A Private Jet From Tel Aviv. A Fake Gaza Charity. An Army Of Bots. And A Network Of Former Israeli Intelligence Operatives. A Cross-Border Investigation Reveals A Sprawling Influence-For-Hire Ecosystem, Now Accused Of Meddling In Elections From Europe, Scotland To New York, And Running A Cynical Honeytrap For Donors Wanting To Help Palestinians.

LJUBLJANA / PARIS / EDINBURGH — It was a freezing December night when a corporate jet from Tel Aviv touched down at Ljubljana’s small airport. On board: Dan Zorella, CEO of the secretive Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube; Giora Eiland, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council; and two other operatives. Their destination, Slovenian authorities now say, was the headquarters of the right-wing populist opposition party. A neighbour, suspicious of the foreign-speaking men, reported them to a local journalist and the police. Days later, leaked recordings exploded into the final days of Slovenia’s knife-edge parliamentary election, threatening to engulf the pro-Palestinian prime minister in a corruption scandal.

That brazen December mission is not an isolated case. It is part of what French and Israeli investigators are uncovering as a deeply entangled web of covert Israeli influence operations, a sprawling, private-sector “black ops” network that weaponises digital disinformation, fake charities, and old-fashioned espionage against left-wing and pro-Palestinian figures across the democratic world. The latest revelations, published in a joint investigation by Haaretz and Libération on 11 June 2026, and in fresh findings from France’s disinformation watchdog Viginum, expose a new, previously unreported actor: BlackCore, an Israeli “elite influence, cyber and technology” firm. BlackCore is now at the centre of two French investigations and stands accused of interfering in elections in Scotland, New York, Angola and Togo, and of running a bogus humanitarian fund that preyed on people’s desire to help Gaza.

This article draws together those explosive disclosures, official French briefings, interviews with political leaders, activists and security officials, and a growing body of evidence that points to a systemic challenge to democratic integrity, one that Western governments have been startlingly slow to confront.

The Blackcore Blueprint: Fake Avatars, Digital Smears And A Charity That Never Was.

In March 2026, Viginum, France’s agency for detecting foreign digital interference, flagged a covert campaign smearing three left-wing, pro-Palestine mayoral candidates from the France Unbowed (LFI) party in Marseille, Toulouse and Roubaix. Deceptive websites and a network of proxy social media accounts pushed false criminal allegations, including sexual assault, against the candidates. As Viginum dug deeper, the digital trail led to a shared infrastructure routed through servers in Britain, Germany, Finland and Lithuania. At the centre of it all was BlackCore.

Then came the second shock. As Haaretz and Libération report, BlackCore’s digital footprint also led to a seemingly laudable website: Sadaqah Palestine. The site presented itself as a “non-governmental, non-political nonprofit helping Palestinian families, children and refugees affected by displacement, poverty and war.” It had a slick credit card donation form, maintained accounts on X, Instagram and Facebook, and even ran paid Meta ads. The pitch was timed perfectly to exploit the collapse of official humanitarian aid in Gaza: “As USAID and UNRWA halted most of their operations, ordinary donors had to step in,” the site pleaded.

But Sadaqah Palestine did not exist. No such organisation appears in the UK charity register, nor in any equivalent US, EU or Israeli records. Its social media following was largely manufactured, a mix of American “fitness coach” accounts and Vietnamese bots. The X account, which claimed a location in “Palestine” (though metadata placed it in the UK), had never once “liked” a post in 13 years. Investigators described the site as “a honeypot: a decoy built to attract people who wanted to help, in this case, by aiding Palestinians, and to take donors’ money, their personal data or both.” Digital certificates, the immutable records created every time a website obtains an encryption authorisation, were traced back to the same infrastructure as BlackCore’s influence tools. The fake charity and the election interference operation were two faces of the same machine.

“Our investigations did not make it possible to identify the sponsor or sponsors, if indeed they exist, behind this foreign digital interference,” Viginum’s head Marc-Antoine Brillant told reporters in Paris on 11 June, standing alongside Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. The implication is stark: the client who ordered this operation, whether a state, a political party or a private interest, remains in the shadows.

Scotland In The Crosshairs: 1,400 Coordinated Attacks On Swinney.

Viginum’s report details that the same modus operandi was directed at Scotland. Between 6 January and 8 May 2026, as Scotland voted for a new parliament, a coordinated network of at least 256 X accounts mobilised approximately 1,400 posts and comments targeting First Minister John Swinney, the Scottish National Party, and the Scottish government. Swinney’s account alone was hit 652 times; the SNP’s 338 times; the government’s 112 times. The campaign coincided with Swinney’s repeated condemnation of Israel’s war in Gaza, which he has called a “man-made humanitarian catastrophe” and indicated could amount to genocide. Scotland has also imposed a form of sanctions on the IDF by withholding state grants to arms firms that supply it.

Speaking to The Canary, Swinney said: “It is clear that orchestrated disinformation campaigns and foreign election interference are issues which need to be taken seriously. Online disinformation poses a real and present threat to our democracy.” He urged the UK government to implement urgent safeguards, referencing a recent review by Philip Rycroft that called for much stronger action against hostile state interference. But as of publication, neither the Cabinet Office nor Westminster has provided any substantive response, underscoring a glaring blind spot in Britain’s defence of its own democratic processes.

