Conspiracy theories accusing Israeli leaders of treason gain momentum
Conspiracy theories accusing Israeli leaders of treason gain momentum
A new study by the Fake Reporter organization has found an alarming jump in the spread of conspiracy theories by right-wing activists in recent months. According to one theory gaining momentum, senior IDF officials represent American interests.
A dangerous conspiracy theory that has been gaining momentum in recent months holds that senior political figures, primarily Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, and Yoav Galant, are American agents who conspired against Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This was found in a study by Fake Reporter, now revealed in Calcalist.
The theory is supported not only by leading online influencers on the right but also by journalists and media personas in major media outlets, who promote it directly or supposedly jokingly. "At the center of the conspiracy are claims that the U.S. planted agents at the highest levels of the Israeli government and military to control Israel's internal affairs and promote American interests," reads the Fake Reporter report. "The propagators of the conspiracy point to several such agents, including Gantz, Eisenkot, the head of Israel's military intelligence, Aharon Haliva, and Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara. The propagators of the conspiracy often also include civil society organizations and left-wing organizations in the list of 'American agents.' Sometimes we also see blame directed at the Israeli media and certain journalists, who, according to the conspiracy believers, are also used as American agents. The conspiratorial content will often be presented in response to existing content that criticizes the American administration against the background of its demands from Israel in relation to the war in Gaza."
How widespread is the hold that the conspiracy theory has taken among the Israeli public? A joint survey conducted by Fake Reporter with Nimrod Nir, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at the Hebrew University, found that 26% of Jewish respondents believe the claim that Gantz and Eisenkot "are foreign agents within the war cabinet" and aim "to advance the interests of the United States in Israel." An additional 24% replied that they are not sure if they believe it or not.
The roots of the conspiracy theory were planted before October 7th. The earliest mention of the use of the phrase "American agents" was found by Fake Reporter in a response on X (formerly Twitter) dated August 11, 2023, by a user named "Secrets of the Rabin assassination". "They put a lot of American agents into this corps," he wrote in response to a post by right-wing activist Yossi Shahbar (his account has since been closed, and it is not clear which corps is meant).
Shahbar, whose account has been suspended several times by X for violating the platform's policy, focused the conspiracy claim on Gantz and Eisenkot on October 10, after they announced they would join the war cabinet. "Biden decided. Netanyahu carried it out. Benny Gantz/Eisenkot in the government. Makes sense. 2 American agents," he wrote.
According to Fake Reporter, until the end of January, the spread of the conspiracy was relatively limited and was mainly promoted by a few specific accounts in response to other accounts. In January, the promoters of the conspiracy began to focus on the members of the war cabinet at the time, Gantz and Eisenkot, as well as Defense Minister Gallant. On January 17, Itzhack Hirsh wrote: "I am sure that BennyGantz maintains direct and secret contact with officials in the USA!" Dani Zaguri Ziv responded to him: "American agents."
Various users wrote "Gallant acts like an American agent" on May 15; "Gadi Eisenkot is a CIA agent from the time he was a general ... appointed Chief of Staff by Obama's dictation ... loyal to the United States and not to Israel" on May 29; and "Gantz an American agent (traitor), Eisenkot (traitor)" on June 5. A Magi Magi post from June 7 portrays Gantz as a puppet controlled by U.S. President Joe Biden.
According to Fake Reporter, the spread of the conspiracy theory spiked in early February after the Biden administration announced sanctions on some violent settlers. "At this point, we detect a dramatic change in the exposure data to the conspiratorial discourse and the use of the term 'American agents,'" the organization's report reads. Israelis were exposed to it, an increase of 1,579% compared to the corresponding period that ended in May 2023.
Another term used to promote the conspiracy theory is "color revolution". "The use of the term was first detected on July 11, 2023, at the height of the protests against the legal reform," says Fake Reporter. The term is used to describe the involvement of American intelligence organizations in coups. "We detected an increase in the use of the term after the announcement of Gantz's visit to Washington, contrary to Netanyahu's position, in February 2024."
Since March, the activity of the conspirators has been on the rise. "The right-wing Tweeter @arbelaue was also extensively involved in the conspiracy of the American agents," says Fake Reporter. "According to him, the US has been working for about a year to carry out a coup in Israel."
Eliran Dahan, known for spreading disinformation and conspiracies and facing a lawsuit for spreading false information in the case of Channel 12 reporter Guy Peleg, uploaded a video to Telegram on April 30 that explains how CIA agents create revolutions and actions to change the government in countries around the world. He invites his audience to try to guess who those CIA agents in Israel are who are trying to overthrow Netanyahu's government. Dahan is supported by Yair Netanyahu, who recommended his followers follow him.
The conspiracy was promoted in early May by media personality Gadi Taub, after he published an article in Tablet claiming that the US is undermining Israeli democracy, trying to crown Benny Gantz over Israel to bring the two-state solution back to the table, and that the anti-government protest activists are "proxies" of the USA.
On June 9, Channel 14 reporter Moti Kastel promoted it when he asked Gantz a question during a press conference where he announced his leaving the government. "Could it be that your leaving tonight is under instruction from the US or unfortunately with the cooperation of American officials? Were you in contact with government officials, did you update or receive messages from them or forward them?" he asked him, although he did not present any substantiation for his accusations. The "just asking questions" model is a well-known method of spreading conspiracy theories while trying to escape responsibility for spreading them.
The conspiracy gained a more significant stage in the report of Channel 12 commentator, Amit Segal, from that same day. While discussing the reasons that led to Gantz's resignation from the government and the crisis between him and Netanyahu, Segal noted that Netanyahu's side "thinks that Gantz is working in the service of the Americans", without qualifying the statement or noting that there is no evidence for this and that it is an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory.
"The fact that entire publics in Israel believe in conspiracies and lies was not born in a vacuum, but rather a village of poison that politicians, opinion leaders, and influencers spread online and in the media," Fake Reporter CEO Achiya Schatz told Calcalist. "Israelis have a burning hatred based on lies and the belief that the real enemy is the neighbor across the street, and that politicians, officials, and military personnel betray the country in times of war. Sometimes it’s lies about the rigging of elections, sometimes a theory about military officials who helped Hamas, and sometimes the labeling of former chiefs of staff like Gantz and Eisenkot as American spies. Each of these examples individually, but mainly their accumulation into a complete and distorted picture of reality, pulls the carpet out from under the feet of Israeli society as a whole, which is already paying a catastrophic price because of this method, the full consequences of which we still do not understand."
