Lior Chorev
Israeli political strategist; co-founder and chairman of Percepto International
| Lior Chorev
| |
|---|---|
| Image |  Lior Chorev, from the Percepto International website |
| Born | Jerusalem |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Occupation | Political strategist and campaign manager |
| Known for | Co-founder and chairman of Percepto International; strategist on Ariel Sharon's 2001 and 2003 campaigns |
Lior Chorev (ליאור חורב) is an Israeli political strategist and campaign manager. He is co-founder, chairman and chief strategy officer of the influence and intelligence firm Percepto International, which he set up with the former military intelligence officer Royi Burstien.[1]
According to his company biography he has worked on "more than 100 political campaigns", served as a senior strategist on Ariel Sharon's winning prime ministerial campaigns of 2001 and 2003 and advised Ehud Olmert in 2006.[1] In September 2026 he was named in Israeli press reports as one of the consultants recruited in October 2023 to an anti-Qatar influence initiative that was later halted.[2]
Career
Percepto's website states that Chorev was born in Jerusalem and began working in Israeli politics "at a very young age" after military service. It lists the following roles:[1]
- senior strategist in Ariel Sharon's prime ministerial campaigns (2001 and 2003)
- adviser to Ehud Olmert (2006)
- Chief Strategy Officer of Azura Consulting, "an international natural reserves and mining consulting firm" (2011–2013)
- CEO of Euro Israel and of Arad Communications; co-CEO of "Active 2000"; founding partner of the "Euro RSCG Israel" group
- founder of L. Chorev Investments Ltd and chairman of Goldfinger Communications
- partner in Senttio, described as "digital psychological profiling AI"
- former strategic adviser to the Herzliya Conference at the Institute for Policy and Strategy, IDC Herzliya, where he also teaches.
Israel's company register lists L. Chorev Investments Ltd (ל. חורב השקעות בע"מ, no. 513874438), incorporated on 13 September 2006, at HaGefen 17, Kfar Ben Nun 9978000, the same registered address as Percepto's company, L.R Perception International Ltd.[3][4]
Kulanu campaign (2019)
Walla reported on 27 December 2018 that Chorev, who had run Kulanu's previous election campaign, would again head the campaign of the party's leader, the finance minister Moshe Kahlon, for the April 2019 Knesset election. The report said Chorev had advised the Israel Police and its outgoing commissioner, Roni Alsheich, and had been criticised by Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu.[5]
Percepto International
Chorev and Royi Burstien founded Percepto International in March 2021, according to RFI.[6] In March 2023 Frédéric Métézeau of Radio France told a French National Assembly committee of inquiry that Percepto was run by Burstien and by "un conseiller en communication très connu en Israël, Lior Chorev, qui a travaillé pour d'importantes personnalités israéliennes", and described its use of "avatars profonds" (fake journalists, NGOs and influencers) in French-speaking Africa.[7] TheMarker headlined its February 2023 report "מפעל הרפש מרמת גן: חברת מבצעי התודעה של ליאור חורב ורועי בורשטיין נחשפת" ("The smear factory from Ramat Gan: Lior Chorev and Royi Burstein's perception-operations company exposed").[8]
Anti-Qatar initiative (2023)
On 14 September 2026 Haaretz reported, in an article by Bar Peleg and Omer Benjakob, that Israeli influence experts had mounted an anti-Qatar campaign after 7 October 2023 which "was abruptly halted, without explanation".[9] Behadrei Haredim, summarising the report, said about 30 consultants were added to a WhatsApp group on the sixth day of the war, and named among the participants Noam Lanir, "the strategic adviser Lior Chorev" (היועץ האסטרטגי ליאור חורב) and Alon Pinkas; Udi Levy joined later and drafted a position paper. The initiators' names are under a publication ban. The campaign's slogan ran "Qatar funds Hamas > Hamas is ISIS > Boycott Qatar 2023"; most participants were volunteers, and the effort had died out by December 2023.[2]
"Great Replacement" report (2026)
Marc Owen Jones and Sohan Dsouza's October 2026 report Manufacturing the "Great Replacement" records that on 11 March 2023 Chorev posted on X a portrait captioned "שתיקת הכבשים (שוקי דוכובני)" ("The Silence of the Lambs (Shuki Duchovni)"), crediting the designer Shuki Duchovni, whose professional name the authors found matched part of a file-volume label in the campaign's video metadata. The report also notes that Chorev's Kulanu campaign of 2019 and Duchovni's showreel overlap. The authors state that this is "a lead the investigation has not resolved", that "work on the same national campaign does not make two vendors partners", and that Chorev had not been approached.[10]
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Percepto International, About us, perceptointernational.com, accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yitzhak Weiss, קמפיין ישראלי נגד קטאר הוקם אחרי הטבח - ואז נעלם במפתיע, Behadrei Haredim, 14 September 2026 (archived copy), accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ Taagidim (from the Israeli Registrar of Companies open data), ל. חורב השקעות בע"מ – ח.פ 513874438, accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ Taagidim (from the Israeli Registrar of Companies open data), ל.ר. פרספשן אינטרנשיונל בע"מ – ח.פ 516353521, accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ Tal Shalev, היועץ האסטרטגי שעצבן את נתניהו ינהל שוב את הקמפיין של כחלון, Walla, 27 December 2018 (archived copy), accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ RFI, Au Burkina Faso, comment le CICR aurait été la cible d'une campagne de manipulation, RFI, 16 February 2023, accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ Assemblée nationale, Compte rendu n° 15, Commission d'enquête relative aux ingérences politiques, économiques et financières de puissances étrangères, 14 March 2023, accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ TheMarker, מפעל הרפש מרמת גן: חברת מבצעי התודעה של ליאור חורב ורועי בורשטיין נחשפת, 16 February 2023, accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ Bar Peleg and Omer Benjakob, Israeli Experts Mounted an anti-Qatar Campaign. It Was Abruptly Halted, Without Explanation, Haaretz, 14 September 2026 (archived copy), accessed 30 October 2026.
- ↑ Marc Owen Jones and Sohan Dsouza, Manufacturing the "Great Replacement": the full report, Dysinfluence, 29 October 2026, accessed 30 October 2026.