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https://amp.dw.com/en/israel-propaganda-downplays-gaza-food-scarcity-fact-check/a-73875380

Fact check: Israel spends vast sums on propaganda ads

Kathrin Wesolowski

Israel spends millions of euros on propaganda, much of it targeted at European audiences. A series of videos seek to downplay Gaza food scarcity.

A cross-border investigation by members of the Eurovision News Spotlight, including DW Fact Check, has uncovered that the state of Israel has used its Government Advertising Agency to run paid international campaigns aimed at shaping public opinion in parts of Europe and North America.

For at least a year, an Israeli YouTube account has been running ad campaigns that discredit UN agencies and challenge the findings of internationally recognized watchdogs.

A government document reveals that at least €42 million (approx. $49 million) has been spent on ad campaigns across platforms like YouTube and X since mid-June 2025. These efforts are part of Israel's broader public diplomacy strategy known as "Hasbara," a Hebrew term which roughly translates to "explaining" and is used to describe efforts to promote Israel's image abroad.

On August 22, the same day as the publication of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment that there is a famine in large parts of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Government Advertising Agency launched a new campaign denying the famine.

Two videos were promoted via paid ads on the official YouTube channel of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is verified with a black check mark.

The videos show markets full of food and restaurants serving meals, allegedly filmed in Gaza during July and August 2025. They feature onscreen text and an AI-generated voiceover, ending with the statement: "There is food in Gaza. Any other claim is a lie."

These videos have been viewed more than 18 million times and have been published in English, Italian, German and Polish

Targeted messaging and misleading narratives

According to Google's Ad Transparency Center,

YouTube ads can be targeted by gender, age and region. Israel targeted viewers in Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States, according to Google.

Open restaurants don't prove there's no famine in Gaza

DW Fact check analyzed one of the videos and traced the original clips to the social media accounts of the featured restaurants (here are some examples). Most of the video clips were posted in June and July 2025. However, the presence of open restaurants does not disprove the existence of famine.

Several restaurants mentioned supply shortages, inflation and temporary closures.

We contacted all of the restaurants and cafes featured in the video. For example, Estkana Cafe, in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, confirmed frequent closures due to a lack of food staples.

They said that commercial-sized bags of flour were being sold for the equivalent of hundreds of euros, but the prices changed depending on the day and the broader state of supply in the enclave. Menu items at the cafe at the end of August included a Nutella waffle that cost around €25 (some $29), and a small dessert with nuts and chocolate, which was similarly priced.

Another restaurant, O2, based in Gaza City, posted its menu on their Instagram story on September 3 with its prices. A Nutella crepe costs around €12 here.

Firsthand accounts confirm high prices

Riham Abu Aita, co-founder of the Palestinian fact-checking platform and Media Literacy group "Kashif," confirmed the high prices during her training sessions in Gaza from April to July.

"We bought one kilo of sugar for 250 shekels [around €65]. A piece of bread with one piece of falafel cost 30 shekels [around €8] at the time," she told DW.

At the end of July, 2025, a video published by outlets including The Jerusalem Post showed a vegetable stall in Gaza, prompting skepticism about famine claims. DW Fact check spoke with the Palestinian journalist Majdi Fathi, the journalist who filmed the footage, who confirmed its authenticity but emphasized, "These vegetables and fruits are very expensive. The majority of people in Gaza cannot afford them."

Abu Aita added: "Not all the areas in Gaza are suffering the same. If there's a siege in one city, maybe you can find food in another city," adding that even then, prices are extremely high.

DW concludes that the videos promoted by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs are misleading. While food may be available in some areas, it is scarce or unaffordable in others. There's proof that famine (IPC phase 5) is currently occurring in the Gaza Governorate and projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September.

The propaganda videos denying famine were not only spread on YouTube but on many other Israeli channels on several platforms and in several European languages.

DW contacted Israel's Ministry for Foreign Affairs as well as the Government Press Office to ask why the ad campaigns only targeted the six countries mentioned above and how the government would describe the current food situation in Gaza.

They referred us to the Embassy of Israel in Berlin. The embassy staff responded by referring to a Foreign Ministry statement posted on X reiterating the claim that "there is no famine in Gaza." They also shared a document allegedly sent to the IPC, disputing its findings. Their response did not mention DW's question about the ad campaign.

Israel's sponsored ads target IPC

DW also discovered a sponsored link appearing at the top of Google search results for users searching "IPC famine." The link leads to an Israeli government page challenging the IPC's methodology and accusing it of using misrepresented data.

The page states: "The declaration was issued not only without evidence that would justify it under the IPC's own criteria but also based on partial or misrepresented data — most prominently an alleged breach of the acute malnutrition threshold presented as key justification." The IPC has denied these claims, stating that its standards remain unchanged.

The first Google search result is a sponsored post discrediting the IPC Gaza famine report

This type of sponsored post can also be easily targeted to specific users looking for specific information, according to Google's Ad Transparency Center. Google did not respond to our request regarding Israel's ad campaign.

Disinformation on both sides

While both sides have been accused of spreading disinformation, DW's sources suggest that the volume and scale of misleading content is currently greater on the pro-Israel side.

"I think Israel is now facing an unprecedented risk of isolation from the international community," says Tommaso Canetta, fact-checking coordinator at the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), in an interview with DW.

He sees a clear goal behind the Israeli propaganda and disinformation being spread in several European languages: "Their general idea is to win the sympathy of the Western public opinion in Europe and also in the United States."

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, more and more countries recognizing the Palestinian state is "a huge diplomatic defeat," according to Canetta.

Canetta notes that the Palestinian side is also actively spreading disinformation; however, "it's clear that right now we are seeing more disinformation coming from the pro-Israel side of things."

https://amp.dw.com/en/israel-propaganda-downplays-gaza-food-scarcity-fact-check/a-73875380

Annie's New Letters (& notes)

Friday, September 19, 2025

Israel spends vast sums on propaganda ads: "For at least a year, an Israeli YouTube account has been running ad campaigns that discredit UN agencies and challenge the findings of internationally recognized watchdogs."