New war zone: Netanyahu admits weaponizing social media, influencers in narrative battle

By Maryam Qarehgozlou

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly admitted that his regime treats social media platforms as a “weapon” to salvage its crumbling image in the United States amid growing outrage over the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The confession came during a roundtable session on Friday with a handpicked group of American influencers sympathetic to Zionist causes, held at the Israeli Consulate General in New York.

In footage of the gathering, shared online by Jewish-American influencer Debra Lea, Netanyahu — who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for committing war crimes in Gaza — declared that Israel must solidify its base in the US, which he admitted is “being challenged systematically.”

He explained that the methods of war change over time and that Israel must adapt accordingly.

“We cannot fight with swords anymore, that doesn’t work very well,” the embattled premier said. “We have to fight with weapons that apply to the battlefields in which we’re engaged in and the most important ones are on social media.”

Netanyahu singled out the US government-backed deal to force TikTok into the hands of an American consortium, describing it as “the most important purchase going on right now, … number one.”

He added that he hoped the transaction would succeed because “it can be consequential.”

He also mentioned X, formerly Twitter, stressing that he needs to talk to its owner and American billionaire Elon Musk, saying he is "not an enemy, but a friend.”

Netanyahu claimed that gaining influence over both TikTok and X would deliver Israel significant advantages in shaping narratives inside the US, especially amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The meeting took place only hours after Netanyahu’s address at the 80th UN General Assembly was greeted with one of the largest walkouts in recent memory. Diplomats from Arab, Muslim, African, and several European states abandoned the chamber in protest of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

The devastating war launched in October 2023 has already claimed the lives of more than 66,000 Palestinians — the overwhelming majority of them women and children — though the actual toll is widely believed to be much higher since many are still trapped under the rubble. 

Israel is also responsible for deliberately engineering famine in Gaza, which has killed nearly 500 people in recent months, while relentlessly bombing the strip into rubble, destroying nearly all of its infrastructure, and displacing almost all of its 2.3 million residents, often multiple times.

Netanyahu's UN speech was even met with scathing attacks from fellow Zionists. Opposition leader Yair Lapid mocked him as a “whining” prime minister whose speech, laden with “tired gimmicks,” would only “worsen the state of Israel.”

Knesset member Yair Golan called him “a disconnected man who is dangerous for Israel,” while Avigdor Liberman slammed his remarks on X as partisan and devoid of any concrete strategy for ending the war in exchange for the release of captives.

TikTok purchase: What it means

TikTok, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, has long been criticized by pro-Israel voices in the US Congress due to its wide circulation of footage from Gaza and pro-Palestinian content.

The platform has significantly influenced the perspectives of young Americans, who increasingly view Israel’s genocidal regime with hostility. The push to restrict TikTok escalated dramatically following the Hamas-led October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood Operation.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order approving the forced transfer of TikTok’s US operations to an American-controlled consortium.

Trump said the investor group would include Oracle, Michael Dell, and Rupert Murdoch, all of whom are long-standing allies of Israel.

Murdoch empire and its pro-Israel agenda

Murdoch and his son Lachlan own the pro-Israel media empire that includes Fox News, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Times.

These outlets have aggressively worked to whitewash Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, vilify Palestinians, and amplify Israeli talking points since October 2023, when the genocidal war was unleashed on Palestinians by the Israeli regime with the American green light. 

Despite lacking Jewish heritage, Murdoch has consistently championed Israel’s causes and conflated criticism of its genocidal policies with antisemitism.

In 2010, the notorious Zionist lobby group Anti-Defamation League presented him with its International Leadership Award for his “stalwart support of Israel and his commitment to promoting respect and speaking out against anti-Semitism.”

In September, the Murdoch family resolved its long-running succession dispute, granting Lachlan full control of the sprawling empire. He is regarded as politically closer to his father than his siblings, ensuring the family’s pro-Israel editorial line will persist.

Michael Dell’s role in genocide

Michael Dell, billionaire founder of Dell Technologies, has for years supported Israel’s military capabilities both financially and technologically.

His company has supplied hardware, servers, and digital infrastructure to the Israeli army, either directly or via Israeli startups acquired by Dell.

In January 2023, watchdog group WhoProfits.org revealed that Dell Technologies signed a $150 million contract with Israel’s war ministry to provide servers and IT support for the military and spy agencies.

According to documents obtained by The Electronic Intifada, Dell’s technology has been integrated into Israel’s artificial intelligence targeting systems, which have fueled mass civilian casualties in Gaza.

The notorious Unit 8200 — Israel’s cyberwarfare division — relies on Dell’s AI-powered Pro-Rugged 13 laptops for surveillance, reconnaissance, and intelligence operations.

Dell also provides hardware enabling Israeli AI company AnyVision’s facial recognition systems used at Israeli checkpoints to control and monitor Palestinians.

Beneficiaries of Dell Technologies include the Israeli army’s Golani Brigade – implicated in the murder of 15 paramedics and emergency workers in Rafah in April, the naval unit Flotilla 13 and the Israeli air force.

