Winning the info war: Why ‘hasbara’ isn’t enough in the age of fake news

The arena that shapes Israel’s ability to defend itself and thrive is active 365 days a year — in the feeds of hundreds of millions of people, most of them under 35, many of whom will become future leaders and opinion shapers. They live on TikTok, X, Instagram, Wikipedia and in AI platforms — and that is where their worldview is formed. This is not a battle of hasbara. That term, which drags us back into a language of defense and apology, belongs to the 1980s. Today, the goal is not to “explain” reality but to shape it — something Israel’s adversaries understood long ago. Today, you no longer need an army to destabilize a country. You need a narrative. Hamas, Iran, Qatar, Russia and others have spent years building a false story across social networks, news sites, academia and other channels. This is no longer legitimate criticism of Israeli policy or its government — it is the denial of Israel’s very right to exist. Ready-made narrative Israel cannot survive as an autarky. It cannot even supply all of its own military needs. To maintain its military strength, Israel needs a strong economy, a thriving society and economic, cultural, academic and security partnerships with other nations. People raised on a narrative claiming that Israel and the Jewish people are the source of the world’s problems will not want to be allies. And while Israel has built clear military superiority, making it a major regional player, in the arena of public opinion, it has not even stepped onto the field. Already on Oct. 7, while Israeli civilians were being murdered and kidnapped, accusations of “genocide” were spreading online. Some of the largest pro-Palestinian accounts — each with millions of followers and operated from the Palestinian Authority or from North America — posted within 48 hours of the massacre that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Those posts drew tens of millions of views and shares. By Oct. 8, massive anti-Israel rallies had erupted in London, New York and Sydney, while Israelis were still fighting to regain control of the border communities — and organized groups online and on the streets were pushing a wholly different narrative. Where are they tweeting from? Last week, X began revealing the locations of users, exposing a major discrepancy. Many “Gaza journalists” raising money and posting real-time updates are actually operating from Turkey, the Netherlands, Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Some were even used as sources by Western media outlets. Large anti-Israel accounts presenting themselves as American or European patriots are run from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria. One account, Times of Gaza, with about a million followers, claims to report from Gaza and is treated as a reliable source in the West — but operates from Southeast Asia. X flags accounts when it suspects VPN use, but in this case, there was no such warning the account is simply not in the Middle East. Another “Gazan journalist” whose posts were used by the BBC — including reports on cold weather, suffering and the sound of explosions — was traced to the Netherlands. Influencer Muhammad Smiry, with millions of followers and a bio claiming to report from Palestine, lives in Indonesia. He claims his brother, who also lives there, uses his account. And there are more examples. This is a coordinated global influence campaign — and it works. Social networks are not “reality,” but as the past decade has shown, they spill into it. The Soviet Union ran anti-Zionist campaigns in the 1960s. The battleground hasn’t changed — only the tools have — and Israel is still using outdated ones. What must be done now? The first step is recognition: this is a national security arena, not wartime public diplomacy. The government must create a comprehensive policy, with clear divisions of responsibility between the defense establishment, the Foreign Ministry and civil society. The defense establishment must develop a doctrine for influence operations and countering hostile influence campaigns. The Foreign Ministry — which needs real budgets and authority — must translate traditional diplomacy into the world of social networks and Generation Z. Israeli civil society should lead part of the effort, because it works quickly and organically and enjoys more credibility among young audiences than official institutions. Israel must also invest in training professionals whose expertise lies in these fields — creative strategy, research, data, discourse analysis, technology and OSINT. We don’t need commenters we need influencers who shape conversations and lead them. Israel can not only defend itself but also provide solutions to the West, which is facing the same cognitive threats that destabilize states from within. For the past two years, the World Economic Forum has flagged disinformation as the greatest threat to humanity, and there is a vacuum in addressing it. Israel can offer solutions through the talent and technology of its citizens — but only if it recognizes that this is a critical front for our continued existence, second only to the physical battlefield, and one we must win. Ella Kenan is the co-founder of Here4Good, where she leads content strategy and research on the influence of foreign actors on public opinion in social media and AI models, and on exposing disinformation networks and campaigns.