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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Exclusive: Google Helped Israel Spread War Propaganda to 45 Million Europeans</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Alan Macleod</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">July 10, 2025</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p>While
it continues its conflict with its neighbors, Israel is fighting
another war just as intensely, spending gigantic amounts of money
bombarding Europe with messaging justifying their actions, and
scaremongering Europeans that Iranian nuclear missiles will soon be
turning their cities into rubble.</p>
<p>A MintPress study has found that, since it struck Iran on June 13,
the Israeli Government Advertising Agency has paid for tens of millions
of advertisements on YouTube alone. In clear breach of Google\u2019s
policies, these ads justify and lionize the attack as a necessary
defense of Western civilization, and claim that Israel is carrying out
\u201cone of the largest humanitarian missions in the world\u201d in Gaza.</p>
<p>The countries most targeted by this campaign include the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Greece.</p>
<h2>Information War</h2>
<p>\u201cA fanatical regime firing missiles at civilians, while racing
towards nuclear weapons. While Iran deliberately targets cities, Israel
acts with precision to dismantle this threat.\u201d Thus starts one Israeli <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fEvA3mpJWQ" target="_blank">government ad</a> that hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewers in Europe have been compelled to watch.</p>
<p>\u201cTerror architects behind the elimination of Israel plan: eliminated.
Israel targets only military and terror sites, not civilians. But the
threat remains,\u201d the voiceover continues, over ominous music and
high-tech graphics. \u201cWe will finish the mission for our people, for
humanity. Israel does what must be done,\u201d it concludes.</p>
<p>\u201cIran\u2019s ballistic missile program isn\u2019t just a threat to Israel, it is a threat to Europe and the Western world,\u201d <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afNKPV52Ayo" target="_blank">another</a>,
seen by 1.5 million viewers in just three weeks, claims. \u201cIran is
developing missiles with ranges of approximately 4000 km. That places
Europe within the regime\u2019s striking distance,\u201d it adds, as graphics show
virtually the entire continent turning blood red, signifying a nuclear
attack. \u201cThis isn\u2019t tomorrow\u2019s threat. It is today\u2019s reality. The threat
posed by the Iranian regime must be stopped. Israel does what must be
done.\u201d</p>
<p>Ominous messages like these, translated into multiple languages, have
reached tens of millions of people across Europe. Other Israeli
government ads take a different tack, attempting to present Israel as a
virtuous victim and an unwilling participant in war. As one <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6cSEwIfcw8" target="_blank">commercial</a> notes:</p>
<blockquote><p>Imagine this: you are holding your newborn in a hospital
room. Then the air raid sirens go off. Iran fires ballistic missiles at
hospitals, at innocent Israelis. Patients, doctors, newborn babies:
deliberately targeted. While Iran aims at families and children, Israel
responds with precision, striking military sites. This is not a war of
choice. Those who target civilians and hospitals become the target.\u201d</p></blockquote>
<p>The claims made in such videos are often highly questionable. For example, around <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/935-people-killed-israeli-strikes-iran-iran-judiciary-spokesperson-says-2025-06-30/" target="_blank">935</a> Iranians were killed in Israeli strikes, compared to just <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/these-are-the-28-victims-killed-in-iranian-missile-attacks-during-the-12-day-conflict" target="_blank">28</a>
Israelis, suggesting Israel is far less careful to avoid civilian
deaths than its opponent. Indeed, since October 2023, Israel has
repeatedly and deliberately targeted hospitals. The World Health
Organization has <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/22-05-2025-health-system-at-breaking-point-as-hostilities-further-intensify--who-warns" target="_blank">documented</a> at least 697 Israeli strikes on medical facilities.</p>
<p>Ninety-four percent of Gaza\u2019s hospitals have been destroyed or damaged, and more than 1,400 medical personnel have <a href="https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/1736-1400-healthcare-workers-killed-in-israelas-systematic-attacks-on-gazaas-health-system" target="_blank">been killed</a>. This includes Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, head of orthopedics at al-Shifa Hospital, who was reportedly <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/24/dying-in-hell-palestinian-medics-jailed-by-israel" target="_blank">raped to death</a> by Israeli prison guards. According to UNICEF, Israel has killed or injured over <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unimaginable-horrors-more-50000-children-reportedly-killed-or-injured-gaza-strip" target="_blank">50,000</a> Palestinian children. An American nurse who worked in Gaza <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/gaza-hospitals-nurse-testimony-shooting-boys-genocide/289919/">told</a> MintPress News that IDF soldiers regularly shoot boys in the genitals to prevent them from reproducing.</p>
