In an age where words and images often strike deeper than bullets, Israel is working to redefine its propaganda war through the expanding domains of digital media and artificial intelligence, investing heavily in technology to strengthen this machinery of influence.
As public support for Israel declines — particularly among younger audiences in the United States and Europe — the occupation’s information apparatus has turned to non-traditional tools designed to reshape global consciousness in line with its political and military narratives.
From Bombs and Bullets to Algorithms
It was no exaggeration when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called social media “the strongest weapon in Israel’s modern arsenal” while commenting on what he hailed as a historic acquisition deal involving TikTok.
Modern wars are now fought not only on the battlefield, but also in the minds of the masses and on the screens of smartphones.
Over recent years, Israel has begun deploying artificial intelligence as an instrument of psychological and media warfare, blending advanced technology with its long-standing propaganda enterprise known as Hasbara — the official campaign to “explain” and justify the occupation’s actions.
Multi-Million-Dollar Contracts to Polish a Cracked Image
Investigative reports revealed that the Israeli government signed a six-million-dollar contract with a U.S. start-up named Clock Tower X LLC to produce AI-driven digital content targeting Generation Z on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
The goal: to achieve over fifty million monthly views promoting Israel’s official narrative, attacking the Arab and Islamic world, discrediting the Palestinian resistance, and smearing the image of the Palestinian people.
This initiative forms part of a broader campaign to reverse growing international disapproval of Israel, especially in the wake of its ongoing massacres in Gaza — atrocities that have stripped away the old myth of “self-defence.”
Biased Algorithms and the Manufacturing of False Reality
What distinguishes this project is its direct manipulation of AI algorithms themselves. According to reports, the company plans to create websites and content hubs specifically designed to feed large language models (like GPT) with pro-Israel datasets, effectively engineering digital bias at the machine level.
The campaign also utilises a platform called MarketBrew AI, an advanced search-ranking tool, to ensure that Israeli propaganda dominates global search results — a process that mirrors Israel’s occupation of digital space just as it occupies Palestinian land.
A Web of Power: Religion, Politics, and Media
This influence network extends deep into the U.S. conservative media ecosystem, notably through Salem Media Group, whose affiliates include figures close to former U.S. President Donald Trump, such as Lara Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
The project is reportedly led by Brad Parscale, Trump’s former campaign manager and a key player in the notorious Cambridge Analytica data-manipulation scandal.
Although marketed as a “campaign against antisemitism,” the real objective appears far clearer: to rebrand Israel’s image among Americans who increasingly recognise it as a settler-colonial, apartheid state oppressing the Palestinian people.
Artificial Intelligence for Control, Not Creativity
The irony is striking: while Israel uses AI to project itself as innovative, it simultaneously deploys it as a tool of surveillance and repression. Reports have surfaced of a Palestinian youth arrested and detained for a year merely for conversations he had with ChatGPT — a chilling precedent that reveals how AI can be twisted into a mechanism of accusation and control.
Beyond propaganda, AI has been weaponised in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, enabling precision targeting and automated systems responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of civilians.
It demonstrates how the supposed “intelligence” of machines is being repurposed to serve systematic violence and oppression.
The Digital “Hasbara”: Israel’s New Ministry of Perception
Since its inception, Israel’s Hasbara has sought to sanitise crimes and justify occupation under the slogan of “explaining to the world.”
Today, however, it has evolved into a fully integrated digital infrastructure — recruiting journalists, influencers, and entertainment producers to shape public consciousness through perception management.
Multiple ministries — including Foreign Affairs, Information, Tourism, and the Prime Minister’s Office — now coordinate to craft a marketing-driven image of Israel as a “modern democracy”, while concealing the daily reality of occupation, siege, and collective punishment.
A Generation No Longer Fooled
Despite enormous financial investment, Israel faces a formidable obstacle: the rise of a globally aware generation.
Young people, especially in the West, now rely less on traditional media and more on independent content and firsthand footage from Gaza and the West Bank.
Recent polls show that support for Israel among young Americans has plummeted to just 9 percent — a stark indicator of Hasbara’s collapse in the age of digital transparency.
Neither artificial intelligence nor algorithmic manipulation can hide what is now visible to all: the destruction, the displacement, and the human cost of occupation.
The Battle for Truth Cannot Be Coded
What unfolds today is more than a propaganda war — it is a war on truth itself.
When artificial intelligence is used to fabricate narratives and distort reality, defending truth becomes an act of resistance.
Israel’s obsession with controlling global perception exposes its deepest fear: not the rockets, but the rising global consciousness that now recognises its crimes for what they are.
No matter how advanced the algorithms become, they can never erase the truth carried in the images of ruins or the cry of a child searching for his family beneath the rubble.
