Article By RT
BlackCore allegedly ran a campaign of dirty tricks against pro-Palestine election candidates in France
French authorities are investigating an alleged election meddling plot by an Israeli “information warfare” company targeting candidates critical of the Jewish state. The scheme – involving fake profiles and AI nudes – follows a familiar pattern.
Multiple intelligence agencies in France are investigating the work of BlackCore, an Israeli firm that allegedly carried out an interference campaign against three left-wing mayoral candidates in Marseille, Toulouse, and Roubaix in March, Reuters reported last on May 13.
All three candidates are members of France Unbowed (LFI), the party of left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon. In Marseille, Sebastien Delogu was accused of rape by a pseudonymous blogger named ‘Sophie’, while bogus Facebook profiles and QR code stickers plastered around the city boosted the story. AI-generated ‘nudes’ of Delogu were also circulated online, along with captions mocking his support for Palestine.
From L to R: Sebastien Delogu, Francois Piquemal, and David Guiraud of the France Unbowed (LFI) political party © Wikipedia; Getty Images; Denis Thaust
Bot-boosted profiles posted disparaging stories about Francois Piquemal in Toulouse and David Guiraud in Roubaix. One page accused Piquemal of pedophilia, while another site portrayed LFI as the party of “Sharia law” and “a more Muslim France.” Presented as a “voting guide” for Muslims compiled by an Islamist group, the site was aimed at turning non-Muslim voters against the party, Le Monde reported.
An investigation by France’s Liberation newspaper and Israel’s Haaretz revealed on May 18 that BlackCore was behind the influence operation. According to Reuters, French authorities are now trying to establish who hired the company to intervene in the elections.
Doesn’t BlackCore sound familiar?
Readers of RT’s ‘Wired for War’ series will be familiar with Black Cube, another similarly named Israeli private intelligence operation. Founded by two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intelligence veterans, Black Cube counts on its International Advisory Board two former Mossad directors, a former Israeli Police commissioner, and the former chief of Israel’s National Security Council.
According to its website, Black Cube specializes in finding “hard evidence otherwise impossible to obtain” in support of “high-profile litigations, arbitrations, and white-collar crime cases.”
Earlier this year, Black Cube interfered in elections in Cyprus and Slovenia, covertly recording associates of both countries’ leaders discussing petty corruption within their parties. Black Cube’s Cypriot operation led to multiple resignations and tarnished President Nikos Christodoulides’ reputation as Cyprus assumed the EU’s rotating presidency in January. Two months later in Slovenia, the company almost succeeded in tipping parliamentary elections against Prime Minister Robert Golob’s ‘Svoboda’ party, which held onto power by a mere 0.67% of the vote.
Black Cube has admitted to working against Christodoulides, and has not denied interfering in Slovenia. The company makes no attempt to hide the fact that its staff are “veterans of Israel’s elite intelligence units,” with its website boasting that these veterans are equipped to “craft unique, complex scenarios to capture evidence.”
Like many private detective firms, Black Cube operates in a quasi-legal gray area, with laws on covert recording varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In Slovenia and Cyprus, however, the EU’s GDPR regulations prohibit such recording.
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