Russia, China and Iran are interfering in the US elections – but not in favor of the same candidate

The intriguing companies in the field, the events you shouldn’t miss and the developments that will shape tomorrow: a new section of Globes will present every week the news from the past week in the high-tech industry.

And this week: China, Iran and Russia are flooding the social networks with false information in an attempt to influence the US elections; the crisis in the field of flights from Israel to the US is taking a toll on the high-tech industry; The former CEO of Teva’s candidate for the US presidency; and the Jewish-American billionaire who leads a $38 million investment in an Israeli software company.

1Russia and China are meddling in the US elections – but in opposite directions

Microsoft recently reported on a vigorous attempt by the countries of the autocratic axis – China, Iran and Russia – to disrupt the US elections, by spreading false information on social networks. The attempt is so vigorous that, according to the software giant, the intensity of the attacks has doubled in the last week. And despite the conflicting position they demonstrate towards the US, each such country acts according to individual interest and supports its own candidate.

Russia, for example, is determined to harm the campaign of Kamala Harris. The Democratic Party has been leading the hawkish line against Russia in Congress and the Senate since its invasion of Ukraine about two and a half years ago, and pushed for billion-dollar arms deals to arm the Ukrainian army. According to Microsoft, Russia created several groups that spread false information about Harris and attack her vice presidential nominee, Tim Waltz. The information includes pictures, fake articles as well as fake videos pretending to be articles on Fox News or Wired’s video magazine. In one of them, a ranger in a nature reserve in Africa claims that Harris shot an endangered rhinoceros in Zambia. Afterwards, it turned out that the guard was none other than an impostor.

China, for its part, wants to lower voter turnout and increase US citizens’ sense of distrust in its government institutions and leaders. However, a Chinese campaign conducted through the influence group “Spamoflague” is trying to harm Republican candidates with a history of defaming China for the Senate and Congress. The attack includes Spreading fake news on social media, accusing them of corruption or promoting the opposing candidate, and has so far been used against senators such as Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Marco Rubio of Florida, and several elected members of the House.

Like China, Iran also takes decentralized actions in different directions, but it also works to thwart the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. He is remembered as the one who canceled the nuclear agreements, ordered the assassination of Qasem Soleimani and isolated Iran by signing the Abraham Accords with Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Iran worked to discredit Trump on social media through fake news campaigns, and in August even managed to hack into his presidential campaign. The “Speed ​​Flood” group, attributed to Iran, posed as a group of social and political activists and created a campaign designed to reduce citizens’ trust in the political leadership and the election process.

2The Ministry of Transportation does not care about flights to Israel – that’s how Hi-Tech reacts

For over a year now, American airlines have not run direct flights to Israel – including United, American and Delta, and El-Al is the only company on earth that flies directly between New York and Los Angeles airports and Tel Aviv. The worsening trend imposes a de facto blockade on sectors of the economy that are based on managing frequent business relationships with Americans, and in particular the “engine of the economy”, the high-tech sector. The industry depends on the American market as a source of income, when two-thirds of the capital it raised in the last quarter came from outside the borders of Israel and in particular from the USA.

A year has passed, and high-tech executives are testifying to growing damage – which is now also exacting prices from Israeli workers. “We are a country under siege, it hurts the economy,” venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg wrote on his X page. “Someone has to fly to New York next week and there isn’t even a waiting list open in any department. The British have canceled flights until March. It shouldn’t be like this.” Eisenberg admitted that he spoke with an entrepreneur who informed him that he had transferred his sales manager and two other customer support specialists abroad. “The flights are expensive, and there are also no flights available when a customer needs to be reached,” he wrote.

Eisenberg calls on the Minister of Transportation to take action to settle the matter: “Miri Regev, you are not allowed to stay in Israel until you have personally visited the CEOs of all the airlines, understood the problem and found a solution. I know, for example, that “Ryan Air” is looking for a way to fly to Israel. Ceremonies instead of flights is not a strategy.”

