Israel’s allies worldwide are desperately scrambling to help Tel Aviv re-establish a convincing narrative — not only about the Gaza genocide, but the entire legacy of Israeli colonialism in Palestine and the Middle East.

The perfect little story, built on myths and outright fabrications — that of a small nation fighting for survival amid “hordes of Arabs and Muslims” — is rapidly collapsing. It was a lie from the start, but the Gaza genocide has made it utterly indefensible.

The harrowing details of the Israeli genocide in Gaza were more than enough for people globally to fundamentally question the Zionist narrative, particularly the racist Western trope of the “villa in the Jungle” used by Israel to describe its existence among the colonized population.

The perfect little story built on myths and fabrications is rapidly collapsing, the Gaza genocide has made it utterly indefensible

Not only have people across the globe, but even Americans have decisively turned against Israel. What began as an alarming trend — from the Israeli viewpoint, of course — is now the irrefutable new reality. National polls indicate that support for Palestinians among U.S. adults has risen, with 33 percent now saying they sympathize more with the Palestinians — the highest reading so far and an increase of six percentage points from last year.

Even the once unshakeable pro-Israeli majority among Republicans is softening in favor of Palestinians, with 35 percent of Republicans supporting an independent Palestinian state, a significant rise from 27 percent in 2024. This demonstrates a clear and measurable shift within a segment of the Republican base.

The Israeli government is now fighting with every resource at its disposal to dominate the information war. It is focused on injecting calculated Israeli falsehoods into public discourse and aggressively blocking the Palestinian viewpoint.

The latest reports of an Israeli campaign to win social media by granting millions of dollars to TikTok and other influencers represent only a small fraction of a massive, coordinated global propaganda effort.

The war is multifrontal. On November 4, news reports revealed that Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales personally intervened to block editing access to the page dedicated to the Gaza genocide, claiming the page fails to meet the platform’s “high standards” and requires “neutrality” — which in practice means censoring accurate descriptions of the systematic destruction of the Palestinian people.

Israel has long been obsessed with controlling the narrative on Wikipedia, a strategy that predates the current genocide. As far back as 2010, Israeli organizations were running training courses in “Zionist editing”, explicitly designed to reshape political and historical entries in line with Israeli state messaging.

The censorship campaign against Palestinians is as old as Western media itself — a media system structurally aligned with corporate and geopolitical interests that naturally dovetail with Israeli narratives. This structural bias has long amplified the Israeli viewpoint while erasing or distorting the Palestinian experience.

Years ago, however, Israel recognized the existential danger of digital media, especially social platforms that allow ordinary people to become independent content creators. During the genocide, even the most basic references — “Gaza”, “Palestine” or “genocide” — have triggered shadow banning or account suspension.

Recently, YouTube shut down the channels of three major Palestinian human rights organizations (Al-Haq, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights), erasing more than 700 videos documenting Israeli violations of international law.

Sadly, not a single mainstream social media platform is innocent. Users are forced into coded language — such as replacing the Palestinian flag with the image of a watermelon — simply to avoid censorship.

Many pro-Palestine activists now highlight the direct complicity of Western media, particularly in the U.K., in whitewashing rape accusations against Israeli soldiers. Instead of using the word “rape”, British and French outlets refer to the horrific Sde Teiman crimes as mere “abuses.” Israeli politicians openly celebrate the perpetrators, while Western outlets continue to downplay the violence as isolated incidents.

This stands in stark contrast to the wall-to-wall sensationalized coverage of alleged “mass rape” by Palestinians on October 7 — claims made by the Israeli army without credible evidence or independent investigation.

This is not mere bias but direct complicity, Western media has helped sanitize Israeli crimes while amplifying unverified Israeli claims

As stated by the Gaza Tribunal’s final October 26, 2025 verdict: “The Jury finds a range of non-state actors to be complicit in genocide”, including “biased media reporting in the West and the under-reporting of Israeli crimes.”

The final reckoning is unfolding in the information warzone. The coming months and years will mark the most critical fight for truth in the history of the conflict. Israel, relying on censorship, intimidation and manufactured consent, will deploy every tool at its disposal.

For Palestinians and all who champion justice, this battle over narrative is as consequential as the genocide itself. Israel must not be allowed to sanitize its image — because the polishing of genocide guarantees its repetition.

– Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books.