“Without morals, without complexes, without borders”, headlined the Israeli newspaper The Marker to define the operation of Tal Hanan. This former Israeli intelligence special forces operative, together with a network of agents dubbed “Team Jorge”, would have manipulated more than 30 electoral processes around the world through hacking, sabotage and the dissemination of toxic information. The scandal was revealed by a consortium of international journalists, who with abundant documentation demonstrated how missions were successfully carried out without leaving a trace.
“I reject the accusations of malpractice,” argued Hanan, whose lucrative business once again calls into question former members of Hebrew intelligence, who use the knowledge acquired during their time in the army for their personal gain. Hanan, 50, is also linked to British consultancy Cambridge Analytica. As already happened with the Pegasus case, the NSO company’s software that allows the extraction of information from smartphones, Israel is once again in the spotlight for the export of technologies that damage democracies and violate human rights.
A member of the journalistic cooperative presented himself as an adviser from an unidentified African country. With a French accent, he commented during a zoom chat that “in September there will be elections in our country. My client hopes that these elections will not end up being held”.
Immediately, “Team Jorge” explained the services available to him. Access to email accounts and messaging services -including Telegram-; infiltrating materials into hacked accounts; dissemination of original or falsified documents; armies of bots for hire; encourage the demobilization of the masses; or alter the credibility of public institutions, in order to promote ideas such as “these elections were stolen”.
The country in question was Chad. The machinery was immediately activated, and the Israeli saboteurs sought contacts from the country’s top military commanders. The mystery client was offered massive cyber attacks or the takedown of political adversaries, including harming his economic interests. “Jorge’s services were purchased by everyone who could pay for them, regardless of the fact that their use resulted in immediate risk to the lives of many people,” The Marker said.
The mysterious client suggested a possible bombing in the central market of N’Djamena, the capital of the African state. It was a perfect excuse to postpone the imminent elections. For around six million euros, it was feasible to launch the operation. The “Jorge Team” acknowledged in the conversations having contaminated 33 electoral processes, and in 27 of them it succeeded. Their services were contracted by intelligence agencies, political parties or private companies in Africa, Latin America, the US and Europe.
To impress their new contact, they showed screenshots of conversations with senior officials from Mozambique or Kenya. Among the examples shown, “Jorge” also acknowledged being responsible for the attack suffered by the Generalitat de Catalunya during the self-determination referendum held on November 9, 2014. The day before the referendum, former president Artur Mas denounced “an attack organized very hard”, which put the software of public institutions, including emergency services, at risk. He also spoke of payments to fabricate the accusation of sexual assaults against the fashion mogul Peter Nygard, infiltrations in the phones of the Nigerian opposition in 2015, or even campaigns to inflate the value of cryptocurrencies.
The former Israeli intelligence agent designed a state-of-the-art system for creating fictitious profiles on social networks, capable of spreading fear or unconditional support, according to the specific requests of his clients. “After establishing credibility, you can manipulate,” Hanan said. The consortium of journalists from more than 30 international media outlets was coordinated by the Forbidden Stories collective, whose mission is to promote the work of journalists who have been murdered, threatened or imprisoned.
Part of the operations promoted by Hanan and his team were channeled through the Israeli company Demoman International, registered on a website managed by the Israeli defense ministry, which promotes the export of defense products. Said ministry refused to give its version of the facts after the revelation of the scandal.
As evidence, three journalists from The Marker, Ha’aretz and Radio France posted multiple videos of face-to-face encounters with Hanan, in an office located in a Modi’in industrial park. The head of “Team Jorge” assured that they have six offices around the world, and that their team of “graduates from government agencies” is specialized in “psychological warfare.” For fees of between 6 and 15 million euros, they were willing to shake up any country in the world.
