TEL AVIV – Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Tuesday said there was not enough evidence to prove unsubstantiated claims that a network of pro-Netanyahu social media accounts were funded by the ruling Likud party.
His comments came in response to a petition to the Central Elections Committee as well as a police complaint by main rival party Blue and White that the network, which allegedly included fake accounts, constituted propaganda and therefore a violation of electoral law.
The petition came on the heels of a report published by social media watchdog Big Bots Project that was picked up by both the New York Times and the Hebrew-language Yedioth Aharonoth that claimed a Twitter network of some 500+ accounts were suspected of being fake or of coordinating with one another.
The accounts drew over 2.5 million engagements. Researchers cited within the report found no direct link between any of the accounts and the prime minister, his son Yair, or the Likud campaign itself.
Blue and White quickly leveraged the report, charging the prime minister with “info terror” and fake news.
The prime minister on Monday responded by claiming that the report was sanctioned by Israeli Alliance, a liberal-leaning organization that is funded by leftists.
In a press briefing in Jerusalem, Netanyahu introduced a man named Giora who runs a pro-Likud account under the pseudonym “Captain George.”
Netanyahu then turned to Giora and asked, “Are you real? Are you a bot?”
“Giora says what he thinks. Giora says what he wants. Nobody is ‘operating’ him,” Netanyahu continued.
Regarding Blue and White, the prime minister stated, “Brazenly and condescendingly, they are lying and saying you aren’t real.”
“Today they published a front-page story that all the support for us is fictitious, and they brought some examples to prove it. Nearly all the examples turned out to be real people.”
“They have names, they have faces, they have families, and worst of all, they have views of their own,” declared Netanyahu. “None of them are fake.”
Citing “unbelievable hypocrisy,” Netanyahu slammed Blue and White for controlling “an army of online bots that defame us all the time, Likud, my family, me.”
“It’s just a huge lie, such a transparent lie.”
“They’re running the most deceitful campaign ever,” said Netanyahu.
“For four years, the media lies to you from morning till night. They silence and defame right-wing figures,” the prime minister said.
Netanyahu continued, “It won’t work because you, the citizens, are not bots. A million Likud voters are not bots.”
The prime minister also said his party is nearly the “only campaign that doesn’t operate bots.”
Blue and White stood its ground, claiming without evidence that the prime minister operated the string of fake accounts.
“Netanyahu is trying to steal the elections. There has never been a prime minister who lied and defamed so much. Let him explain where the millions of shekels that funded this network of lies came from. And how he paid for it without reporting it,” the party claimed.
Some of the Twitter users identified as bots in the Yedioth Aharonoth report have since stepped forward.
“I was always sure that I’m a real person, but this morning I found out that I am a bot,” Ziv Knobler, who has a pro-Netanyahu Twitter account, said on Israeli radio. He added that he was considering suing the paper.
In Blue and White’s police complaint, they name Mandelblit, Likud and one Yitzhak Haddad as defendants. Hadad was identified by researchers in the report as having a social media account that was linked to others. Hadad, who runs online campaigns, was cited by Yedioth Aharonoth as having told a private investigator that the campaigns he runs involve “a lot of money.” He added that he has connections with “senior Likud figures.”