by Freddie Ponton, Activist Post:

In early May 2026, three pro‑Palestine candidates in French municipal races were hit with a coordinated smear campaign built on lies, synthetic identities and anonymous digital attacks, which French authorities and platform investigators traced back to an Israeli influence construct and the wider cyber‑operations infrastructure behind it. In Marseille, QR codes directed passers‑by to a blog accusing La France insoumise deputy and mayoral candidate Sébastien Delogu of sexual harassment. In Toulouse and Roubaix, similar websites and social media accounts pushed fabricated allegations against François Piquemal and David Guiraud, backed by fake testimonies and AI‑generated visuals. The targets were carefully chosen, and so were the methods. All three candidates are affiliated with “La France insoumise“, the leading left‑wing, ecosocialist movement in France, founded and led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.