A number of Israeli opposition figures indicated that Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is leading a smearing campaign against its opponents ahead of the elections, describing it as “the most deceitful and reprehensible campaign in history”. The New York Times and Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Monday, citing a report by a watchdog group, that hundreds of fake Twitter accounts are promoting for Netanyahu and Likud. The group uncovered a network “comprised of hundreds of social media accounts, many of them fake” which “operates through manipulations, slander, lies and spreading rumors.” The network included 154 accounts using fake names, with another 400 accounts suspected of being fake, with the posts receiving over 2.5 million hits, the report said. It stated that the network has devoted much of its activity to smearing Netanyahus primary rival in the election, former Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz. The report pointed out that the network was keen to publish Likud data and tweets of the party’s main activists. Investigators linked between the accounts and one person, Yitzhak Haddad of Ashdod, who is being funded by top officials in the Likud. The report says the network may violate Israeli laws pertaining to elections, campaign finance, privacy, and taxation. Gantz lodged a formal complaint with the police, alleging that Netanyahu was waging no less than “a campaign of consciousness terror” to illicitly influence voters. Blue and White, Gantz’ party, said that the report reveals that the most disgusting slander operation in Israel’s history is being directly operated by Netanyahu. Netanyahu responded to the report later on Monday and denied that Likud had been using fake social media accounts. Earlier, a Likud spokesman denied the party ran a network of fake accounts and said it had no connection to Haddad. “In general, Likud doesn’t operate any network of bots, avatars, fake profiles, and the like. Likud is almost the only party that doesn’t use these means,” the party stated. Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, denied any role in the campaign asserting that he “does not know the people of the network and is not involved in its activities, if any.” Another issue worrying the opposition is the case of Iranian intelligence espionage with reports stating it has managed to gain access to Gantz’s phone and all its contents. A report said that no sensitive security information had been revealed from Gantz’s phone, however, it suggested the information were personal and could lead to family issues. Gantz has asked Monday the Shin Bet security agency to probe whether the Mossad intelligence agency was behind the leak that his cellphone had been hacked by Iran. The former Chief said he is “not sure” about a single member of his party’s senior leadership, in new leaked recordings. Gantz also regards the party’s three top members Yair Lapid, Moshe Yaalon, and Gabi Ashkenazi with suspicion. It is worth noting that these campaigns have a clear impact on the electoral campaigns. Although Gantz is still ahead of Netanyahu in the polls, his numbers have not increased in the past month; rather, he is losing some people who decided to support him. Netanyahu still enjoys a right-wing majority supported by small parties, with which he forms a government with a majority of 64 seats.