Report: Iran Used A Fake Social Media Network To Stoke Tensions In Israel

Iran used a social media network to target Israeli nationalists and Charedi Jews to encourage violence against Arab Israelis, according to a Thursday report by the BBC. 

According to Israeli disinformation watchdog FakeReporter, the goal was to fuel "religious war" by amplifying "fear, hatred, and chaos."

The "Aduk" - or "strictly religious" - group presented as a "virtual religious union for the religious community," the report stated. 

The group circulated articles and posts supporting far-right politicians, encouraged protests, and encouraged anti-government and anti-Arab beliefs. One of the profiles gained thousands of followers.

"We see this network rise up following the events in May when Israel was at one of the lowest points in its history in the relations between Jewish and Arab citizens," said FakeReporter chief executive Achiya Schatz to the BBC. 

According to the BBC, the network made efforts to look genuine, going to lengths such as creating a page for a fake Charedi bakery in Israel and stealing the online identity of a Russian ultra-Orthodox man who died several years ago. 

Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler of the Israel Democracy Institute told the BBC that the Charedi community in Israel may be more susceptible to foreign interference due to low "digital literacy." 

“This community is very conservative and doesn’t have the experience of 70 years of TV,” she said.

“Any resentfulness towards Israeli society, or far-right extremism, or anti-Arab, anti-Muslim feeling (can be exploited). This kind of community is not prepared to cope with fake news or digital manipulation,” she added.