Back In mid-January, Mara Kronenfeld was googling the name of the nonprofit she runs, which raises money in the US on behalf of the leading humanitarian aid provider in Gaza. Atop the search results for her organization—UNRWA USA, partner to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)—she saw a surprising ad. It read like a promo from the UN agency, but the link directed to an Israeli government website. Kronenfeld says she had found the beginnings of a months-long online advertising campaign by Israel to discredit and defund UNRWA.
After seeing the ads—paid for by the Israeli Government Advertising Agency, according to details shown when clicking on the menu button beside them—Kronenfeld and her staff of seven quickly appealed to Google for help fighting what they viewed as a misinformation campaign. What has happened since shows the delicate relationship Google has kept with its advertising client, Israel, and the limits of the company’s policing of alleged misinformation in ads.
Several current and former Google employees tell WIRED the anti-UNRWA campaign is just one volley of ads that Israel has orchestrated in recent months that have drawn complaints both inside and outside of the company. The ads about UNRWA and another campaign targeting the Middle East have not been previously reported.
Google is taking money to defend genocide.
It’s arguable whether there’s a genocide taking place. If Israel really wanted to eliminate everyone—civilians and Hamas alike—they’d have already done so, and from an operational point of view, it would be much easier and take less effort than targeted attacks. Using the word ‘genocide’ so easily really takes away the weight of the term unnecessarily. When a real genocide does occur somewhere in the world, everyone will be less attentive to it.
It’s arguable whether there’s a genocide taking place
I love it when I know from the first sentence that there’s some awful apologia coming up… 🤦
If Israel really wanted to eliminate everyone
That’s a CHILD’S definition of genocide.
The ACTUAL definition from the convention itself is thus, first paragraph bolding mine:
any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:
- (a) Killing members of the group;
- (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- © Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2[\[8\]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention#cite_note-Convention-text-8)UsingRedefining the word ‘genocide’ soeasilydisingenuously and/or out of ignorance really takes away from theweightscope of thetermatrocities, unnecessarily defending the indefensibleFixed It for you.
Your own link states that “in part” definitions may lead to highly subjective conclusions.
By this measure, the death penalty in the US would be considered genocide “in part” (especially if the judge, jurors, or clerks are mostly white and the executed person is of color, so as to establish that a “group” is targeting another group). A person acting in self-defense with a resulting death to the aggressor may also fall into the genocide criteria.
If Israel is only intent on destroying the Hamas terrorist organization (it is technically a political party, but they broadened their horizons on October 7th, I guess…), and not the whole Gazan/Palestinian population, could it really still be labeled as genocide? As I said, some people will even say a single death may be genocide “in part,” so this widening of the definition just weakens the term, unfortunately.
Yes, if you redefine the death penalty into being genocide, it is genocide, and if you shift the narrative onto a fictional, you can make it not be about genocide.
Brilliant points …
Your own link states that “in part” definitions may lead to highly subjective conclusions.
Yeah, that part means that you don’t have to kill every single Palestinian in order for your deliberate eradicative campaign to be a genocide. It doesn’t mean “killing any part of a people is genocide” 🤦
By this measure, the death penalty in the US would be considered genocide “in part” (especially if the judge, jurors, or clerks are mostly white and the executed person is of color, so as to establish that a “group” is targeting another group). A person acting in self-defense with a resulting death to the aggressor may also fall into the genocide criteria
Nope. Of COURSE not. I’m almost completely convinced that you’re arguing in bad faith. That or you’re extremely literal-minded AND not too smart… These are not difficult concepts for most people to understand and differentiate once it’s pointed out to them.
If Israel is only intent on destroying the Hamas terrorist organization
Yeah, that’s a negative. They’re trying to kill or displace away from the area every single Gazan and they’re already at over 90% displacement.
it is technically a political party, but they broadened their horizons on October 7th, I guess…
No, it’s a terrorist organization masquerading as a government. Critical infrastructure such as schools and hospitals are de facto run by UNRWA, not Hamas.
and not the whole Gazan/Palestinian population
That IS their actual target. Your Hasbara hypothetical isn’t helpful.
could it really still be labeled as genocide?
In that purely hypothetical scenario, whether it’s still a genocide would depend on a number of factors, including whether or not they take great care to avoid civilian casualties and only target known Hamas targets. They don’t, never have, and never will.
As I said, some people will even say a single death may be genocide “in part,”
Nobody not arguing in bad faith, profoundly confused/ignorant, or colossally dense. Since I gave you the definition, it’s either bad faith or stupidity in your case.
so this widening of the definition just weakens the term, unfortunately.
No, it’s not a widening. It’s a specifying that you don’t have to successfully eliminate everyone for it to be a genocide. A distinction that most adults not arguing in bad faith have no trouble comprehending.
Israel has been and still is targeting civilians, children, aid workers, hospitals, Refugee camps, ect. They have been explicit in their genocidal intent and actions. Hundreds of genocide scholars has recognized it as a genocide.
Repeated evacuation orders, where somehow millions of people are supposed to evacuate in a mere 24 hours with no cell service, electricity, food, or water, is blatant ethnic cleansing
Israel has repeatedly bombed evacuation routes, places outside the evacuation zones, and ‘safe’ zones
Considered ‘safer zones’ by Israel, since a Safe Zone has an international definition that Israel fails to meet.
