Key points
- Thousands of paid ads target critics
- Google, X, Teads, Outbrain involved
- Campaigns portray Gaza as “normal”
ISTANBUL: Israel has spent 167 million shekels ($50 million) on a deal with platforms such as Google and US social media platform X, plus French and Israeli ad platforms, to deny the famine in Gaza, Spanish broadcaster RTVE said Tuesday based on a Eurovision News Spotlight report.
According to the report, Israel’s Exemption Committee approved a request in June by the state-run advertising agency Lapam to conduct public information campaigns worth $50 million. These campaigns are being carried out through Google, X, and advertising platforms Outbrain and Teads.
The contracts, running from 17 June to 31 December, allocate 150 million shekels ($45 million) specifically to YouTube and Google’s Display & Video 360 ad management platform. X was paid 10 million shekels ($3.03 million), while Outbrain and Teads received 7 million shekels ($2.12 million).
Google and US social media platform X have yet not responded to the media reports.
Paid social media campaigns
Entitled “The new front of war: Inside Israel’s digital ‘hasbara’ offensive,” the investigation reveals how Israel is employing paid social media campaigns, influencers, and military tours to influence international perception about the situation in Gaza.
Documents spanning from 2018 to July 2025 show that Lapam has utilised Google and Meta’s ad platforms to push pro-government narratives and counter criticism of Israeli policies and military actions.
According to the report, based on data from the Google Ads Transparency Center, Lapam sponsored 2,000 ads in the previous year—900 aimed at Israeli citizens and 1,100 targeting international audiences in selected countries.
Between 1 January and 5 September 2025 alone, Lapam ran over 4,000 ads, half of which were directed at viewers outside Israel, Eurovision News Spotlight reported.
Denying famine
The campaigns have particularly focused on denying the famine in Gaza, aiming to “portray a semblance of normalcy within the besieged enclave.”
Lapam placed dozens of ads across Google, YouTube, X, and platforms like Teads and Outbrain that featured images of bustling Gaza markets. These were intended to contradict the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)’s declaration of famine.
Another campaign funded by Lapam encouraged viewers to identify “flaws and inconsistencies” in the IPC report. These ads were placed prominently above Google search results in several European countries—such as Belgium, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany—redirecting users to an official Israeli government website.
Paid promotion
On the same day the IPC released its findings, Israel’s Foreign Ministry YouTube channel launched a multilingual video campaign showing scenes of open restaurants and busy markets in Gaza.
From August to early September 2025, videos showing daily life in Gaza reportedly amassed over 30 million views. These figures, according to the investigation, were not organic but the result of paid promotion through Google Ads across various countries.
The campaign has also targeted critics. For example, search results for “UNRWA” have been manipulated to guide users to Israeli government content labelling the UN agency as a “front for Hamas.”
Ad policies
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has been the focus of months-long paid ad campaigns throughout Europe, which accuse her of being “anti-Semitic” due to her criticism of Israeli policy.
Eurovision stated it reached out to Google twice regarding its ad policies and the Israeli government’s advertising expenditure, but received no response, according to Anadolu Agency.
The report concluded that “Israel’s strategy highlights the vulnerability of the international public to emotionally persuasive narratives and the challenges faced by fact-checkers and traditional journalists in countering them.”
