‘Israel’ used network of fake FB accounts to boost campaign opposing US consulate in Jerusalem
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- At least 320 fake Facebook accounts are amplifying an Israeli campaign against reopening the US Consulate in Jerusalem, according to research from the Israeli disinformation organization FakeReporter, NBC News reported.
FakeReporter’s research indicated that Israeli politician Nir Barkat’s social media campaign against reopening the consulate in occupied Jerusalem was being amplified by hundreds of Facebook fake accounts through likes and shares.
Senior MKs, children’s writer to whom sexual offenses are attributed and many businesses promoted by the network on Facebook in order to create a false representation of sympathy.
Among the posts amplified were photos of Barkat with US Republican lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
One post said that the Israeli politician had talked about the “danger of establishing a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem,” which was shared alongside a photo of Cruz and Barkat shaking hands earlier this year at a meeting, NBC News reported.
A spokesperson for Meta, the company that owns Facebook, told NBC News that it had started addressing the numerous fake accounts but noted that because transactions regarding who may have paid for this were not done over Facebook, it is unclear who was behind the push.
The US Consulate in occupied Jerusalem, which previously served relations between the US and the Palestinians, was closed in 2019 under the Trump administration. The Biden administration has signaled that this consulate will be reopened, though it has been met with GOP opposition.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Neftali Bennett, had stressed on several occasions that the occupation state will not allow Washington to reopen the consulate.
