On April 7, a virtual gathering organized by the Global Alliance for Palestine brought together researchers, grassroots activists and digital rights specialists to sound the alarm about coordinated state-backed propaganda and disinformation operations that are actively skewing global public narratives about Palestine. Titled “Countering Israel’s 2026 Hasbara Industry”, the webinar centered its discussion on what panelists characterized as structured, well-resourced digital messaging campaigns run by the Israeli government.
Hasbara, Israel’s official national public diplomacy directorate, is the body that oversees the country’s widespread propaganda operations. In a sign of internal friction around these efforts, the directorate has already faced legal action from private companies and contractors that provided services for the campaigns in the early months of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. To amplify its messaging following the outbreak of large-scale conflict in Gaza, Israel launched a covert initiative codenamed the “Esther Project”, which relies on secret public relations campaigns and contracted corporate firms to manage a sprawling network of paid social media influencers.
Since the October 2023 escalation of hostilities, Israel’s propaganda push has expanded beyond Hasbara, with the country’s foreign ministry and diaspora ministry also committing massive budgets to distributing Israeli-aligned content. The core goal of these efforts, panelists confirmed, is to shift global public opinion, push back against and deny widespread allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide perpetrated by Israeli forces in Gaza.
During the webinar, panelists emphasized that modern Israeli disinformation operations increasingly leverage cutting-edge digital tools, micro-targeted advertising, and artificial intelligence to shape public perception. Anas Ambri, a researcher with The New Arab Investigative Unit, presented new findings on Israel’s online ad campaigns and industry transparency requirements, noting that promotions tied to the Israeli government rarely disclose their official affiliations. He detailed how untargeted disclosures and hidden funding for targeted ad campaigns can reshape public narratives across major social media and digital platforms.
Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a policy analyst with the Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka, outlined the critical role open-source intelligence plays in documenting on-the-ground events in Gaza and pushing back against false Israeli messaging. He explained that open-source verification methods have been instrumental in confirming the details of violent incidents, challenging unsubstantiated Israeli claims, uncovering mass grave sites in Gaza, and exposing disinformation campaigns on social media platforms.
Hala Hanina, a Gaza-born political activist and doctoral researcher based in the United Kingdom, analyzed long-standing patterns of media coverage throughout the current conflict. She argued that a core pillar of Israeli state disinformation involves outright denial of attacks on civilian infrastructure and populations, shifting blame to Palestinian groups for Israeli violence, and framing narratives that deliberately downplay or obscure the devastating impact of military operations on Palestinian civilians. Her presentation detailed how these manipulated messages spread across both traditional legacy media and digital platforms, derailing calls for accountability and confusing audiences seeking accurate information about the conflict.
Another panelist, identified only as Lujane, focused her remarks on the intersection of artificial intelligence and digital influence, explaining how curated content ecosystems can skew AI-generated outputs to amplify and entrench pro-Israeli narratives. She noted that hidden funding networks and targeted amplification strategies are key to ensuring these skewed narratives reach broad global audiences.
Noted digital rights advocate Nadim Nashif raised urgent concerns about unequal platform governance, pointing to repeated past incidents where content from Palestinian creators and journalists was removed or algorithmically restricted. He argued that current algorithmic moderation frameworks and major platform policies systematically create unequal visibility for Palestinian and Israeli perspectives, amplifying pro-Israeli content while suppressing Palestinian voices.
Not all discussion focused solely on the challenge of disinformation, however. Miriyam Aouragh, a professor at the University of Westminster, noted that the open digital ecosystem has also created new space for counter-narratives, allowing Palestinian voices to reach wider global audiences than ever before. She pointed to growing public dissent among technology workers at major platforms, as well as increased public scrutiny of platform content moderation practices, as positive shifts that have helped level the information playing field.
Webinar organizers emphasized that the event’s core goal was to provide attendees with the analytical tools needed to trace how information is produced, circulated, and manipulated during armed conflict. They stressed that addressing systemic disinformation and expanding global media literacy will remain critical priorities, as digital platforms continue to be the primary venue where global public perceptions of the Palestine-Israel conflict are formed.
This reporting builds on independent, on-the-ground coverage of the Middle East and North Africa from Middle East Eye, a publication focused on unaffiliated, in-depth analysis of the region.