Brillant of Viginum confirmed the Scottish operation was part of a broader portfolio: “This modus operandi was not limited to municipal elections in France. It also appears to have been used to carry out foreign digital interference operations in other countries or regions, such as Angola, Togo, the elections in Scotland, and the 2025 municipal election in New York.”

New York’s Pro-Palestine Mayor And The Shadow Over Mamdani:

Brillant did not name the target of the New York interference, but the timing and context are inescapable. Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause and a democratic socialist, won the 2025 mayoral election in New York City. His campaign faced a torrent of online smears, and investigators now suspect BlackCore-linked infrastructure played a role. The FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have declined to comment, and the New York Police Department has not responded. The silence from US authorities contrasts sharply with the energetic investigations launched into supposed Russian interference, feeding accusations of double standards when it comes to Israel.

Black Cube In Slovenia: A Parallel Operation With A Familiar Signature.

While BlackCore’s digital operatives were building fake personas and honeypot charities, a more physical drama was unfolding in the heart of Europe. Slovenia’s national security council has publicly confirmed that Black Cube, a separate but related Israeli firm, meddled directly in the country’s June 2026 parliamentary election. The operation, authorities say, involved covert surveillance, wiretapping, and the timed release of leaked tapes apparently showing prominent figures discussing corruption, illegal lobbying and misuse of state funds, all days before the vote.

Prime Minister Robert Golob, whose left-liberal coalition faced a strong challenge from right-wing populist Janez Janša, declared: “The fact that covert surveillance and wiretapping in this case involve a private intelligence agency from Israel points to something deeply troubling. This is not just another incident; it raises serious concerns about the integrity of democratic processes in Slovenia.” Golob had previously warned of a surge of bot activity and hybrid warfare targeting his campaign. The leaked tapes, he argued, were part of a foreign-backed plot to unseat him, precisely because of his government’s critical stance on Israel’s actions in Gaza.

State Secretary for National Security Vojko Volk told a press briefing that Black Cube representatives visited Slovenia four times. On the crucial trip, Zorella and the other operatives were observed on the very street housing SDS headquarters. “Black Cube is known for releasing fabricated material at precisely planned times, in this case, just before the elections,” Volk said. “These activities are intended to discredit individuals politically, which may pose a threat to national security and influence democratic elections.”

Black Cube did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment. The firm’s advisory board has included former Mossad chiefs Meir Dagan and Efraim Halevy, reinforcing its image as a revolving door between state intelligence and private operational capability. In 2022, Romanian prosecutors convicted Zorella and other Black Cube operatives in absentia for spying on the anti-corruption chief Laura Kövesi; the men secured a plea deal. The company also deployed fake LinkedIn profiles to target critics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, with recordings later surfacing in pro-government media.

Activist Nika Kovač, whose Institute 8 helped expose the Black Cube operation, told reporters defiantly: “We welcome all proceedings in which it can be revealed and clarified what this ‘Private Mossad’ was doing in Slovenia and with whom.” Janša, for his part, threatened to sue her, while simultaneously admitting he had met with Black Cube’s Giora Eiland, though he “could not recall” on which date.

The Wider Ecosystem: Unit 8200, Yigal Unna And The Privatisation Of Information Warfare.

Viginum’s report notes that BlackCore is part of a “vast ecosystem of Israeli cyber companies and entities” linked to Yigal Unna, the former head of the Israeli military’s elite Unit 8200 signals intelligence corps. Unna now runs an advisory firm that incubates Israeli cyber startups, a perfect illustration of how state-honed expertise migrates into the private sector, often with minimal oversight. The BlackCore systems shared web infrastructure with internal systems of two other Israeli companies, Galacticos and SNI, further blurring the lines between commercial clients and state-linked agendas.

The French government has formally asked Israel for explanations. Prime Minister Lecornu’s pointed remark, “I do not doubt for a single instant that if a French private group, from French soil moreover, had engaged in foreign digital interference in Israel, they would have done the same to its ambassador on site”, betrays deep frustration at the asymmetry of response. The Israeli embassy in Paris confirmed receipt of the request and said it would await the full French report before deciding on an internal inquiry, while denying any state interest in meddling in foreign elections.

But the architecture uncovered by Haaretz and Libération raises uncomfortable questions. The infrastructure routed through multiple European countries, the professional-grade manufacture of fake accounts, and the exploitation of humanitarian sentiment via a fake Palestinian charity, these are not the hallmarks of a lone rogue actor. They suggest a systematised, well-resourced capability available to the highest bidder, or perhaps to those with strategic alignment.