Elbit Systems Land & C41 – the Israeli arms manufacturer’s military communications technology arm – also reportedly receives laptops, servers and networking solutions from Dell Technologies.

Michael Dell himself has repeatedly signaled loyalty to Israel.

In May 2016, Dell told the Dell Future Ready Conference that Dell is “deeply committed to Israel,” and also met with Netanyahu at the same conference.   

In January 2024, months into Israel’s genocidal Gaza war, Dell posted a photo alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog with the caption: “It’s an honor to stand with @Isaac_Herzog and Israel.”

Beyond corporate contracts, Dell is also a major donor to so-called Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a powerful Zionist lobbying group based in New York.

Oracle’s expanding ties with Israel

Oracle is widely known for its proximity to Trump and for its extensive cooperation with the Israeli regime on technology and military infrastructure.

The company’s billionaire co-founder and a prominent donor to Zionist causes, Larry Ellison, has even invited Netanyahu to vacation on his private island.

Even before the recent purchase, Oracle had already taken control of some of TikTok’s day-to-day operations and had adopted a firmly pro-Israel stance.

According to an investigation by The Intercept, the company has also suppressed pro-Palestine activism within its ranks.

While critics of Israel’s war on Gaza exist among Oracle’s 160,000 global employees, they have faced internal repression and punishment for their positions.

Several employees told The Intercept that the atmosphere inside Oracle had become one of fear, with at least half a dozen saying they were actively seeking to leave the company.

Last November, Israeli American Oracle CEO Safra Catz told an Israeli business news outlet, “For employees, it’s clear: if you’re not for America or Israel, don’t work here, this is a free country.”

Both Catz and Ellison maintain close personal relationships with Netanyahu. A few months before the genocidal war on Gaza began, Catz met with Netanyahu to discuss expanding Oracle’s projects in Israeli-occupied territories.

Ellison, a Republican megadonor in the US, has gone even further, once offering Netanyahu a seat on Oracle’s board of directors and hosting him on his private Hawaiian island.

Oracle’s collaborations with Israeli spy agencies have been far-reaching, extending from direct technological support for the military to software designed to bolster Israel’s public relations efforts — including operations targeting social media platforms like TikTok.

One of Oracle’s most high-profile moves came in 2021, when it became the first multinational tech giant to provide cloud services inside the occupied Palestinian territories. That year, the company established a $319 million data center in occupied al-Quds.

Reports have also revealed Oracle’s involvement in a four-year, highly confidential collaboration with the Israeli Air Force, known as “Project Menta.”

This previously undisclosed program allowed Israel’s air force to conduct what Oracle Israel’s head of communications, Shimon Levy, described on Slack in December 2021 as “a bunch of important military stuff that we can’t share with you,” according to three internal sources.

He punctuated the message with a sword emoji.

Immediately after the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, Oracle issued a public declaration of support for Israel. Catz further ordered that the message “Oracle Stands with Israel” be displayed across all company systems in more than 180 countries.

Just one month into the war, Oracle partnered with Israeli ministries on a project called “Words of Iron,” aimed at amplifying pro-Israel content and suppressing critical narratives on TikTok, Instagram, and X.

In the summer of 2024, Catz personally attended a closed-door lobbying session with US senators, urging continued weapons shipments to Israeli-occupied territories.

Later that fall, Oracle announced a partnership with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems — one of Israel’s largest defense manufacturers — on an AI-driven project designed to provide “warfighters with quick, actionable insights in the battlespace.”

In Catz’s public statements to Israeli media, she referred to pro-Palestinian rights groups as “brainwashing organizations,” and claimed, “They don’t even know the facts.”

Oracle’s employee donation-matching program, which matches employee donations to charitable causes, quietly removed several humanitarian organizations from its platform during the Gaza war.

Relief groups such as Medical Aid for Palestinians and UNRWA were no longer listed as eligible for matching funds, according to staff accounts.

X: The illusion of free speech

While Elon Musk’s X is far from a true free-speech “safe space” — still restricting or removing pro-Palestinian accounts and content under political and legal pressures — it has nonetheless proven more permissive than Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, which have faced widespread criticism for systematically censoring Palestinian voices.

Data collected by the Palestinian Observatory for Digital Rights Violations (7or) underscores the difference.

In 2023, out of 1,606 documented censorship-related digital rights violations, only 2 percent occurred on X. By contrast, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok dominated the chart, collectively responsible for 93 percent of the violations during the same period.

A separate report by 7amleh, the Arab Centre for Social Media Advancement — an organization that defends the digital rights of Palestinian and Arab civil society — found that under Musk’s ownership, X lifted several restrictions on content.

The platform adopted a more open policy than Meta, motivated partly by economic interests and the drive to attract new users. According to 7amleh, this approach “creates more freedom for the Palestinian user.”

Still, the same report cautioned that X is not free from violations. Content removal and political pressure continue, though to a lesser extent than on Meta platforms. For that reason, X is often seen as comparatively more permissive for pro-Palestinian expression.