<p>Despite this, Israeli advertising presents the country as the savior of the Palestinian people. One Ministry of Foreign Affairs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjljCurJ0IU" target="_blank">video</a>,
set to epic, inspiring music, describes Israel as undertaking \u201cOne of
the largest humanitarian operations in the world right now.\u201d \u201cThis is
what real aid looks like. Smiles don\u2019t lie. Hamas does,\u201d it concludes.</p>
<p>Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the
Occupied Palestinian Territories, called the commercial \u201cscandalous\u201d and
directly <a href="https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1933173821009228035" target="_blank">challenged</a>
YouTube: \u201cHow can this be allowed?\u201d The video has been translated into
Italian, French, German, and Greek, and has been viewed by nearly seven
million people on YouTube alone.</p>
<h2>Transparently Inorganic</h2>
<p>All referenced videos appear in the <a href="https://adstransparency.google.com/?region=anywhere&format=VIDEO" target="_blank">Google Ads Transparency Center</a>
as paid content from the Israeli Government Advertising Agency, and
there is strong evidence that few, if any, of their millions of views
are organic. The five versions of the \u201cGaza Humanitarian Aid\u201d video, for
example, collectively have only a few thousand \u201clikes\u201d\u2014barely 1% of
what would be generally expected of videos with this amount of views\u2014and
only two comments in total.</p>
<p>The difference between organic and paid content is clearer in videos
that Israel has not promoted. Other videos on Israel\u2019s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@IsraelMFA" target="_blank">channel</a>
receive only tens of views per day, not millions, which strongly
suggests that close to 100% of their traffic is paid advertising.</p>
<p>The scale of this public relations operation is difficult to
overstate. Even as the Israeli government hikes taxes and slashes
domestic spending, its foreign PR budget has <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/foreign-ministry-to-receive-massive-budget-for-public-diplomacy-abroad/" target="_blank">grown</a> by more than 2,000%, the Foreign Ministry receiving $150 million more for public diplomacy.</p>
<p>Much of that money is evidently being spent on ads. In the past
month, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has uploaded videos that
have topped 45 million views on YouTube alone. The countries most
targeted include the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Greece.</p>
<p>Greece is a particularly noteworthy case. Over the past 12 months,
the Israeli government advertising agency has funded 65 separate YouTube
ad campaigns targeting the country.</p>
<p>The Greek <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1dkovyunXM" target="_blank">version</a> of a recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpyA62DDruY" target="_blank">ad</a>\u2014titled
\u201cAn efficient system is in place, delivering aid where it\u2019s
needed\u201d\u2014presents Israel as a benevolent bringer of life to Gaza and has
garnered over 1 million views in just four days, equivalent to nearly
10% of Greece\u2019s entire population. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1dkovyunXM" target="_blank">video</a> currently has no comments and fewer than 3,000 likes.</p>
<p>The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs uploads its videos in
English, French, German, Italian, and Greek. Countries that do not speak
these languages\u2014such as Slovakia, Denmark, and the Netherlands\u2014are
still targeted, though users there generally receive the English
version.</p>
<p>Israel has avoided targeting nations whose governments have formally
condemned its actions, such as Ireland or Spain, spending nothing to
reach those populations. The Netanyahu administration, evidently, has
decided to attempt to shore up support in allied countries, even as
their populations increasingly <a href="https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Topline_Eurotrack_May25_w_gugbx3J.pdf" target="_blank">turn</a> against Israel.</p>
<p>While many of these figures might shock readers, this investigation
only examined the advertising campaign of a single organization, the
Israeli Government Advertising Agency, and on a single platform,
YouTube. It does not include other Israeli government and
non-governmental groups, nor the myriad organizations collectively
comprising the pro-Israel lobby in the West.</p>
<p>Israel has also attempted to influence the debate on other platforms,
including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. What is presented
here is merely the thinnest slice of a much broader operation.</p>
<h2>Israel and Silicon Valley</h2>
<p>Some videos the Israeli government has released attempt to portray
Israel in a positive light, but instead perpetuate racist stereotypes
about Western civilization and its supposed superiority. In one ad,
Benjamin Netanyahu states (emphasis added):</p>
<blockquote><p>I want to assure the <b>civilized </b>world, we will not
let the world\u2019s most dangerous regime get the world\u2019s most dangerous
weapons. The increasing range of Iran\u2019s ballistic missiles would bring
that nuclear nightmare to<b> the cities of Europe and eventually to America</b>.\u201d</p></blockquote>
<p>Thus, the Israeli prime minister implies that Iran\u2019s threat matters
only if it endangers the so-called \u201ccivilized world,\u201d that is, Europe
