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Israel has “completely lost the public relations battle,” particularly among young people active on social media, according to Martin Gak, an Argentinian-born Jewish journalist and former Deutsche Welle correspondent.
In an interview with Anadolu, Gak said Israel’s attempts to counter reports of famine and devastation in Gaza with costly international ad campaigns have failed to convince global audiences.
He argued that despite investing millions of dollars in hasbara — a Hebrew term often translated as “propaganda” used to describe Israel’s state-backed messaging abroad — these campaigns are seen less as outreach and more as disinformation.
“At a time of war it’s war propaganda, and at a time of genocide, it’s genocide propaganda,” Gak told Anadolu. “They cannot really compete with the images which are coming raw from the people that are documenting their own destruction.”
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, UN experts, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars, among others, have described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, citing mass killings, starvation policies, and aid blockades.
‘With Gaza, we had the opportunity every single day to stop it – and we did nothing’
He accused Israel of trying to “bomb social media spaces” with ads showing restaurants and bars in Gaza, which he said amounted to “bald-faced lies” given the reality of widespread hunger and destruction.
Gak also said Israel’s long-standing influence in Western media has not shielded it from international criticism.
He pointed to public protests and rhetoric as evidence that “nobody believes anything that the Israelis say,” and that their statements are now widely seen as propaganda aimed at covering up war crimes.
“The general understanding is that whatever they say is made up in order to cover crimes against humanity, war crimes … the perpetrated famine (and) mass infanticide,” he said.
Looking ahead, Gak argued that accountability must not only focus on Israel’s actions but also on the role of political and media institutions that downplayed or suppressed coverage of Gaza.
“This has been possible only by two years of media and political groups claiming there was nothing to look at,” he said.
“Even in Sudan, Ethiopia, Bosnia, or Myanmar, the number of victims was higher. In those genocides, we weren’t implicated daily and had no daily chance to stop it. With Gaza, we had that opportunity every day, yet we — or our colleagues — did nothing.”
The Israeli army’s offensive on Gaza has killed over 64,700 Palestinians since October 2023, leaving the enclave devastated and facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