Netanyahu’s stated plan to “talk to Elon” signals that even X may soon fall under tighter Israeli influence, threatening the fragile space that pro-Palestinian voices have found there.

Influencer recruitment drive

Among those who met Netanyahu in New York were Debra Lea, Lizzy Savetsky, Emily Austin, Shay Szabo, The Latino Zionist, Hanna Faulkner, and Danya Avner, flagged by pro-Palestine activists after clips of the meeting went viral.

Lea promotes herself online as a “Jewish American Princess … frequently on your TV.”

She posted the video clip of Netanyahu’s remark about social media being used as a “weapon” to influence US opinion, amplifying it on her platforms.

She is being promoted by Israeli outlets such as The Jerusalem Post as a “political influencer” in pro-Zionist, pro-Israel settings.

At a summit hosted last May by the Israel Heritage Foundation and Arutz Sheva, Lea claimed that the Hamas-led October 7 operation ignited a renewed sense of Jewish identity among young American Jews, and her political journey began with a commitment to defend Israel and strengthen Zionism.

Savetsky, who first visited occupied territories at age 18 on a Birthright Israel trip, is explicitly described as a pro-Israel influencer and has gained recognition for her advocacy of Zionism.

She has been a vocal supporter of the Israeli military’s genocidal actions in Gaza since October 7.

Her content often targets pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses and criticizes Democratic politicians who oppose Israel. She also uses her platforms to amplify the stories of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

In February, Savetsky provoked outrage after posting a video of extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, who was convicted of multiple acts of terrorism in both the US and the occupied Palestinian territories and founded the outlawed Kach terrorist organization.

Savetsky captioned the post “Rabbi Meir Kahane, of blessed memory, was labeled as a violent extremist, but he was right. This is the truth right here. The only language the Arabs understand is force and fear.”

The post sparked immediate backlash. Members and supporters of Kach and its offshoot, Kahane Chai, were responsible for killings, attacks, threats, and harassment against Arabs, Palestinians, and even some Israeli officials.

Savetsky also endorsed Trump’s proposed plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Austin, born in Brooklyn to Israeli parents, has also aligned herself publicly with Israel’s policies since October 7.

She has spoken out against what she calls “antisemitism,” visited Israeli-occupied communities near Gaza, and previously worked with Israel’s mission to the United Nations in a communications role.

Her social media feeds regularly reflect pro-Israel advocacy.

Shay Szabo, who goes by @judeanceo on Instagram, describes herself as the “Proudest Israeli-American.”

She authors blog content at The Times of Israel, writing pro-Zionist essays, defending Israel’s existence, and pushing back on “occupation” narratives.

On her blog, she claims that “Israeli ‘occupation’ does not exist” and accuses Israel’s critics of employing “weaponized language.”

A Reverse Canary Mission profile, which tracks pro-Zionist influencers, notes that Szabo spreads Zionist ideology, rejects overwhelming evidence of genocide in Gaza, and contributes to narratives that dehumanize Palestinians.

Her rhetoric frequently attempts to whitewash Israel’s genocidal actions. She has claimed that “Israel defending itself from terrorism is not genocide,” referred to Palestinians killed in Gaza as “collateral damage,” and alleged that civilian deaths are being “staged” for “propaganda.”

When the viral campaign slogan “ALL EYES ON RAFAH” spread across social media, Szabo uploaded two rant videos mocking and degrading people who shared it, accusing them of being “indoctrinated.”

Activists caution that these influencers represent only the beginning of Israel’s recruitment efforts. By year’s end, Israel hopes to mobilize hundreds more voices online to intensify its information war.

The eighth front

When Netanyahu addressed rows of empty seats at the UN General Assembly, he boasted that Israel was waging seven simultaneous wars and would “get the job done.”

But, as veteran diplomat Alastair Crooke explained to Judge Andrew Napolitano, the decisive battlefield isn’t Gaza or Lebanon, it’s the US information sphere.

“The eighth front,” Crooke said, “is inside the United States… against podcasters and influencers.”

He explained that Israel’s strategy is to dominate platforms, algorithms, and narratives before generational shifts in US opinion lock into place.

According to Crooke, the genocidal war is being waged against those who are questioning why it is “Israel first” and not “America first.”

He said they are asking: “What is this takeover of America by Israel and these big Jewish oligarch billionaires who seem to wield huge influence?”

“These are the same people who have just bought TikTok because they don’t like it; its algorithm doesn’t seem to give enough support to Israel, so they’re going to change the algorithm to make sure it changes its position,” Crooke said.

By framing the struggle as one over control of information and influence on American youth, Crooke warned that Israel views this front as existential.

“The front is to maintain control and to have influence over the young Americans, be they Republicans or Democrats. But the young Americans—you would know this much more than me as an outsider—are drifting away very noticeably from supporting Israel, as is the rest of the world. And this is an existential threat because if Israel loses America, it’s an existential threat to its future.”

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