and North America. \u201cNever again is now. Today, Israel has shown that we
have learned the lessons of history,\u201d Netanyahu continues, directly
comparing the 12-Day War (which Israel started) to the Holocaust. \u201cWhen
enemies vow to destroy you, believe them. When enemies build weapons of
mass death, stop them. As the Bible teaches us, when someone comes to
kill you, rise and act first.\u201d</p>
<p>Google\u2019s advertising <a href="https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6008942" target="_blank">rules</a>
explicitly prohibit commercials that \u201cdisplay shocking content or
promote hatred, intolerance, discrimination, or violence.\u201d Yet many of
the ads described here explicitly justify Israeli aggression.</p>
<p>MintPress News contacted Google to ask how much the Israeli
government\u2019s advertising agency spent on ads, how many impressions those
ads generated, whether the company had a response to Albanese\u2019s
comments, and whether the videos violated its policies.</p>
<p>Google did not answer the first three questions and reiterated that
it has \u201cstrict ad policies that govern the types of ads we allow on our
platform.\u201d \u201cThese policies are publicly available, and we enforce them
consistently and without bias. If we find ads that violate those
policies, we swiftly remove them,\u201d the company added, implying that it
does not consider the ads a violation of its standards.</p>
<p>Few who have studied Google\u2019s connections to the Israeli government
will be surprised that the Silicon Valley giant grants enormous leeway
to the Netanyahu administration. Former CEO Eric Schmidt is known as one
of Israel\u2019s most vocal supporters. Google has been financially invested
in Israel since at least 2006, when it opened its first offices in Tel
Aviv. In 2012, at a meeting with Netanyahu himself, Schmidt <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2021/12/how-google-advances-the-zionist-colonization-of-palestine/" target="_blank">declared</a> that \u201cthe decision to invest in Israel was one of the best that Google has ever made.\u201d</p>
<p>Company co-founder Sergey Brin has also come to the defense of Israel, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/07/08/sergey-brin-united-nations-gaza-israel/" target="_blank">denouncing</a>
the United Nations as \u201ctransparently anti-Semitic\u201d and telling Google
staff that using the word \u201cgenocide\u201d to describe Israeli actions in Gaza
is \u201cdeeply offensive to many Jewish people who have suffered actual
genocides.\u201d</p>
<p>Earlier this year, with the Israeli economy in dire straits following
its 18-month campaign against its neighbors, Schmidt\u2019s company came to
the rescue, <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/oogle-wiz-cybersecurity-data-deal/289413/">injecting</a>
billions into Israel in a record-setting acquisition. Google purchased
local cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion. The monumental sum
paid\u2014equivalent to 65 times Wiz\u2019s annual revenue and boosting the
Israeli economy by 0.6%\u2014left some analysts <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/oogle-wiz-cybersecurity-data-deal/289413/">wondering</a> if the deal had more to do with underwriting the Israeli economy than making a shrewd business investment.</p>
<p>It also raises questions about the safety of Google users\u2019 most
sensitive personal data, given that Wiz was founded and continues to be
staffed by former Israeli spies from the intelligence group, Unit 8200.</p>
<p>Google has a long history of working closely with Israeli intelligence. A 2022 MintPress News <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-former-israeli-spies-working-top-jobs-google-facebook-amazon/282413/">investigation</a> identified at least 99 former Unit 8200 agents employed by Google.</p>
<p>Among them is Gavriel Goidel, head of strategy and operations for
Google Research. Goidel joined Google in 2022 after a six-year career in
military intelligence, during which he rose to become Head of Learning
at Unit 8200. There, he led a large team of operatives who sifted
through intelligence data to \u201cunderstand patterns of hostile activists,\u201d
according to his<a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-former-israeli-spies-working-top-jobs-google-facebook-amazon/282413/"> own account</a>.</p>
<h2>The Turning Tide</h2>
<p>Google is far from the only tech giant recruiting Israeli spies to
run their most politically sensitive departments. The same study <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-former-israeli-spies-working-top-jobs-google-facebook-amazon/282413/">found</a>
that hundreds of former Unit 8200 intelligence agents are employed at
companies such as Meta (formerly Facebook), Microsoft, and Amazon. And a
significant amount of what America reads about the Middle East is also
written by ex-Israeli spies.</p>
<p>A MintPress <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-israel-unit-8200-spies-american-media/288457/">investigation</a> from earlier this year uncovered a network of Unit 8200 alums working in top newsrooms across America.</p>
<p>Wikipedia is another key theater of war for the Israeli state. A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/18/wikipedia-editing-zionist-groups" target="_blank">project</a>
overseen by future Prime Minister Naftali Bennett deployed thousands of
young Israelis to monitor and edit the online encyclopedia, removing
troublesome facts and framing articles more favorably in Israel\u2019s favor.
