AhlulBayt News Agency: A major anti-Muslim influence campaign targeting Britain, which reportedly bears links to Israeli territory, reached its peak ahead of the 2024 general election and during anti-Muslim unrest across the country. The campaign's content has reportedly generated more than 154 million views.
Israel was the likely source of a large-scale propaganda campaign targeting Britain with anti-Muslim messaging.
The campaign was uncovered by researchers Marc Owen Jones and Sohan D'Souza. It intensified in the run-up to Britain's 2024 parliamentary election and during anti-Muslim riots that swept across the country later that year. It involved extensive paid advertising warning of an alleged "Islamic takeover of Britain", supposedly orchestrated by Qatar.
the two researchers wrote in an article published on *The Nerve* website that their investigation found the campaign's content targeting Britain had received more than154 million views between 2024 and 2026.
They said the first wave of advertisements appeared in the months leading up to the 2024 general election. The campaign also heavily targeted Britain during the winter and spring preceding the anti-Muslim riots that followed the killings in Southport.
Digital evidence points to Israeli links
During their investigation, the researchers found that editing work associated with the campaign was linked to a fixed IP address in the occupied territories.
An examination of 78 video files obtained from the campaign's Telegram channels revealed Hebrew names, titles and terminology in folders, drive labels and editing projects, alongside usernames and identifiers associated with Mac device models.
The researchers also found that data extracted from a Windows account showed its time-zone settings had been changed between 22 and 27 October, from Saudi Arabia's time zone (UTC+3) to UTC+2. They said this change coincided with Israel's transition to winter time.
Although Lebanon and the Palestinian territories also changed their clocks over the same weekend, the researchers argued that the working patterns, narratives, IP address and Hebrew labels collectively pointed towards Israel.
Disinformation during the Southport riots
In July 2024, violent unrest targeting Muslims and ethnic minorities erupted in several British towns and cities after Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls in Southport.
False claims circulated during the unrest that Rudakubana was Muslim.
The researchers said misinformation on social media played a significant role in fuelling the riots. Then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned major technology companies over the spread of hate on their platforms.
In 2024, Facebook pages publishing anti-Muslim messages spent more than **£500,000 on advertising**. The researchers described the campaign as the largest covert influence operation targeting Britain in terms of reach and advertising expenditure.
The campaign continued in 2025 and 2026 across Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
Its advertisements warned of an alleged "invasion" and claimed that "Qatar is Islamising England". Some featured AI-generated images depicting a large mosque beside the British Parliament and the Qatari flag in front of Big Ben.
The campaign also produced several short documentary-style video series. One episode focused on Bradford, claiming that the West Yorkshire city had been taken over by Muslim immigrants.
After October 2024, a series of advertisements and videos targeting Britain reportedly attracted more than 25 million views.
In February 2026, YouTube videos also claimed, without providing evidence, that Qatar was supporting an independent Muslim candidate contesting the May local elections.
No evidence of direct Israeli government involvement
The researchers acknowledged that there was no evidence establishing Israel's direct involvement in the campaign. However, they noted that some Israeli ministers had aligned themselves with far-right figures in Britain and promoted anti-Muslim narratives about the country.
Amichai Chikli, Israel's minister for Diaspora Affairs, has expressed support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and invited him to the occupied territories.
In an interview last summer, Chikli reportedly said: "Antisemitism doesn't matter to the average European or American. But radical Islam matters to them very, very much. So we have to capitalise on that."
In June 2024, The New York Times reported that Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, headed by Chikli, had spent **$2 million on an influence campaign** targeting Americans with pro-Israel messages.
According to the latest investigation, the campaign extended beyond the United States to other European countries, where it promoted anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-Qatar narratives.
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