By Max Blumenthal – Jan 19, 2026
Mossad is taking advantage of deadly riots that rocked Iran this month to solicit spies through a series of social media ads. In one of history’s strangest collaborations, the Israeli intel agency has purchased the ads through an LLC owned by Atlanta-based standup comic Desi Banks.
Update: This report and a September 2025 article by journalist Jack Poulson have resulted in the termination of Farsi-language recruitment ads by Israel’s Mossad assassination agency.
Google has suspended the company used to purchase those ads on the grounds of “egregious” violations. But the Atlanta-based comedian who owns that company, Desi Banks, still refuses to answer our requests for comment.
Update #2: Desi Banks has finally commented on the affair, claiming ignorance of how his LLC was used to purchase ads recruiting Iranians for the Mossad. “I have kids, and never in my life would I be involved in something like this,” Banks stated on Twitter/X. However, the comedian has provided no details on how his LLC was used for such clearly malicious purposes.
Days after anti-government rioters spread mayhem across Iranian cities, Israel’s Mossad published a new series of Farsi-language online recruitment ads. The Israeli foreign intelligence service has taken partial credit for the deadly unrest, pledging in a December 29 Twitter/X post that its agents were “in the field” with protesters. Now, it is escalating its infiltration efforts by soliciting spies inside Iran and throughout the Persian diaspora.
One of the most recent ads appeared January 14 on a Twitter/X account associated with Israeli intelligence, @payameabi. It featured a short AI video showing an Iranian protester seated defiantly in the middle of a street, confronting a phalanx of state security officers on motorbikes.
“Your role, Iranians abroad, is vital,” the tweet by @payameabi declares. “The final days of the regime have arrived. If you know someone who works in sensitive industries and centers, call us… Our organization is by your side.”
The text is followed by a link to a Google form which allows potential recruits to apply as Mossad informants, promising them protection and lucrative rewards. At the center of the recruitment form is an image of a tattooed arm holding a trash bag emblazoned with the logo of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It reads, “Build the future. Opportunities. It is right now.”
A separate Mossad recruitment ad also released on January 14 makes explicit reference to the violent upheaval inside Iran: “Our organization has heard the voice of you, the people of Iran, and is planning the final blows against the regime. Your compatriots inside Iran are engaged in a fateful struggle, and we intend to help you. As Iranians far from the homeland, you feel a sense of helplessness these days, which is understandable, but some of you can play a vital role in this stage.”
Similar solicitations appear on a Telegram channel called BlueMessage. One which appeared this month amid the riots that shook Iran features another AI-created image showing a forlorn-looking young man standing apart from a grim urban crowd of austere Iranians. “Your role is vital,” the Mossad appeal states. “We can help you and Iran.”
Mossad recruiting Iranian agents through Atlanta standup comedian’s company
The Mossad has placed several recruitment ads on YouTube and other Google-owned social media platforms through Desi Banks Productions LLC, an eponymous company owned by a Black, Atlanta-based comedian. Known for urban-themed standup comedy and online video sketches like “How Them Pimps Used to Be Back in the Day,” “Going to Yoga with a White Girl for the First Time,” and “How it Be When a Skinny Dude is With A Big Girl,” Banks might be the unlikeliest conduit for highly sensitive Mossad operations. On the other hand, the comedian’s apolitical profile and likely need for production support might have made him the perfect candidate for an intelligence agency seeking to conceal its fingerprints.
Is Banks aware that his company is responsible for buying Mossad recruitment ads on Google? Or did Israeli intelligence rely on another entity to deceive Banks?
The Grayzone visited the address listed in Desi Banks Productions’ corporate records in hopes of questioning the comedian. It took us to a downscale condominium complex at 1195 Milton Terrace SE in Atlanta’s Chosewood neighborhood. No one appeared to be home at the address, nor was it possible to leave a note in a mailbox seeking comment from Banks.
Banks did not respond to a September 2025 query from Jack Poulson, the reporter who first revealed the comedian’s apparent role in the Mossad ad campaign. At the time of publication, the standup comic is on tour in Philadelphia, PA. A January 18 afterparty planned by Banks at the nightclub NoTo Philly was cancelled seemingly at the last moment.
According to a September 2025 report by Poulson and Lee Fang, the Mossad recruitment ads have appeared in 19 countries around the world, but the only country in which each one appeared was Germany. There, the Mossad has solicited information from family members of Iranian nuclear scientists.
Western Media Whitewashes Deadly Riots in Iran, Relying on US Government-Funded Regime Change NGOs
The Mossad has not only claimed a pivotal role in the insurrectionist riots which spread mayhem across Iran this January, it received credit for the disorder from former CIA director Mike Pompeo, who declared on his Twitter/X account, “Happy New Year to every Iranian in the streets. Also to every Mossad agent walking beside them…”
Tamir Morag, a correspondent for Israel’s Channel 14, echoed Pompeo. “We reported tonight on Channel 14: foreign actors are arming the protesters in Iran with live firearms, which is the reason for the hundreds of regime personnel killed,” he stated on Twitter/X. “Everyone is free to guess who is behind it.”
Though the comedian Desi Banks has remained silent on his company’s apparent role as a Mossad shell, at least one of his colleagues has expressed suspicion about his activities. In an interview with Wallace “Wallo” Peeples, a motivational speaker and former long-term prisoner known for his commentary on “the game,” Banks was visibly uncomfortable when asked if “somebody” had visited him “to help you go the next level.”
“You might see somebody who’s not that talented, or not that funny, or whatever, and all of a sudden they be all the way up here, and you trying to figure out how that happened… Have anybody came to visit you?” Wallo asked Banks.
“Nahhhh,” Banks replied, averting his gaze. “I don’t think they gonna try to do that. Hell naw.”
Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath,The Fifty One Day War, and The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded The Grayzone in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on America’s state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions.