Those who made the most edits would receive rewards, including free hot
air balloon rides.</p>
<p>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also<a href="https://truthout.org/articles/israel-has-formed-a-task-force-to-carry-out-covert-campaigns-at-us-universities/" target="_blank"> launched</a>
a campaign to harass and intimidate American students, establishing a
\u201ctask force\u201d to carry out psychological operations aimed at, in its own
words, \u201cinflicting economic and employment consequences\u201d against
pro-Palestine protestors. While Foreign Minister Eli Cohen heads the
task force, it stresses that its actions \u201cshould not have the signature
of the State of Israel on it.\u201d</p>
<p>Amid mounting criticism, the Israeli government has sought to turn
the tide by inviting influencers for direct talks with Netanyahu. In
April, the Israeli prime minister <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2025/04/netanyahu-pushes-back-on-anti-israel-trends-in-meeting-with-podcasters/" target="_blank">met</a>
face-to-face with conservative internet personalities, including Tim
Pool; Dave Rubin; Sean Spicer; Bethany Mandel; David Harris Jr.; Jessica
Krause; Seth Mandel; and Mollie Hemingway, where they discussed how
best to sell war with Iran to Western publics, and how to counter
anti-Zionist sentiment online.</p>
<p>Other social media personalities <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/technology/israels-after-content-creators-offering-5000-sponsorship-dea" target="_blank">report</a> having been offered large sums of money in exchange for a few words of support for Israel.</p>
<p>In terms of turning the tide of European public opinion, Israel has its work cut out for it. A recent YouGov <a href="https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Topline_Eurotrack_May25_w_gugbx3J.pdf" target="_blank">survey</a>
found the country was widely reviled across the continent. More than 20
times as many Italians, for instance, hold \u201cvery unfavorable\u201d (43%)
views of Israel than \u201cvery favorable\u201d ones (2%).</p>
<p>Even in Germany, where popular support for Israel is highest, only
21% said they hold favorable opinions of the state (including only 4%
highly favorable), with 65% displaying open opposition (including 32%
who strongly dislike it).</p>
<p>A massive plurality of Britons, meanwhile, <a href="https://antisemitism.org/new-polling-shows-extent-of-sympathy-for-hamas-and-frightening-trends-of-radicalism-among-young-britons/" target="_blank">agreed</a>
with the statement: \u201cIsrael treats the Palestinians like the Nazis
treated the Jews.\u201d Forty-eight percent answered in the affirmative, as
opposed to just 13% who disagreed. This is despite European governments
offering full-throated support to Israel, and even criminalizing
pro-Palestine protests and <a href="https://diem25.org/how-the-eu-is-using-anti-russia-sanctions-to-criminalise-journalism/" target="_blank">persecuting</a> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/raid-asa-winstanleys-home-deemed-unlawful-court-ruling" target="_blank">journalists</a> who oppose Western support for Tel Aviv.</p>
<p>The government of Israel is spending millions of dollars daily on
gigantic advertising campaigns aimed at turning the tide of public
opinion. To that end, it is developing a PR network as sophisticated as
the advanced weapons systems it uses on its neighbors. On YouTube alone,
its paid advertising, translated into five languages, has reached at
least 45 million people in the past month. Whether this strategy will
ultimately prove effective remains unclear. After all, it is difficult
to convince the public to support a genocide.</p>
<p>Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News</p>
<p><em><strong>Alan MacLeod</strong> is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Bad-News-from-Venezuela-Twenty-years-of-fake-news-and-misreporting/Macleod/p/book/9781138489233" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting</a> and <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Propaganda-in-the-Information-Age-Still-Manufacturing-Consent-1st-Edition/MacLeod/p/book/9781138366404" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent</a>, as well as <a href="https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/65/56" rel="noopener" target="_blank">a</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306396818823639#articleShareContainer" rel="noopener" target="_blank">number</a> <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/blar.12940" rel="noopener" target="_blank">of</a> <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2018.00064/full" rel="noopener" target="_blank">academic</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0896920518820934" rel="noopener" target="_blank">articles</a>. He has also contributed to <a href="https://fair.org/author/alan-macleod/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">FAIR.org</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alan-macleod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.salon.com/writer/alan-macleod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Salon</a>, <a href="https://thegrayzone.com/author/alan-macleod/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Grayzone</a>, <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/author/alan-macleod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jacobin Magazine</a>, and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/alan-macleod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: <a href="https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@AlanRMacLeod</a>.</em></p>
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