Liad Agmon, a member of the Insight Foundation, also admitted that “at a board meeting last week, we told the CEO of one of our companies that we expect him to move to the US and build a team there as soon as possible.” The artificial intelligence expert Uri Aliyev also stated that “We want to invite strong lecturers in the field of artificial intelligence from abroad to the conference and pay for their flight, but we don’t even get to think about it because of the prices.”

Another entrepreneur admitted that “we were able to find flights for $1,400, with a 15-hour layover in Europe or $4,000 in premium class on an El-Al plane. On many of the dates there is no flight and it is impossible to proceed this way.”

3He was CEO of a huge Israeli company: this is his candidate for the US presidency

Jeremy Levin, former CEO of Teva, published in recent days an article in support of the US presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the Jewish-American newspaper “Forward”. Levin cites Harris’s position in the field of women’s health, and in particular on the issue of abortion, as a major reason why in his opinion the Democratic candidate should be voted for: “As a doctor, I saw the impact of poor health services on women in emergency clinics in rural areas of South Africa,” writes Levin. “Trump’s policies are now bringing it to America. Trump engineered the repeal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Since then, the number of women traveling across state lines to seek medical care for basic pregnancy-related issues — including miscarriages, vaginal bleeding, and abortions — has increased dramatically dramatic”.

According to Levin, in 2023, one in five abortion patients in the US will have left her country for treatment, compared to one in 10 in 2020. “This trend is driven by state-level bans on abortions and severe restrictions following the political decision. The number of women who died needlessly is still being counted. Septic abortions – abortions that are accompanied by infection penetrating the uterus – which in the past were mostly eliminated in the US, have returned.”

Regarding the question of Harris’ support for Israel, Levin points out that: “Israelis usually say that Trump supported Israel more than Biden, but this is a myth. The Biden administration allocated military and financial aid to Israel almost double that of the Trump administration.”

4The pro-Israeli billionaire’s new software investment

The Third Point Foundation of Jewish-American billionaire Dan Loeb, one of the prominent supporters of Israel among the business community in New York, is leading a $38 million investment in the Israeli software company Zenity, which specializes in the security of artificial intelligence systems and low-code development in organizations.

The 62-year-old billionaire, whose aunt became famous for inventing the Barbie doll, turned the hedge fund he founded, Third Point, into an investment empire that currently manages billions of dollars. Loeb is known for his bold activist style – he does not hesitate to enter huge companies, shake up the board of directors and demand dramatic changes. In recent years, he has focused on the world of technology, investing in artificial intelligence companies in a unique way – instead of joining the flock of investors in Nvidia, he invests in companies such as Microsoft, Meta and Google. Through the venture capital fund of Third Point, he invests in a number of Israeli companies such as Next Silicon, Trulion, Verbit, Porter and Grip Security, to which Zeniti is now joining. Loeb’s investment team in Israel includes Sapir Harosh and his partner, Rob Schwartz, who lives in New York.

Zeniti was founded in 2021, by Ben Kliger and Michael Bargouri, both of whom are veterans of the cloud security groups at Microsoft. The two say that from their personal experience, they were exposed to a growing problem: more and more employees in organizations, who are not professional developers, began to use platforms that allow development without writing code (Low-Code/No-Code), which created new and complex security risks. These are software development platforms that allow you to create applications using a visual and friendly “drag and drop” interface, instead of traditional code writing, so that even people without a programming background can develop digital solutions. “The future of artificial intelligence in organizations is happening before our eyes,” said Ben Kliger in a statement. “For the first time, large companies are making powerful tools like AI accessible Co-pilot and low-code for every employee in the organization, therefore a central system is required to control and monitor the associated risks.”

The round was led alongside Third Point by the DTCP fund, and it follows a strategic investment by Microsoft’s investment arm, M12, and with the support of existing investors Intel Capital and Vertex. Among the early investors in the company – Amir Shavat, Ron Levy, Gerhard Eschelbeck, Geffen Capital and UpWest.