Netanyahu BLASTS Social Media Manipulation

U.S. Embassy sign behind red-and-white caution tape.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly admitted to using social media as a “weapon” to shape American opinion — while simultaneously blaming foreign manipulation for Israel’s collapsing public support in the United States.

Story Highlights

Netanyahu told CBS News’ 60 Minutes that the drop in American support for Israel correlates “almost 100%” with the rise of social media, blaming unnamed foreign countries for manipulation campaigns.
In a separate meeting with U.S. influencers at Israel’s consulate in New York, Netanyahu described social media as “the most important weapon” to secure Israel’s standing in America.
Netanyahu has pursued a decade-long campaign to control media narratives inside Israel, including military censorship orders and the seizure of equipment from major international news outlets.
Only 32% of Americans now view Israel favorably, raising urgent questions about whether the PR crisis stems from foreign manipulation, Israel’s own actions in Gaza, or both.

Netanyahu’s Own Words Reveal a Two-Front Strategy

During a CBS News 60 Minutes interview, Netanyahu stated that the deterioration of American support for Israel “correlates almost 100% with the geometric rise of social media,” attributing the shift to manipulation by “several countries” he declined to name. [9] He acknowledged plainly: “We’ve not done well on the propaganda war.” [12] The admission was striking — a sitting head of government publicly conceding a public relations collapse while deflecting responsibility onto unnamed foreign actors.

What made the statement more complicated was a separate, on-record admission. In a video from a meeting with American social media influencers at Israel’s Consulate General in New York, Netanyahu described social media platforms as “the most important weapon … to secure our base in the US.” [7] He identified TikTok as “the most important purchase going on right now” and said Israel needed to engage Elon Musk — describing him as “a friend” — to “get a lot.” [13] In short, Netanyahu was simultaneously decrying social media manipulation and directing his own government’s social media influence operation targeting American audiences.

A Decade of Press Control Inside Israel

The PR battle Netanyahu describes as driven by outside forces has a domestic counterpart that rarely gets equal attention. The Committee to Protect Journalists documented in December 2025 what it called “a decade-long campaign by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to undermine the free press,” involving takeovers of media outlets, shuttering of independent voices, and direct intervention in ownership structures. [1] Journalist Haggai Mattar of +972 Magazine described the tactics on record, noting the systematic nature of the effort to shape what Israelis and the world see.

Military censorship has extended to sensitive negotiations. Netanyahu ordered stricter military restrictions on media coverage of prisoner swap deal talks, limiting what reporters could publish about ongoing diplomatic efforts. [3] Israel also seized broadcasting equipment from the Associated Press (AP), one of the world’s largest news agencies, accusing it of violating a foreign media law — a move the Freedom of the Press Foundation called “censorship, plain and simple.” [2] These actions paint a picture of a government that controls information at home while complaining about information it cannot control abroad.

Who’s Really Driving the Opinion Shift?

The central question Netanyahu avoids answering directly is whether American public opinion turned against Israel because of foreign propaganda campaigns or because of what Americans have been watching unfold in Gaza. Netanyahu’s “almost 100% correlation” framing assigns near-total causation to social media manipulation without providing intelligence assessments, platform transparency data, or forensic analysis to back the claim. [10] No named foreign actors, no documented bot networks, no platform takedown reports have been publicly linked to the scale of influence he describes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames social media for the decline of support for Israel.

Oh, but he says he doesn't believe in censorship or anything like that.

I'm sure he doesn't.

Other countries are manipulating social media, he says.

Not him. Not Israel. Other…

— Stephen Spurling Is… @Drangula (@Drangula) May 11, 2026

What is documented is that American support for Israel has dropped sharply, with only 32% of Americans now viewing the country favorably. [14] Both conservatives and liberals who distrust government spin should find Netanyahu’s framing worth scrutinizing. A foreign leader publicly lobbying U.S. tech billionaires to amplify his government’s narrative — while calling for stronger counter-measures against what he claims is foreign manipulation of American platforms — is itself a form of foreign influence over American information infrastructure. Whether the concern is foreign meddling in U.S. discourse or powerful interests shaping what Americans see and believe, the underlying dynamic is the same: someone is trying to manage what the public thinks, and it isn’t just the unnamed countries Netanyahu refuses to identify.