The Influencer War Machine: Netanyahu’s Online Brigade

When Benjamin Netanyahu met a group of pro-Israel influencers in New York in September 2025, it wasn’t just a photo opportunity. Five months later, as bombs fell on Iran, these same influencers were everywhere — on your feed, in your stories, shaping what you thought you knew about the war. This report explores how pro-Israel influencers shaped online narratives during the Iran war

On March 17, the US-Israel war on Iran entered its eighteenth day. The conflict stemmed from a surprise airstrike on February 28 and has since witnessed several aerial strikes between the nations, which are still ongoing. The war, with the Strait of Hormuz as its strategic focal point, has not just caused infrastructural damage but has crippled the global energy supply. The Iran war, in particular, saw a large amount of false narratives circulating on social media platforms along with propaganda justifying the US-Israel joint attacks on Iran.

To understand the influencers’ online mobilization, it is essential to look back at their initial gathering and coordination. The timeline of this report begins in September 2025, approximately five months before the Iran war, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets pro-Israeli influencers in the US. Fast forward to the Iran war, and we explore how these influencers took a pro-Israel stand, propelling anti-Iran sentiments on social media, and justifying a war that took many innocent lives.

Meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu

On September 26, 2025, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN  headquarters in New York City, where he attacked countries that acknowledge  Palestine’s statehood. He even compared the Palestine statehood to a scenario where Al-Qaeda is given a state one mile away from New York after the 9/11  attack. His speech was met with one of the largest walkouts the UN had witnessed in recent times.

On September 26, 2025, Benjamin Netanyahu met with pro-Israeli influencers in the US at the Israeli Consulate of New York. During the meeting, the Israeli Prime Minister alleged that the “woke right” and “woke left” are systematically targeting the base of support for Israel in the US using financial support from certain non-governmental organisations  and also other governments. He suggested that pushback is necessary to secure Israel’s support in the US and that pro-Israel influencers play a key role in it.

The Consulate General of Israel in New York’s press release reads; “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met – at the Israeli Consulate in New York after his UN General Assembly speech – with pro-Israel American influencers and spoke with them about the challenges in the new era, as well as the public diplomacy efforts and the influence of the social networks on the discourse for and against Israel.”

Who were these Influencers?

On September 28, 2025, the official X account of the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel shared a group photo featuring Benjamin Netanyahu along with the influencers he met at the Israeli Consulate in New York.

We analysed this photo and found that key influencers who met Benjamin Netanyahu were as mentioned below:

An analysis of the social media content of these influencers revealed a set of common narratives around which they frame their content. These narratives are as mentioned below:

• Denial of allegations of genocide in Gaza
• Dismissal of reported malnutrition and humanitarian crises in Gaza
• Reframing Palestinian suffering as exaggerated or misrepresented
• Accusations that Palestinian journalists are linked to terrorism
• Framing pro-Palestinian supporters as immoral or undeserving of sympathy
• Implicit or explicit narratives of Israel acting in self-defense
• Opposition to Palestinian statehood framed as concern for Palestinians’ future

How did these Influencers Respond to the US-Israel joint strike on Iran?

Branding the attack as a holy war

In 2026, the Jews all around the world celebrated Purim from the sunset of March 2, 2026, to the nightfall of March 3, 2026. Shortly after the attack on Iran, Influencers, namely Emily Austin and Lizzy Savetsky, took to social media, drawing parallels between the attack and the story behind the Jewish festival Purim, as told in the Book of Esther.

On March 2, Emily Austin shared a post on her X account, which reads, “Isn’t it striking how history comes full circle? Right now, on Purim, of all days, the Jewish people are playing a role in freeing the Persian people from decades of tyranny. This is the very holiday that commemorates Queen Esther and the ancient Persians stepping up to rescue the Jews from destruction some 2,500 years ago. May strength bring true peace, and from that peace may prosperity and freedom finally flourish for everyone involved. Praying for that day.”

