Religious Zionism blames Otzma Yehudit minister for Smotrich smear campaign
Religious Zionism accuses Minister Amichai Eliyahu of orchestrating a smear campaign via false SMS messages against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The Religious Zionism party claimed on Friday that Minister Amichai Eliyahu of the Otzma Yehudit party is behind a smear campaign against party leader and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. According to Religious Zionism, the Community Rabbis Association, headed by Eliyahu, distributed false SMS messages claiming that Smotrich allied with Shas and blocked the appointment of Religious Zionist rabbis as municipal rabbis.
Religious Zionism stated that the association sent anonymous text messages following a Central Election Committee directive that allows tracing the senders of political messages. The party released a mobile carrier document confirming the sender's identity. They also noted that this is not the first time Otzma Yehudit has used digital tools against right-wing allies, pointing to a recent Fake Reporter finding regarding a bot network.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the spread of disinformation by Otzma Yehudit associates during an interview on Friday News. Netanyahu alleged that a push notification system funded by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir employs operatives working for whoever pays them. However, no independent evidence has been presented to support this claim.
