‘Blithering Idiots’: New York Democrat Blasts ‘Racist’ Israeli Government Campaign to Bolster Black Lawmakers’ Support

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) on Friday slammed the “blithering idiots” behind an Israeli government social media campaign that targetted Black U.S. lawmakers with the aim of bolstering support.

“There have been media reports of a foreign influence operation aimed at persuading me to be pro-Israel,” Torres wrote on X, adding:

If you think I need to be “influenced” to be pro-Israel, then please see a doctor because your brain might be rotting.

The blithering idiots behind this embarrassing operation should be fired for gross incompetence.

A foreign influence operation that singles out Black Congressional Democrats is racist. There’s no correlation at all between race and Israel in the United States Congress.

The majority of the Congressional Black Caucus has a pro-Israel voting record.

Torres , a staunch supporter of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, referred to various media reports that came out earlier in the week that Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs hired a political marketing firm in Tel Aviv that used ChatGPT to create content for bots that spammed the lawmakers.

“The campaign began in October and remains active on the platform X. At its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as real Americans on X, Facebook and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments. The accounts focused on U.S. lawmakers, particularly ones who are Black and Democrats, such as Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader from New York, and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, with posts urging them to continue funding Israel’s military,” reported the New York Times , which noted the campaign also “also created three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles.”