Palestinians gather at a food distribution point in Gaza City, 20 July 2025. [Getty]
A shadowy Israeli company tied to online disinformation campaigns has been accused of operating a fake Palestinian charity, a new investigation has revealed.
French cyber watchdog Viginum published evidence of BlackCore’s links to an organisation called “Sadaqah Palestine”, which it suggested was part of efforts to target pro-Palestinian audiences.
The findings were published in a detailed report on Friday alleging the company’s interference in recent elections in Scotland and the 2025 New York mayoral contest.
“Sadaqah Palestine” presented itself as a pro-Palestinian aid organisation, publishing content related to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and soliciting donations.
But Viginum said it had traced its website to servers and domains associated with BlackCore.
Analysis of its social feeds found that its content was amplified by a network of automated accounts, some of which were mobilised to target Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who has heavily criticised Israel’s assault on Gaza.
The website and social accounts related to “Sadaqah Palestine” have since been taken down.
Viginum’s report comes several months after it began investigating BlackCore for suspected interference in the country’s local elections in March. The company is thought to have run disinformation campaigns targeting mayoral candidates standing for the left-wing, pro-Palestine France Unbowed (LFI) party.
“This modus operandi was not limited to municipal elections in France,” Viginum head Marc-Antoine Brillant said at a press conference on Thursday with France’s prime minister.
“It also appears to have been used to carry out foreign digital interference operations in other countries or regions, such as Angola, Togo, the elections in Scotland, and the 2025 municipal election in New York.”
Reuters, which reported on the allegations surrounding the French elections last month, said the company had taken down its website after it was contacted by its reporters.
It previously described itself as “an elite influence, cyber and technology company built for the modern era of information warfare”.
BlackCore is part of what Viginum called a “vast ecosystem of Israeli cyber companies and entities” linked to former Israeli cyber chief Yigal Unna.
Unna, formerly of the Israeli military’s Unit 8200, now leads an advisory company which incubates Israeli cyber startups.
The allegations come amid increasing scrutiny of Israeli organisations’ involvement in European elections.
Another intelligence-linked company, Blackcube, was at the centre of scandal during the recent parliamentary vote in Slovenia after being accused of running a smear campaign against the former pro-Palestine prime minister Robert Golob.
Slovenian law enforcement said the company was involved in leaked recordings appearing to link Golob’s government to corruption.
Blackcube was previously accused to conducting surveillance operations on public officials in a number of European countries, including Hungary, Belgium and Cyprus.
