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An Israeli firm is suspected of orchestrating smear campaigns to undermine left-wing and pro-Palestine candidates in Scotland, New York, and France.

On Thursday, France’s disinformation detection service Viginum said that BlackCore, an Israeli tech company, targeted candidates in several countries’ elections — including in New York City’s 2025 mayoral election won by Zohran Mamdani.

Among those targeted was Scotland’s first minister John Swinney during his 2024 election campaign. Viginum identified hundreds of fake social media accounts that generated over 1,400 coordinated comments targeting Swinney and the Scottish National Party (SNP). The fake accounts particularly targeted his statements on Gaza. Before his election, Swinney had said that the situation in Gaza was a “man-made humanitarian catastrophe”; he has since called it a genocide.

Last month, Reuters revealed that French authorities suspected BlackCore of orchestrating an online smear campaign against mayoral candidates in La France Insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed, in France’s local elections in March. LFI is a far left political party led by Melenchon, who has called Israel’s war on Gaza a........

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