Israel deliberately targets civilian areas as Power Targets:
Although it is unprecedented for the Israeli army to attack more than 1,000 power targets in five days, the idea of causing mass devastation to civilian areas for strategic purposes was formulated in previous military operations in Gaza, honed by the so-called “Dahiya Doctrine” from the Second Lebanon War of 2006.
On top of the use of Lavender and Where’s Daddy which intentionally bomb whole families and civilians
Israel has repeatedly refused any permanent ceasefire, and continues to prolong the talks by rejecting even the US/UN ceasefire and continually add unacceptable terms to prolong the ongoing genocide.
Hundreds of Genocide Scholars have described this ethnic cleansing campaign as genocide because of the deliberate targeting of children/civilians and expressed intent by Israeli officials.
So, when we look at the actions taken, the dropping of thousands and thousands of bombs in a couple of days, including phosphorus bombs, as we heard, on one of the most densely populated areas around the world, together with these proclamations of intent, this indeed constitutes genocidal killing, which is the first act, according to the convention, of genocide. And Israel, I must say, is also perpetrating act number two and three — that is, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and creating condition designed to bring about the destruction of the group by cutting off water, food, supply of energy, bombing hospitals, ordering the fast evictions of hospitals, which the World Health Organization has declared to be, quote, “a death sentence.” So, we’re seeing the combination of genocidal acts with special intent. This is indeed a textbook case of genocide.
“A Textbook Case of Genocide”: Israeli Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal Decries Israel’s Assault on Gaza
800+ Legal Scholars Say Israel May Be Perpetrating ‘Crime of Genocide’ in Gaza
It’s only arguable if you’re arguing for genocide.
I thought our society had moved beyond viewing the world in such a dogmatic way. It’s like you’re saying, “Agree with me, or you’re a heathen!”
Fuck off with false equivalence you friend of butchers.
It’s literally a by the books genocide so, in this particular cases, yes, trying to pretend it’s not is basically defending genocide.
Yeah, no, sorry bud, it’s genocide. Just because it’s not overt genocide does not mean it’s not a thing. It’s not just happening in Gaza, it’s happening in the West Bank, here is Stephen Colbert talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqK3_n6pdDY
Just because they have more of an excuse in Gaza to do it much more flagrantly doesn’t mean it isn’t happening throughout Israel. Covert genocide, it’s a thing.
What has happened since shows the
delicateservile relationship Google has kept with its advertising client, the fascist apartheid state IsraelFixed it for them.
This is why political ads should not be allowed (and why they aren’t in numerous countries)
One more reason to try to ditch Google, Apple, Microsoft and the others…
Perhaps if the US would embargo Israel instead of selling weapons things would be a little bit different, but nooooo… Israel’s not communist, so it’s ok.
I don’t know what is so surprising about this to people.
US company sees money on the table… takes money 💰.
This is the only transaction that is happening. Nothing else.
Google is running a blatant disinformation campaign to manufacture consent for Genocide. That’s slightly past the point of showing off a new Ninja Airfryer.
Google is running a blatant disinformation campaign to manufacture consent for Genocide.
Occam’s razor died on this day. RIP.
After Kronenfeld and colleagues complained to Google in January about Israeli ads featuring headlines such as “UNRWA for Human Rights,” they say a company representative told them, without providing a reason, that the ads in question had been removed. Google’s Booth says there was no policy violation.
By May, per screenshots seen by WIRED, Israel was back to promoting the same content but with tweaked verbiage—“UNRWA Neutrality Compromised,” “Israel Unveils UNRWA Issues,” and “Israel Advocates for Safer, Transparent Humanitarian Practices”—that more clearly previewed what users would get if they clicked.
The revised ads, which linked to what UNRWA USA views as deeply dishonest distortions, have run across the US and Europe and continue to appear on Google as of this month despite additional UNRWA USA complaints, Kronenfeld says. She alleges these ads violate Google’s policies against “making claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.” She also believes the ads go against Google’s policy barring the use of someone else’s trademarks “in a confusing, deceptive, or misleading way.”
Google denied a trademark complaint that UNRWA lodged in May on the basis that it hadn’t obtained a trademark in Jordan, where its ad account is registered, according to the agency.
So what is clear is the Israel is trying to abuse the ad system to push it’s own agenda.
What’s not evidenced is that Google is “actively supporting genocide”. Please don’t confuse my hesitation on that statement to somehow supporting the horrors that Israel is meting out.
To be fair, at least as of this moment his prior post says Google is “manufacturing consent for”, not “actively supporting”. I believe that the former can be the latter, but is not necessarily the latter.
The Hidden Ties Between Google and Amazon’s Project Nimbus and Israel’s Military
Current and former Google and Amazon workers protesting Project Nimbus say it makes the companies complicit in Israel’s armed conflicts and its government’s illegal and inhumane treatment of civilian Palestinians. Google has insisted that it is not aimed at military work and is not "relevant to weapons or intelligence services,” while Amazon, seemingly, has not publicly discussed the scope of the contract.
But a WIRED review of public documents and statements by Israeli officials and Google and Amazon employees shows that the Israel Defense Forces have been central to Project Nimbus since its inception, shaping the project’s design and serving as some of its most important users. Top Israeli officials appear to think the Google and Amazon contract provides important infrastructure for the country’s military.
Yeah, because if they were accepting ads from the Russian government, Hamas, Hezbollah, or ISIS, nobody would bat an eye, right? 🙄
