Israeli operative leading secretive unit 'manipulating elections' around the world
Middle East EyeFeb 15, 2023
An investigation undertaken by a consortium of journalists and released by The Guardian on Wednesday alleged that a team of Israeli contractors claimed to have manipulated more than 30 elections around the globe using hacking, sabotage, and automated disinformation via social media.
The report said that the team is led by Tal Hanan, a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative who now works privately using the pseudonym “Jorge," and has been operating for more than two decades. Hanan said that he denies "any wrongdoing.”
This report is a grave indictment of Israel's extremely concerning cyber espionage industry. Considering that Hanan used an Israeli company connected to Israel's Ministry of Defense in his disinformation operations, there's no doubt that there was some level of collusion between him and elements of the Israeli government. The Israeli government must immediately stop companies from meddling in global politics.
Though there are plenty of critics of companies and groups like Hanan's and NSO, this sort of work has been used to successfully catch countless criminals and terrorists. In light of allegations of misuse, Israel has worked to mitigate this by cutting off access to users who abuse the technology. Tel Aviv has safeguards in place.