"Israel buying ads on Google searches of 'Unrwa' to discredit UN agency", 27 August 2024

Israel is buying advertising on Google search results for "Unrwa", in a clear attempt to discredit the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Wired reported...

According to the report, the Israeli government advertising agency bought ads for searches for "Unrwa" and "Unrwa USA" to draw search users to a website linking the agency to Hamas. 

On the government-run website, Israel alleges that Unrwa has not declared whether employing Hamas members violates its neutrality, a charge the agency strongly rejects. 

In January, several western countries suspended financing Unrwa after Israel accused 12 of the organisation's 30,000 employees of participating in the surprise attack by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October. 

The Colonna report, which was commissioned by the UN to probe Israel's allegations, found that Israeli authorities had not provided "any supporting evidence" to back up allegations of Unrwa staff links to Hamas. 

It also made recommendations for Unrwa, which included strengthening its internal audit function and improving external oversight of project management. 

Since publishing the report, several countries have restored funding to the agency, including the UK, Germany, Australia, Canada and Sweden. 

Staff at Unrwa, who noticed the Israeli ads on Google, appealed to the tech giant to remove what they deemed to be a misinformation campaign. The adverts remain on Google search results, as of late August. 

Between May and July, when users searched 300 terms related to Unrwa, Israel's ads came up 44 percent of the time. Unrwa USA's own advert appeared just 34 percent of the time. 

'Campaign to dismantle Unrwa'

Mara Kronenfeld, of Unrwa USA, has said that the agency has spent thousands of dollars and staff time trying to outbid Israel's advertising on Google. 

Kronenfeld said she worried that Israel's propaganda attempts could impact people's perceptions about the role of Unrwa during the ongoing war.

Google employees who spoke to Wired said that the anti-Unrwa campaign was one of several ad campaigns Israel had orchestrated in recent months, drawing criticism from inside and outside the company. 

A Google spokesperson said that governments can run ads that adhere to the company's policies, and that "swift action" is taken if policies are violated. 

The Israeli foreign affairs ministry did not respond to request for comment from Wired.