The people in charge of law in Paris are looking into something. They think a company from Israel called BlackCore tried to influence what people think about some candidates. These candidates are from the side and they were running in elections that will happen in March 2026. The company BlackCore is not well known. They are looking into if BlackCore really did try to influence the elections in France. The mayoral candidates they targeted are all from the wing. The investigation, into BlackCore and what they did is now official. The probe, confirmed by Reuters on May 27, examines whether BlackCore ran a coordinated smear campaign against candidates from the pro-Palestinian party La France Insoumise — France Unbowed, or LFI — in Marseille, Toulouse, and Roubaix. French officials and victims of the operation have described it as an unprecedented assault on French democratic sovereignty.
The operation was first exposed by the French newspaper Le Monde in March, after Viginum — the digital interference detection service inside the French prime minister’s office — identified a foreign digital interference scheme targeting an LFI candidate and his party. A joint investigation by Libération and Haaretz subsequently traced digital footprints to a server that had hosted a subdomain of the “blackcore.online” website, which described itself, according to Middle East Eye, as “an elite influence, cyber and technology company built for the modern era of information warfare” providing governments and political campaigns with tools to “shape narratives.” Those traces led further to two Tel Aviv-based technology companies, Galacticos and SNI Digital, whose executives have denied any connection to BlackCore.
The three targeted candidates were LFI Member of Parliament Sébastien Delogu in Marseille, MP François Piquemal in Toulouse, and David Guiraud in Roubaix. The methods deployed against them included fabricated websites, fake social media accounts alleging criminal conduct, and paid digital advertisements placed during the legally mandated electoral silence period — when candidates are barred from public communications.
In Marseille, physical flyers and QR codes were distributed across the city directing people to a website titled “Sophie’s Blog,” in which an anonymous individual accused Delogu of sexual violence. Le Monde reported that the profile was riddled with inconsistencies and that the Facebook posts generated through the site received comments and likes from automated accounts, many traced to Asia. In Toulouse, defamatory advertisements appeared on the second-hand clothing platform Vinted and the regional outlet La Dépêche du Midi, depicting Islamophobic imagery using the logos of Piquemal’s campaign.
Piquemal told Middle East Eye that he first learned of possible interference two weeks before the first round of elections, when sensitive personal data — including his social media passwords, tax information, and home address — was leaked. “Several days later, Viginum and French media outlets Le Canard Enchaîné and Le Monde published investigations saying that there was foreign interference linked to Elnet, a pro-Israeli influence agency,” he said.
Piquemal lost the Toulouse mayoral race to incumbent right-wing Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc, who secured a third consecutive term with 53.87 percent of the vote, according to official results. Piquemal received 46.13 percent, a margin of 13,227 votes. He has called for the result to be annulled on grounds of foreign interference. “We still don’t know who paid for those ads. I filed a complaint, but the investigation still hasn’t identified who was behind them,” he told Middle East Eye.
Delogu’s lawyer, Yones Taguelmint, filed an initial defamation complaint on his client’s behalf, then submitted a further complaint following the BlackCore revelations, citing foreign interference, destabilisation of electoral campaigns, and organised criminal activity. “Significant human and material resources were deployed, even though this was only a municipal election campaign. This is an unprecedented situation,” Taguelmint told Middle East Eye.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez publicly committed to releasing the Viginum report, according to Libération, after the investigative journal Le Canard Enchaîné alleged the report had been “redacted and shelved” by authorities who were not actively seeking to identify the perpetrators. Questions remain over the scope of any eventual publication.
Gérard Grizbec, a research associate at the Paris-based Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (Iris), told Middle East Eye his think tank had been monitoring election interference risks ahead of the municipal vote — though its attention had been trained elsewhere. “The focus was on Russia. We were not at all focused on Israel. Not at all,” he said. Grizbec suggested the operation may have served a dual purpose: to penalise LFI for its vocal support of Palestinian rights and to signal broader displeasure with France’s foreign policy. “Israel and France have a very, very bad relationship, and I think Israel has absolutely no hesitation about targeting LFI and more generally, the French state itself,” he told Middle East Eye.
France said it knows Palestine is a state in 2025. It still says it will do what the United Nations said it should do in 1967. The United Nations said Israel should leave the land that belongs to Palestine this is what the people from France who work at the United Nations said. France is talking about the land that Israel’s, in charge of this land belongs to Palestine. Both Piquemal and Grizbec have noted that the targeted candidates were outspoken advocates of suspending Israeli-French city partnerships and raising the Palestinian flag on municipal buildings — positions characterised by Piquemal as mainstream expressions of solidarity rather than radical politics.
Manon Aubry, LFI’s Member of the European Parliament, told Middle East Eye she fears the interference is being downplayed because LFI is the direct target. “I take this to be an attack on our democracy. It is our democracy that is at stake because if tomorrow LFI cannot run anymore because they know they will be dismissed by such a campaign, are we still living in a democracy?” she said.
Concern is now mounting over France’s 2027 presidential election. An Ordoxa poll published last week, cited by Politico, predicted that National Rally candidate Jordan Bardella would defeat former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in the presidential race, with LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon showing a significant surge. The National Rally’s recent public overtures toward Israel — including a formal invitation extended to Bardella by the Israeli government in March 2025, reported by Le Monde — have introduced a new dimension to questions about foreign actors’ electoral interests in France.
Piquemal warned that inaction risks encouraging further foreign interference. “Other countries might think: In Toulouse this worked pretty well. They successfully targeted the candidate and there weren’t many consequences. Journalists seem to investigate more than authorities. Why wouldn’t we intervene too?” he told Middle East Eye. “This is a democratic sovereignty issue that goes beyond us.”
Background
Viginum, established within the French prime minister’s office, is France’s dedicated body for detecting foreign digital interference. BlackCore, an Israeli company that no longer maintains an active web presence, publicly described itself as a provider of influence and cyber tools to governments and political campaigns. Elnet, the pro-Israeli lobbying organisation mentioned in connection with the operation, has not responded to requests for comment. France and Israel have experienced strained diplomatic relations following France’s recognition of Palestinian statehood in 2025 and its calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories. The March 2026 municipal elections were the first major French electoral cycle since that recognition.
What Happens Next
Paris prosecutors are looking into the BlackCore operation. They want to prosecute the group behind it. They also want to prosecute individuals who were, in France and took part in it according to Taguelmint. Interior Minister Nunez has committed to publishing the Viginum report, though questions remain over whether its full conclusions will be released. Aubry has called on French institutions to establish an independent election monitoring body capable of detecting and blocking foreign interference in real time before the 2027 presidential vote. Piquemal’s legal challenge to the Toulouse election result is ongoing.