The Grotesque Exploitation Of Gaza’s Suffering:

Perhaps the most disturbing revelation is Sadaqah Palestine. For a company already accused of smearing pro-Palestinian politicians, to then build a fake humanitarian fund designed to harvest money and data from people who genuinely wanted to help Gaza represents a moral abyss. The fake charity operated against the backdrop of Israel’s devastating military campaign, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and created a massive aid crisis. It cynically mirrored the language of genuine relief organisations, invoking the collapse of USAID and UNRWA to create a sense of urgency and bypass scepticism. One investigator described it to Haaretz as a “honeypot”, a trap set for the compassionate. The message was clear: even your solidarity can be weaponised against you.

The site and its associated social media accounts have now been taken down, but not before potentially siphoning donations and collecting sensitive personal information from users whose only crime was empathy. No one yet knows how much was stolen, or whose hands the data ended up in.

An Asymmetric Response: Why The West Looks Away.

The contrast with the uproar over Russian or Chinese interference is deafening. Western governments have imposed sanctions, expelled diplomats and launched major public inquiries over Kremlin-linked operations. Yet when a close ally’s private intelligence ecosystem is caught red-handed running multiple election interference operations and a sham charity, the response has been muted, a quiet diplomatic note, a waiting game.

For activists and analysts across Europe, that asymmetry is itself a scandal. “If this were Russia, we’d have emergency debates, new sanctions, front-page headlines for weeks,” a Scottish civil society monitor tracking disinformation told The Canary, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. “Because it’s Israel, the machinery of accountability seizes up. That silence invites more aggression.”

Scotland’s John Swinney has been one of the few senior leaders to speak out forcefully, calling hostile state interference a “real and present threat” and urging London to implement Rycroft’s recommendations. But with a Westminster government reluctant to strain ties with Israel, there is little appetite for a muscular response. In the United States, the silence from the FBI and CISA over the New York operation is equally conspicuous. Zohran Mamdani’s office has not commented, but campaign aides privately voice alarm that an Israeli influence firm could target an American mayoral election without any apparent consequence.

What Next? The Investigation Widens.

In France, two parallel investigations are underway: a criminal probe by Paris prosecutors into the smear campaigns, and a domestic intelligence investigation to uncover who commissioned BlackCore’s work. Viginum’s Brillant openly admits they have not yet identified the sponsor, a gap that leaves open the most troubling possibility: that the sponsor was a state actor using a private firm for plausible deniability. The digital fingerprints, however, are now irrevocable. Server logs, domain registrations, and the immutable record of encryption certificates have drawn a line from BlackCore’s Tel Aviv nexus to fake accounts, fake charities and targeted harassment of elected officials across continents.

The challenge now is political will. Slovenia’s government, fresh from its election scare, has committed to a full investigation and has briefed EU partners. Golob’s survival at the ballot box, his Freedom Movement held off the challenge despite the Black Cube operation, offers a sliver of democratic resilience, but the prime minister is under no illusions. “Any attempt by foreign actors to interfere in elections in a democratic member state of the European Union is unacceptable,” he said. The question is whether the EU will finally treat Israeli private intelligence operations with the same gravity it reserves for other hostile actors.

Meanwhile, the fake fitness coaches, Vietnamese bots, and honeyed charity appeals have left a trail of violated trust. The Sadaqah Palestine honeypot may have been dismantled, but the cynicism it represents, targeting the very people moved to help the victims of a brutal war, will not be easily forgotten. In an age of information warfare, even compassion has become a vulnerability. And the shadowy firms of Tel Aviv’s “elite influence” sector are only just getting started.

Conclusion:

What this sprawling, cross-continental web of operations ultimately exposes is not just the existence of mercenary information warfare firms, but the deeply uncomfortable truth that Western democracies have constructed a two-tier system of accountability: one for designated adversaries, and one for allies whose intelligence alumni quietly monetise the dark arts of statecraft in the private sector. When former Unit 8200 chiefs and ex-Mossad directors can channel state-grade cyber and human intelligence capabilities into commercial outfits, deploying fake charities to harvest donor data from Gaza’s sympathisers, coordinating bot armies to harass elected First Ministers, flying private jets to seed compromising tapes days before knife-edge elections, the line between sovereign act and deniable freelance operation dissolves into deliberate fog. This is not mere rogue entrepreneurship; it is the outward tentacle of a deeply psychopathic attempt to subvert global media and public consciousness, an orchestrated psyops and disinformation machine that weaponises contemporary front organisations, hijacked humanitarian impulses, and networks of influencers to manipulate reality itself on an industrial scale. Every time a BlackCore or Black Cube escapes more than a muted diplomatic rebuke, the signal to the global influence-for-hire market is unambiguous: with the right passport and the right geopolitical alignment, electoral sovereignty is negotiable, and the compassion of ordinary citizens is merely another exploitable terrain. In that sense, the fake charity that never gave a cent to Gaza’s starving children did something even more insidious than theft; it turned solidarity itself into a vulnerability, and revealed that the guardians of the liberal order are far more disturbed by the identity of the meddler than by the act of meddling itself. The cynics who built Sadaqah Palestine understood perfectly that the world’s empathy could be converted into a honeypot, and the silence that followed proves they were right.

This is a developing story. The Canary will continue to report on BlackCore, Black Cube and related Israeli influence operations as investigations unfold.

Source: Veritas Press C.I.C. | Multi News Agencies