Likud activists forge viral Labor Party WhatsApp conversation

The Labor Party filed a complaint, arguing that the post that presents a correspondence between the party members is faked.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: AUGUST 5, 2018 02:33
Israeli rapper Yoav "HaTzel (The Shadow)" Eliasi (photo credit: Lahav Harkov)
Israeli rapper Yoav "HaTzel (The Shadow)" Eliasi
(photo credit: Lahav Harkov)
A fraudulent conversation between Labor Party activists went viral on Saturday, after being posted on extreme rightwing activist Yoav “The Shadow” Eliasi’s Facebook page and those of other activists affiliated with the Right.
The post showed a conversation between two supposed Labor activists – though it seems neither are actually members of the party – in a group called “Labor Party-Limited Headquarters.”
The two supposedly discussed the recent Druze protest against the controversial Nation-State Law, and claimed to support the Druze in order to get their political support.
The fake correspondence features two activists talking about Amal Assad, a former general who criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week in a meeting with the senior Druze leaders. A screenshot of the fake conversation shows one of them saying: “Don’t worry. I sat with Amal in a cafe... There is no agreement, and there will be no agreement [between Netanyahu and the Druze community].”
Another activist supposedly responded: “You are the best. It will be noted in history that we [Labor] got back in power because of the Druze community.”
According to Eliasi, the activists in the bogus WhatsApp conversation “admitted that they [Labor] are the ones who sparked the fire [over the Nation-State Law], and are using the Druze to bring Labor back to power. They promised to protect the Druze in return for their help in causing incitement.”
Labor blamed Likud activists for spreading the fraudulent post, saying it was “100% fake. Every name, letter and message here is not true.”
Zionist Union chairman Avi Gabbay responded on his Twitter account: “The startled spirit of Balfour is fuming about the forged WhatsApp correspondence that the Likud has been spreading since the morning.”

Eliasi wrote in response: “The Left has trouble dealing with the truth.”

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Labor filed a complaint with the police against Eliasi and said it would work with the authorities to investigate those behind the fake news incident.
Likud responded by making reference to Gabbay’s recent admission that his party had funded an online smear campaign against Yeah Atid leader Yair Lapid.
“It is not surprising that a man, revealed to devote most of his time to fake campaigns against political rivals, would mistakenly believe others behave like he does,” the Likud said. “We don’t know if the post is fabricated, but Gabbay’s panicking is definitely real.”
Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.


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