The Israeli government was accused in published reports of being involved in an operation aimed at reducing support for Palestinians in Canada as reported by artificial intelligence researchers.

Israel refutes the claim, which was published by The New York Times and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, that it is behind a social media influence campaign, which researchers say is targeting North America with anti-Islam content.

Accounts under the name "United Citizens of Canada" posted content portraying Canadian Muslims as a threat to Western values, suggesting that pro-Palestinian protesters in Canada are seeking to implement Islamic Sharia law.

The Digital Forensic Research Lab, a project managed by the Atlantic Council, a prominent think tank in Washington, first published these findings in an analysis released in March.

It noted that the campaign used AI to alter the words said by a bearded man in an Islamic hat at a rally. It also pointed out that an image of Muslims holding a banner was digitally modified to make the banner read "Sharia in Canada."

The March analysis stated that "the network, which included at least 50 Facebook accounts, 18 Instagram accounts, and over a hundred on X, amplified anti-Muslim and anti-Islam narratives targeting the Canadian audience."

The accounts used AI-generated profile pictures and frequently posted similar messages, often seeking direct media coverage from Canadian journalists and Canadian media outlets. One Instagram post warned people to be cautious "if anti-liberal Islam wants to join your hockey team."

The research center wrote that the group "likely hijacked existing accounts." Meta stated it decided to shut down the affiliated profiles on Facebook after receiving inquiries from the research center.

In the quarterly "Threat Report" published last month, Meta confirmed it had closed over 500 accounts linked to the campaign.

The report stated that "this network originated in Israel and primarily targeted audiences in the United States and Canada," where Meta said the accounts were "posing as Jewish and African American students and 'concerned' citizens" and included "creating fake news outlets."

According to Meta's report, "the campaign bought inauthentic engagement (i.e., likes and followers) from Vietnam in an attempt to make its content appear more popular than it was."

"While the individuals behind it tried to hide their identities and coordination, we found links to STOIC, a political marketing and business intelligence company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is now banned on our platform."

The Israeli investigative site Fake Reporter reported on Wednesday that the site targeting Canadians is hosted on the same IP address that started many other accounts targeting pro-Palestinian activists, such as amplifying concerns about protests on college campuses.

The New York Times and Haaretz reported on Wednesday that the Israeli government contracted STOIC and paid for its services. Canadian press has not independently verified these claims.

The company declined to comment to the media, and Canadian press was unable to reach them. The company's LinkedIn page was recently removed, and its website does not list any contact information.

Sources from the executors' site and the reported documents indicate that the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs funded the campaign, including the anti-Islam posts.

The Embassy of Israel in Ottawa provided a statement from that ministry, as well as the government agency Voices of Israel, which has also been accused of receiving funding for the influence campaign.

The statement said: "The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism and the Voices of Israel initiative categorically deny any involvement in disinformation campaigns."

"We would like to clarify that neither the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs nor Voices of Israel have any connection or cooperative activities with STOIC. Any claims to the contrary are baseless and entirely inaccurate."

The office of Minister of Democratic Institutions Dominic LeBlanc did not respond immediately when asked to comment on the reports.

Despite Facebook, Instagram, and X suspending multiple accounts linked to United Citizens of Canada, the campaign still maintains an active and scattered website calling for a fight against "excessive liberal immigration policies." The site does not list contact information.

The site calls on people to "join us in our endeavor to preserve and protect Canada's heritage as a beacon of freedom and tolerance," using the American spelling of the word "endeavor."

It includes sentences with clear grammatical errors. The site states: "The Union Carbide Corporation established Citizens Concerned about the potential future Canada is heading toward and decided to effectively change reality."

Fake Reporter found that the accounts targeting Canadians were amplifying other accounts through suspicious activities aimed at undermining the UN agency dedicated to the Palestinians, known as UNRWA.

The alleged Israeli ministry that ordered the influence campaign is led by Amichai Chikli, who raised eyebrows a year ago when he visited Canada to speak with parliament members and at private engagements without following typical diplomatic protocols.

Chikli was scheduled to speak at a private Christian college near Toronto run by the controversial evangelical Christian leader Charles McVety and give a speech before an informal parliamentary group of lawmakers from Canada and Israel, which operates separately from the official gathering welcoming delegates.

At that time, Haaretz reported that Ottawa had expressed its concerns to the Israeli ambassador regarding the visit; both the Israeli embassy and Global Affairs Canada did not deny this claim, instead stating that the two institutions exchanged information about the visit when they learned of it.