Investigation Uncovers Israel-Based Group Behind Bigoted Facebook Smear Campaign Aimed at US Muslim Congresswomen

Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress, have been the target of a sustained campaign of far right hate and lies originating from a shadowy Israeli group, according to an investigation published Thursday by The Guardian.

“The goal of these anti-Muslim hate campaigns is clear,” Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, told The Guardian, “they put Muslim lives here and around the world at risk and undermine our country’s commitment to religious pluralism.”

The report details how a jewelry salesman and “online operator” from the Tel Aviv area named Ariel Elkaras and others were part of a vast coordinated effort that utilized “21 far-right Facebook pages across the U.S., Australia, the U.K., Canada, Austria, Israel, and Nigeria” to spread malicious lies about the two congresswomen. 

According to the Guardian:

Informed of the investigation’s findings, Facebook took down many of the identified posts and accounts—but the tech giant told The Guardian that it did so not due to the hateful and false nature of the content but because the company believes the Israeli-based group was using the misinformation and bigoted posts to generate advertising revenue. 

Both Omar and Tlaib have been the target of hateful rhetoric from President Donald Trump and have received death threats. Tlaib, a Democrat from Detroit, Michigan, read one of those messages directed at her aloud at a June hearing on white supremacist violence.