Israel has been paying for Google search ads which discredit Francesca Albanese [Getty]
A recent investigation by an Italian news site has revealed that Israel resorted to using digital propaganda tools to discredit the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese.
The investigation came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US has imposed sanctions on Albanese over her efforts to push the International Criminal Court into taking action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.
The probe was published on Wednesday on the Italian news site FanPage and details how the Israeli government purchased Google ads to discredit the UN rapporteur.
Stefania Ascari, a member of the Italian House of Representatives and the head of the parliamentary group for peace between Israel and Palestine, told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that “Israel is financing on one hand a digital campaign to discredit Francesca Albanese, and the US is targeting her on the other hand with sanctions”.
“This morning, I submitted a parliamentary briefing request to PM Meloni and Foreign Minister Tajani to testify on what was mentioned in the Albanese report and to condemn any form of interference towards UN rapporteurs,” Askari added.
The paid advertising campaigns gave the Israeli narrative on the war on Gaza, and when anyone would search for the name Albanese on Google, the first results that came up were advertising pages belonging to a subdomain of the Israeli government.
Once users click on the link, the text directly accuses Albanese of having “repeatedly violated, during her tenure, the principles of impartiality and professional integrity that form the core of her mandate at the UN”.
The probe also found that the links refer to a series of alleged violations of UN ethical standards, accusing her of repeated communication “with terrorist groups, including Hamas”.
According to the investigation, the use of digital propaganda is part of a broader campaign by the Israeli Government Advertising Agency, a media entity affiliated with the government which often manipulates the narrative of events through commercial media tools.
The investigation found that setting up such advertisements is easy and requires a page to be paid for, in order for it to appear at the top of Google search. Users can choose specific keywords associated with their products or services and then create targeted ads to appear.
The targeted ads came after Albanese, on 30 June, penned a report to the UN Human Rights Council, denouncing the involvement of major US technology companies in supporting Israeli military operations. She went on to describe the Israeli economy as one based on “illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide”.
She also called for the private companies involved to be held accountable.
FanPage noted that this is not the first such campaign the Israeli government has launched, adding that a similar move was carried out against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA in May 2024.
Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and has now effectively turned over its work in Gaza to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) which has been denounced for a ‘lethal’ system of aid delivery which has seen hundreds of Palestinians killed at its aid sites.
The publication said that Israel’s advertising agency had not only manipulated search results but also sponsored artificial intelligence-generated videos across social media platforms, which alleged that Hamas had carried out attacks that never happened or promoted narratives showing alleged large-scale Israeli humanitarian assistance in the Strip.
The investigation states that the videos appeared in ads of videos from Italian influencers and content creators.
It further noted that while the EU Digital Services Act imposes fines and removes propaganda, AI videos that smear UNRWA and show alleged Israeli aid into Gaza, continue to be shared.
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