Israeli government buys attack ads under Google searches for “UNRWA”

The Israeli government has funded several advertising campaigns to attack and delegitimize Gaza's main humanitarian aid organization, new reports say, the latest example of the Israeli government spreading its propaganda online in the United States.

According to an investigation by WiredSince at least January, Israel has been buying ads attacking the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), part of its long-running campaign to dismantle the agency. The sponsored link had headlines such as “UNRWA Neutrality Under Threat” or “Israel Exposes UNRWA Problems.”

The ad campaign is funded by the Israeli government and the ad links to a page on the official Israeli government website. At least part of the ad campaign appears to be aimed directly at a US audience.

Google searches for “UNRWA” and “UNRWA USA” at the time of writing showed a sponsored link to a page on the Israeli government website that repeated many of the baseless claims about UNRWA that Israeli officials have been making in recent months, including unsubstantiated allegations about the agency’s alleged links to Hamas soldiers.

Although many countries, including the United States, stopped funding UNRWA because of these allegations, the allegations were never substantiated by investigations conducted independently of Israel's interference. Israel has a vested interest in dissolving UNRWA because ceasing the organization's life-saving services in Gaza would accelerate Israel's genocide and colonization of Palestine.

Accordingly WiredOf 300 search terms related to UNRWA, the ad about the Israeli attack between May and July was displayed in 44 percent of cases.

Israel has also broadcast videos against the aid organization through Google's advertising service, saying: “UNRWA is inextricably linked to Hamas.”

Google has stated that it does not believe the sponsored links violate its company policies. Wired points out that the search ads are not discoverable through the company’s Ads Transparency Center.

“There is an incredibly powerful campaign to dismantle UNRWA,” said UNRWA USA Executive Director Mara Kronenfeld, who discovered the ads herself when she googled her agency in January. Wired“I want the public to know what is happening and the insidious nature behind it, especially at a time when the lives of civilians in Gaza are under attack.”

Google searches for UNRWA have skyrocketed since Israel began genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in October, meaning many searching for the agency may have seen these ads. The ads could influence public opinion at a time when politicians in the U.S., once UNRWA's largest single donor, have sought to defund the agency indefinitely – even as other countries have resumed funding. This spring, Congress passed legislation that would suspend U.S. funding to the agency until March 2025.

Google employees have launched several campaigns to pressure Google to sever its ties with Israel, railing against several Google projects that directly or indirectly help the Israeli military. Most notably, employee opposition to Google's participation in Project Nimbus, which provides cloud computing services, artificial intelligence, and other technological support to Israel, has been a major issue. In response, Google has fired employees who protested the company's ties to Israel.

The report is one of several detailing how Israel seeks to influence U.S. policy and public opinion without U.S. government intervention, despite previous media and political furor over foreign interference in U.S. politics.

In June Haaretz And The New York Times revealed that the Israeli government spent at least $2 million on a campaign that created thousands of fake social media accounts on X, Facebook and Instagram to flood American politicians' responses with pro-Israel viewpoints. Some of these posts also denigrated UNRWA.