Report says Israel funding Google ad campaign to discredit UNRWA
Israel accuses staff at UN Palestinian refugee agency of antisemitism, glorification of terror and participating in Oct. 7; Google employees felt uncomfortable profiting off campaign
Israel’s government is funding an online ad campaign aimed at convincing potential donors to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees to reconsider their contributions by highlighting allegations of ties to terrorists, a report said on Monday.
According to US tech monthly Wired, the Israeli Government Advertising Agency is paying Google to place ads containing accusations that the UN Relief and Works Agency has links to the Hamas terror group atop search results for “UNRWA” and other related terms.
Israel has accused UNRWA employees of participating in the October 7 Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel – during which 1,200 were killed and 251 taken hostage. The onslaught sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Mara Kronenfeld, who runs the agency’s US partner UNRWA USA, told the magazine she noticed the campaign when searching the name for her nonprofit and found what appeared to be a promotion for the organization that led to a webpage detailing the allegations.
Among the accusations in the video ads on Google have been charges that “UNRWA is inseparable from Hamas,” and that the agency “keeps employing terrorists.”
UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma told Wired that the advertisements harm the agency’s reputation and “are destructive to people.”
“They should stop, and those responsible for this sabotage should be held accountable. There should be a lot of follow-up with companies like Google once the war is over. There’s a lot to answer to,” she said.
According to Wired, Google removed Israeli ads in January that lured in potential supporters with the title “UNRWA for Human Rights” after the aid agency complained, despite Google saying there was no violation of its policies.
However, Israel has since resumed the campaign, albeit with titles reflecting their content, including “UNRWA Neutrality Compromised, “Israel Unveils UNRWA Issues,” and “Israel Advocates for Safer, Transparent Humanitarian Practices.”
Israel’s New York Consulate did not answer requests from Wired for comment.
Israel and pro-Israel lobbying groups have for years accused UNRWA staff of antisemitism and the glorification of terrorism, particularly within UNRWA’s extensive education system. Throughout the IDF’s campaign in Gaza, weapons and Hamas facilities have been found embedded at UNRWA sites. Israel has also identified several UNRWA employees who directly took part in the October 7 atrocities.
The report cited UNWRA USA figures showing that from May to July, Israel’s anti-UNRWA advertisements appeared in 44 percent of eligible searches, while UNRWA USA ads popped up only 34% of the time.
Google told Wired it blocks ads on search topics it deems “sensitive,” a tactic it used during the COVID pandemic and is currently employing during Israel’s war in Gaza. Yet one employee told Wired that the company chose not to do so when it comes to UNRWA, fearing it could interfere with future business with Israel.
Other Google employees who spoke to Wired said they felt uncomfortable with their company profiting from Israel’s alleged efforts to blame UNRWA for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
“You shouldn’t be taking that money,” one of the sources said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for UNRWA to be shut down, saying it is infested by terror elements and accusing staffers of participating in the October 7 massacre.
In January, UNRWA said it had fired an unspecified number of staffers, after Israeli authorities provided information that pointed to their active participation in the onslaught.
Earlier this month, the UN announced that nine UNRWA employees “may have been involved” in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and will be fired from the organization.
The accusations by Israel led numerous countries to suspend their funding to the organization, but many have since renewed it, citing the difficult humanitarian situation in the Strip.
The UN appointed former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna to lead a UNRWA neutrality review in February due to the allegations.
In April, the review said Israel had yet to provide supporting evidence for its claims that a significant number of agency staff were members of terrorist organizations and argued that UNRWA had “robust” policies in place to ensure staff neutrality.
The review also found that UNRWA had “a more developed approach” to neutrality than other similar UN or aid groups but that despite this, “neutrality related issues persist.”
It said these included some staff publicly expressing political views, textbooks with problematic content being used in some UNRWA schools, and politicized staff unions making threats against UNRWA management and disrupting operations.
Israel rejected the findings, saying it only provided “cosmetic fixes,” reasserting its position that the agency was intertwined with Hamas and could not play a future role in Gaza. A prominent UN watchdog also called the report a “whitewash.”
UNRWA provides education, health services and humanitarian aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It argues that it plays an essential role in providing relief for Gazans, especially during the current war between Israel and Hamas.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said in March that the UNRWA is a “lifeline of hope and dignity” for the Palestinian people, describing it as “cruel and incomprehensible” to half its vital services to Palestinian refugees across the region.
The ads against UNRWA are not the first controversial campaign Israel has been accused of during its ongoing war with Hamas.
In October, an investigation by Politico resulted in Google removing around 30 Israeli ads due to violent imagery. It was also criticized for graphic ads displayed on kids gaming apps.
According to the Wired report, Google’s advertising network has also displayed pro-Israel ads on news sites and publications in the Middle East and North Africa, which led to complaints. This campaign appeared to end in May 2024. Wired says this is around the time it began inquiring into the campaign.
In June, a New York Times report accused Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry of paying last year for a campaign that used fake social media accounts to target US lawmakers and the American public with pro-Israel messaging, citing four current and former members of the ministry, and documents on the activities.
The campaign was first reported on by Israeli media watchdog FakeReporter in March, but the report in June linked the effort directly to the government.
Jacob Magid, Jeremy Sharon, Sam Sokol and agencies contributed to this report
