Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long warned of an eight-front war against Iranian terrorist proxies in the Middle East, with the final front being a war on truth. Now, emerging technologies are helping Israel fight that battle in the media.
"You can't fight with swords anymore," Netanyahu said recently, Haaretz reported. "You need to adapt weapons to the changing battlefield.
"There are new weapons like drones, but most important are the social networks," he added.
Israel's fight against Hamas propaganda has spurred rapid growth in a new security sector known as "trust tech" — technology designed to detect, monitor, and counter online manipulation campaigns.
The country faces a surge of AI-based scams, including foreign recruitment and propaganda operations linked to Iran, according to Shin Bet. Since Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli security agency has uncovered more than 20 cases of Israelis recruited on encrypted platforms like Telegram, often via networks that also spread false narratives.
Researchers at the Brandeis Institute and Remedy CoLab rank Israel third globally in this emerging field, behind the U.S. and U.K.
Israeli firms such as ActiveFence, XPOZ, and Cyabra help governments, corporations, NGOs, and public figures combat influence operations — from foreign election interference and antisemitic campaigns to deepfakes and financial fraud.
The trust tech market — born after Donald Trump's 2016 U.S. election victory and supercharged by the pandemic "infodemic" — is projected to exceed $500 billion globally by 2028, according to business research giant Gartner.
Israeli experts warn the state still lacks adequate investment and coordination between national cyber defenses and narrative-focused security.
"These are existential challenges," Remedy CoLab's Naomi Krieger Carmy told Haaretz. "We have to accelerate solutions before it's too late."
At a Newsmax special independence event this past summer, Netanyahu praised Newsmax's reporting on the "eighth front."
"Thank you, Newsmax, for helping us on the eighth-front war: seven fronts against Iran and its proxies, the eighth front — the battle for truth," Netanyahu said.
"And, Newsmax, you have let the truth circle the globe against the lies that have circled it before and continue to do so.
"There's only one way to beat the lies, and that's with the truth."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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