Washington DC - The Israeli government has been tied to an online influence campaign launched last year in an effort to shape American policy and public opinion toward the ongoing siege of Gaza.

Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs commissioned and financed a disinformation and influence campaign starting last October as the government sought to boost support for its assault on the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza, the New York Times reported.

The scheme involved the creation of hundreds of fake social media accounts sharing pro-Israel information. The comments on X, Facebook, and Instagram – often calling for continued US funding for Israel – purported to come from concerned constituents, but in reality, many were generated using ChatGPT.

Additionally, the propaganda campaign created three fake news sites which stole and rewrote articles from top US news sites with a pro-Israel bent.

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The operations targeted over 120 elected officials in the US. Black Democrats, including Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Ritchie Torres as well as Senator Raphael Warnock, were particularly hard hit.

The New York Times said Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs spent $2 million on the project, hiring Israeli political marketing firm STOIC to implement it.

The operation was first uncovered last March, but direct ties to the Israeli government have only now come to light.

The news of the Israeli government's involvement in the influence campaign comes amid increasing American public outrage over elected officials' support for the Gaza assault.

A sustained and growing protest movement has for months demanded the White House, members of Congress, and businesses and institutions end the financing of Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Many politicians' responses to the crisis have been entirely out of touch with calls for peace. The Biden administration has supplied the Israeli occupying forces with billions of dollars' worth of American-made weapons in the last eight months.

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The arms transfers have continued despite the International Court of Justice ruling that Israel's actions in Gaza are plausibly genocidal and ordering the immediate halt to its attacks on Rafah.

Biden and other top US officials are also facing a federal lawsuit accusing them of failing to prevent genocide, dismissed after a historic hearing last January. Oral arguments in the appeal of the case are scheduled for June 10.