Similarly, in a television interview with the US right-wing media house Newsmax, Lizzy Savetsky compared Ali Khamenei, the late Supreme Leader of Iran, to Haman, the primary antagonist in the Book of Esther. She shared a clip from her interview on her Instagram account on March 4. The caption of the post reads, “The parallels between the war in Iran and the Jewish holiday of Purim, which we celebrate today, are uncanny. This has always been the story of the Jewish people. But to have the evil terrorist, who sought our destruction, taken out both 2200 years ago and again today, in the very same place in the world, is as much of the Hand of G-d as we could see.”

As of March 17, the post garnered 3,000 likes.

How did they respond to the death of Ali Khamenei and mock people who protested the attack?

After the killing of Ali Khamenei, there were reports of people in Tehran and Iranians in other parts of the world celebrating the attack. Many condemned the US-Israel action breaching the sovereignty of Iran and killing its supreme leader.

On February 28, the social media influencer Debra Lea took to her Instagram account and shared a comparison video showing people in Tehran celebrating after the death of Ali Khamenei following the airstrike on Tehran and people in New York protesting against the war.

The video also features Debra Lea stating, “It is the first time in history that citizens of a country which is being bombed are celebrating and the citizens of the country that did the bombing are protesting.” Towards the end of the video, she classifies liberalism as a “brainrot”.

Supporting the attack, a user remarked, “Remember! If it’s a great day for the world, it’s a bad day for American Leftists.” Another user stated, “Exactly, they are not even Iranians. They don’t know anything about Iran. We are happy.”

As a criticism of women who condemned the attack on Iran, on March 3, Noa Cochva, an Israeli model, shared a video captioned, “ For all the fake feminists out there, and the beautiful courageous women of Iran’s freedom is here❤️,”on her Instagram account. The text on the video reads, “30 Israeli women fighter pilots & aircrew are in the sky, striking Iran and fighting a regime that beats and kills women for showing their hair!!!”

As of March 17, the post received more than 8,300 likes.

As a response to the post, a user commented, “This is propaganda.” While another user questioned, “Are you talking about setting free the more than 100 girls in a school that Israel bombed in Iran?”

On March 3, pro-Israel activist Zach Sage Fox shared an AI-generated musical mocking Ali Khamenei. The musical shows people celebrating his death.

As of March 17, the post received more than 4,200 likes.

Responding to the post, a user commented, “You support a pedophilic warmonger and its genocidal asset.” Another user remarked, “But a new ayatollah is coming, and your military bases are being bombed.”

How did the Influencers defend the attack on the Girls’ school in Iran?

A missile also hit a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, during the US-Israel joint airstrikes that occurred in various parts of Iran on February 28. The strike killed  170 people, the majority of whom were schoolgirls. Although the international community widely condemned the attack, several online influencers tried to justify it.

On March 1, Lizzy Savetsky shared a video post on her Instagram account alleging that the attack on the school was a master plan devised by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The caption reads, “Waiting on the retractions and corrections. Mmmhmmm. We see through you and your fake sympathy.”

She goes on to compare the IRGC with Hamas, indicating that hamas does the same thing as it was trained by Iran, and suggests that the sympathy that the world is feeling over the attack is a facade. She also argued that those who appeared to care about the lives of the Iranian people following the recent attacks are only trying to demonise Jews.

In a strikingly similar way, influencer Shay Szabo shared a video post on March 3, captioned, “Terrorists win the propaganda war by controlling the first headline. We all watched it happen in Gaza. Don’t fall for the same playbook again with Iran.”

In the video, Shay Szabo is heard stating, “This is how propaganda works in 2026. So Hamas or even the Iranian regime will intentionally operate from a school, from a hospital, or a residential building, and then they will patiently wait for retaliation that they deliberately provoked. Or better yet, they just misfire and hit the target themselves. Then, they will broadcast the images of destroyed civilian infrastructure and proceed to omit to tell you the military context. This is how global outrage spreads faster than actual facts.” She thereby suggests that the IRGC orchestrated the attack for sympathy.

As per The Guardian report dated March 11, a preliminary US military investigation into the incident revealed that the US was responsible for the deadly strike on the elementary school in Minab.

The analysis reveals how social media influencers, whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu interacted with in September 2025, attempted to influence public opinion regarding the Iran war through their online platforms.