The Radio France investigation unit, alongside the Forbidden Stories consortium, claims that the continuous news channel BFMTV broadcast images provided by an Israeli disinformation agency. This same agency is run by former members of the army and the secret services.
The case against the presenter of BFM TV Rachid M’Barki, implicated for subjects having suffered an external influence, is linked to a vast disinformation enterprise piloted by an Israeli pharmacy, reveals this Wednesday, February 15 an investigation by an international consortium of 100 journalists. “There is no doubt that BFM is a victim in this story, when one of ours short-circuits the hierarchical chain, that poses a problem”, reacted Wednesday the director general of the info channel, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, on France Interafter launching an internal investigation and suspending the 54-year-old journalist.
According to this investigation by the collective of journalists Forbidden Storiesto which the investigation unit of French Radio And The world, this affair is linked to a vast disinformation enterprise led by an Israeli pharmacy, which would sell its services all over the world. The investigative journalists were able to meet a manager of this pharmacy in Israel, referred to as “Team Jorge”. He told them, with a demonstration, that he could automatically create fake online accounts, automatically generate content on social networks or hack emails or accounts. Telegramto influence election campaigns in particular.
Last minute pictures
In the case of Rachid M’Barki on BFM TV, the briefs broadcast related to the Russian oligarchs, in Qatar, in Sudan, in Cameroon, or even in Western Sahara and would have been “provided turnkey on behalf of foreign clients”, according to the investigative consortium. The first news channel in France had opened an internal investigation in January due to suspicions against Rachid M’Barki.
According to Marc-Olivier Fogiel, the presenter “managed to ask for (some) images at the last minute” to illustrate briefs, “once the editor-in-chief was taken on another installment and had validated his entire diary “. Questioned in January by the site Politico, Rachid M’Barki had admitted to having “used information which (him) came from informants” and which “did not necessarily follow the usual course of writing”. “They were all real and verified (…) I’m not ruling anything out, maybe I was tricked, I didn’t feel like it was or that I was part of a fraud operation. I don’t know what else I wouldn’t have done it,” he continued.
