Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial address to congress, a coalition of more than 30 human rights and faith-based advocacy groups sent a letter on Wednesday urging the U.S. government to investigate several media reports that the Israeli government has been operating a social media influence scheme to sway American lawmakers toward pro-Israeli policies.
The letter, addressed to President Joe Biden, references reporting from the New York Times, The Guardian, and Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, which, in separate investigations, uncovered an Israeli influence campaign that used fake accounts to pose as Americans in order to disparage pro-Palestinian groups with “deeply Islamophobic and anti-immigrant content,” target student groups and human rights organizations who were critical of Israel, and post pro-Israel content online. The campaign was designed to persuade lawmakers to continue providing military aid to Israel for its war on Gaza, and focused on Black Democratic members of Congress.
“What this letter asks for is very simple: that President Biden and his administration treat reports of inappropriate Israeli influence operations with the same seriousness that it has allegations of Russian and Iranian influence campaigns.” said Jamal Abdi, head of the National Iranian American Council, referring to separate efforts to interrupt American democracy by Iran and Russia ahead of the 2016 and 2020 elections and earlier this year. “Unfortunately, what has been reported thus far could just be the tip of the iceberg.”
The letter, addressed to President Joe Biden and the departments of Justice, State and Homeland Security, arrived hours before Netanyahu is expected to address congress in a joint session, which has drawn a wave of criticism. Signatories include the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, the Sikh Coalition, and a number of American Quaker groups.
Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now, a letter signee and human rights group founded by slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, called on the Biden administration to protect democracy and to “end its policy of exceptionalism towards Israel and hold all nations to the same standards.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has said she will not preside over the address, but will meet with Netanyahu at a later time during his visit to Washington, which began Monday. Hundreds of protesters with Jewish Voice for Peace filled the Capitol rotunda on Tuesday, in protest of Netanyahu’s visit, chanting “Let Gaza Live!” until Capitol police arrested the crowd.
A growing number of lawmakers are boycotting the far-right prime minster’s address, including senior Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin, Patty Murray, Bernie Sanders, and Chris Van Hollen, along with progressive members of the House of Representatives. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has been the most pointed in her attacks on the address, referring to Netanyahu as “a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” in a statement Tuesday, in which she called for his arrest and deportation to the International Criminal Court. She also referred to the event as “a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians” and criticized continued U.S. military aid to Israel.
Last week, a separate letter signed by 230 Senate and House staffers from 122 Democratic and Republican congressional offices called on lawmakers to boycott the address, referring to the ICC war crimes case against Netanyahu. “This is not an issue of politics, but an issue of morality,” the staffers’ letter read.
The ICC’s prosecutor requested arrest warrants in May for Netanyahu and his cabinet member and Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant on a series of war crimes, including starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the targeting of civilians in its military attacks. The ICC has yet to approve the warrants. Last Friday, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ top court, ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, rife with war crime violations, and amounts to apartheid. A separate ICJ case is considering whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Since the start of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, the Biden administration has been criticized for its handling of the conflict and its deference toward Israel, which many critics and international law observers see as a double-standard in foreign policy. Despite Biden’s public denunciations of civilian deaths, Israel has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children. Bombardments have intensified in recent weeks with civilian death tolls mounting, even as Israel is engaged in cease-fire talks. The U.S.
Throughout the conflict, there have been exceptions, but the US has continued to send billions in military aid and has consistently supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas.
The letter signers urged President Biden to treat Israel’s influence campaign the same way sanctions were imposed on Russian hackers earlier this year for similar activities.
Israel’s influence campaign, funded by $2 million from the government and overseen by the ministry of Diaspora Affairs, was linked to Stoic, a political marketing firm. Stoic ran social media accounts spreading Islamophobic content, such as portraying Muslim immigrants as a threat to Canada and highlighting the history of Arab slave traders in Africa to influence Black American lawmakers.
The letter called on the Administration to address the Israeli government’s attacks on democracy, emphasizing the need to defend American democracy against both domestic and foreign threats.
Despite previous communications with State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, who declined to comment on the specifics of Israel’s social media campaign, the State Department has not indicated any intention to investigate the allegations further.
There has been no immediate response from the State Department to requests for comment.
