The Guardian framed Israel’s AI influence campaign as something sinister: a fake American think tank publishing reports designed to be picked up by chatbots.
The campaign reportedly produced 124 reports in nine days, with headlines written like questions people might ask ChatGPT or Perplexity. Some were then cited by AI tools, giving the operation the appearance of authority.
But Israel’s contractor registered under FARA, making the operation public and searchable before the reports went live. This was not a hidden operation exposed by The Guardian. It was disclosed paperwork.
The real story is why far larger and less transparent influence campaigns by Russia, China, and Qatar were not treated with the same urgency.
Russia’s Pravda network produced millions of articles in 2024 to influence AI answers, and NewsGuard found that major chatbots repeated its false claims about a third of the time. Qatar’s state-run Al Jazeera is one of the most-cited sources in AI answers overall, including on Gaza. China, meanwhile, has operated what Meta called the largest known covert influence operation in the world.
Russia files nothing. China files nothing. Qatar files nothing. Israel followed the rules, filled out the paperwork, and still became the headline.
Every government in this story is trying to shape what AI says. The one that disclosed it is the one The Guardian chose to put on the front page.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
