime minister's campaign messages in the final days of the race.

The accounts, which claimed to represent Iranians living both inside and outside the country, posted messages in Hebrew urging domestic voters to back Netanyahu on behalf of the Iranian people. Although the operators behind the accounts remain unidentified, their activity showed clear signs of coordination, particularly as election day approached.

Data analysis revealed that the network intensified its efforts during the voting period. Multiple accounts published identical messages and responded to other posts in rapid, coordinated bursts. One specific pair of accounts shared 109 identical posts, a volume that Haaretz noted was significantly higher than the four posts expected from organic, independent activity. These accounts also responded to 232 posts from 53 different users simultaneously or within five minutes of each other.

Specific examples of the coordinated messaging emerged on election morning. Two accounts posted the same Hebrew message approximately one hour apart, calling on voters to support Netanyahu to finish the job, accompanied by the hashtag #IsraeliElections2026. In the hours before the vote, one account wrote at 10 pm that voters should choose only the Likud party the next day. Another account posted a message twice within two minutes after midnight, simply stating to vote for Benjamin Netanyahu.

A third message, published in both Hebrew and English around 2 am, addressed the people of Israel directly. It stated that if they wished to be protected from the Islamic Republic and the Axis of Resistance, they should vote. These specific instances of timing and repetition highlighted the structured nature of the digital campaign.

The findings were based on research conducted by Expose, a social media monitoring company that specializes in tracking digital influence operations and disinformation. This investigation followed an earlier report by Haaretz, which noted that accounts previously linked to an influence campaign targeting the Iranian government had begun engaging with Israel's election campaign and sharing Netanyahu's videos.

Expose determined that approximately 1,600 of the accounts in the network had been identified the previous year as part of an influence operation. That earlier operation promoted Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah who was overthrown in 1979, as an alternative to the current Iranian government. As the Israeli election campaign gained momentum in July, 185 of these specific accounts began interacting with Netanyahu's social media profiles, including by sharing posts that attacked his political opponents.

Following the conclusion of the election last week, the network reportedly returned to its usual focus on promoting Pahlavi. The findings were submitted to the Central Elections Committee in October as expert evidence in a petition. The petition was brought by the Brandeis Institute and FakeReporter against Netanyahu, the Likud party, and the Prime Minister's Office.

Judge Noam Solberg, the chairman of the committee, rejected the petition on the eve of the election. He ruled that the network's activity appeared to violate election advertising transparency requirements on its face. However, because the identities of the account operators were unknown, he stated that the committee could not reach a definitive ruling. He ordered the evidence to be referred to the police for further investigation.

In response to the investigation published in October, both the Prime Minister's Office and the Likud party denied any connection to the fake accounts. They maintained that the coordination was external and not part of their official campaign strategy.