'Attack on our democracy': Inside an Israeli influence campaign in France's local elections

'Attack on our democracy': Inside an Israeli influence campaign in France's local elections Submitted by Pauline Ertel on Wed, 06/03/2026 - 11:11 The electoral interference by Israeli company 'BlackCore' took many by surprise and stirs fears ahead of 2027 presidential vote France Unbowed member of parliament Francois Piquemal on the rooftop of the National Assembly in Paris, France, on 5 May 2026 (Benoit Tessier/Reuters) Off A foreign influence campaign in French local elections by an Israeli firm earlier this year presents an unprecedented attack on France's democracy, victims of the operation and people familiar with it told Middle East Eye. Earlier this month, Reuters revealed that the French authorities were examining whether an alleged smear campaign against three mayoral candidates from the left-wing, pro- Palestinian party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed - LFI) ahead of March's municipal elections was carried out by an obscure Israeli firm ​called BlackCore. The operation's broad outlines were first exposed by newspaper Le Monde in March, when Viginum, a digital interference detection service within the French prime minister's office, revealed a "foreign digital interference" scheme with "limited" reach targeting a "French political party" and its candidates in Marseille, Toulouse and Roubaix.