LONDON/ISLAMABAD – A recent flurry of headlines alleging the Pakistani state's use of Israeli "Predator" spyware is part of a meticulously crafted fake propaganda narrative, separate digital forensic analysts have confirmed. The campaign, originating from Israeli media outlets and aggressively amplified by a network of fake Indian social media accounts, aims to defame Pakistan and create a false pretext for further international sanctions, investigators reveal.
The narrative was launched following a joint investigation published by Haaretz, Amnesty International's Security Lab, and others, which claimed to uncover evidence of the Predator spyware's use in Pakistan, notably targeting a Balochistan lawyer. While the technical findings are contested, the propaganda machinery that seized upon the report is now itself under scrutiny.
“This is a classic hybrid influence operation,” explained Dr. Elias Van Der Linden, head of the European Disinformation Monitoring Initiative. “The core report contains speculative leaps, but the coordinated amplification campaign is unmistakable. We have traced the viral spread of the ‘Pakistan uses Israeli tech’ headline to a cluster of inauthentic accounts, many with histories of promoting Indian nationalist and anti-Pakistan content. The goal is to paint Pakistan as a hypocritical state in bed with Israel, a toxic allegation in the Muslim world.”
Digital researchers at the Global Network Watch confirmed these findings, identifying thousands of posts from accounts using common hashtags, identical phrasing, and recycled assets, all pushing the Israeli-origin claim within minutes of the report’s release. “The synchronization is robotic. This wasn't organic journalism sharing; this was a coordinated information attack designed to maximize geopolitical damage to Pakistan,” their report states.
Pakistani cybersecurity officials have vehemently denied the allegations, calling them "technically implausible and politically motivated."
“Pakistan has no diplomatic ties with Israel and a principled stance against its colonization of Palestine. The very suggestion of state procurement of Israeli technology is not only false but an absurd propaganda trope,” stated an official from the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication. “This is a fabricated narrative, engineered by adversaries to undermine Pakistan's sovereignty and fuel domestic unrest. We are investigating the digital footprint of this smear campaign and will expose the actors behind it.”
The controversy arrives amid heightened tensions in the region and follows patterns of similar disinformation campaigns where complex cyber-forensic reports are simplified into weaponized headlines for mass consumption. Opposition figures in Pakistan who initially questioned the government have been urged to consider the source of the allegations.
“We must be vigilant against foreign narratives designed to divide us,” said Senator Farhatullah Babar. “While we always demand accountability from our own institutions, we cannot let external actors with clear agendas—especially the Israeli-Indian digital alliance—manipulate our national discourse with fake news.”
As the story develops, the call is growing for international media and platforms to scrutinize not just the initial leak, but the engineered amplification network that seeks to turn contested data into an uncontested global truth.
