Israel buying Google ads to discredit UNRWA: Report

The Israeli regime’s propaganda machine has bought Google search ad slots to discredit UNRWA, the United Nations’ main aid agency to refugees in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Ads on Google searches of “UNRWA” draw users to websites filled with fake news linking the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to the Hamas resistance movement, according to a report published on Monday by Wired.

Wired is a leading online US magazine focusing on how emerging technologies affect politics, economy and culture across the globe.

The Israelis are buying advertising on Google search results for “UNRWA” in a clear attempt to discredit the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, it reported.

UNRWA has served as the primary source of relief and humanitarian aid to millions of refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon ever since they were forced from their homeland 75 years ago, in an event referred to as the 1948 Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe), to make room for the then newly established regime of Israel.

UNRWA staff death toll largest in UN history: Lazzarini

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says the death toll exacted on the agency’s staff since the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza amounts to the largest in the world body’s history.

In Gaza, Palestinians have relied heavily on the UN organization for health care, education, civic planning and food assistance for years — and even more so since the Israeli campaign of genocide was launched in October 2023.

The Wired report reveals how the Israeli regime's advertising agency bought ads for searches for "UNRWA” and "UNRWA USA” to draw search users to a website that linked the UN aid agency to Hamas.

A UN investigation found that the Israeli regime could not provide "any supporting evidence" to prove that UNRWA were in any way linked to Hamas.

Executive Director of UNRWA USA, Mara Kronenfeld, appealed to Google to remove what was deemed as a misinformation campaign launched by the Israeli propaganda machine. 

She complained to Google in January about Israeli ads featuring headlines such as “UNRWA for Human Rights.” They say a company representative told them, without providing a reason, that the ads in question had been removed. Google’s Booth says there was no policy violation.

New advertisements launched by the Israeli propaganda machine have run across the US and Europe and continue to appear on Google as of August despite additional UNRWA USA complaints, Kronenfeld said.

She said Israeli advertisements violate Google’s policies against “making claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.” 

Half of UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters destroyed: Lazzarini

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says at least half of its headquarters in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed amid the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocidal war against the coastal sliver.

Between May and July, when Google users searched 300 terms related to UNRWA, Israeli ads came up 44 percent of the time while URWA USA's own advertisements appeared just 34 percent of the time.

Kronenfeld said her agency had spent thousands of dollars and much of its staff time in an effort to improve its place and neutralize the Israeli advertising campaign on Google.

She said she worried the Israeli propaganda attempts could impact people's perceptions about the role of UNRWA during the genocidal campaign.

“There is an incredibly powerful campaign to dismantle UNRWA,” said Kronenfeld. “I want the public to know what’s happening and the insidious nature of it, especially at a time when civilian lives are under attack in Gaza.”

Employees of the US tech giant who had spoke with Wired said the anti-UNRWA campaign was just one of several ad campaigns launched by the Israelis in recent months.

However, a spokesperson for Google said any government can run any advertisement it wants as long as it adheres to the company's policies, claiming the firm took "swift action" against the ads that violated its policies.

UN agency says Palestinians in Gaza lost absolutely everything

Aid agencies say no safe place has been left for Palestinians in Gaza due to repeated Israeli evacuation orders.

Nonetheless, experts say Google seems unlikely to sacrifice its sales to the Israelis by taking action on the anti-UNRWA campaign as complaints about rivals’ ads showing up in searches are nothing new for Google.

In the meantime, Israeli officials have “said anybody born in Gaza is born a terrorist. They’re animals, they’re snakes. There can’t be an innocent child in Gaza,” according to Kronenfeld, who is herself a Jew. “That rhetoric allows you to decimate an entire population.”

Israel has killed more than 200 UNRWA staff members who helped run 183 schools, 22 health facilities and seven women's centers, among several other facilities, in Gaza since October 2023.

“It was so traumatizing for us to have known colleagues who were killed, who’ve been killed,” Kronenfeld told HuffPost.

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