The Information War: Israel’s Fight Against Disinformation

Note: V24 presents an in-depth series covering the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. This comprehensive series features on-the-ground interviews, bringing firsthand insights from a diverse range of voices, including politicians, professors, journalists, experts and influencers. Our guest today: Keren Pikes.

Combatting Disinformation: Insights from Keren Pikes

In this exclusive interview, Keren Pikes, spokeswoman for Israel's national public diplomacy directorate, shares valuable insights into Israel's strategy for combating disinformation during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Drawing from her extensive experience as a journalist and her current role coordinating public diplomacy efforts, Pikes discusses the challenges of managing information in a rapidly evolving media landscape.

According to Pikes, the Israel-Hamas conflict has placed extraordinary pressure on how information is gathered, verified, and disseminated worldwide. She explains that the challenge extends beyond military frontlines, as the convergence of social media, instant news cycles, and AI-generated content has intensified the struggle for truth. Pikes emphasizes that every channel - traditional or digital -faces a flood of often unverifiable claims, making it harder to discern fact from fiction.

From the conflict’s earliest moments, Pikes notes that Hamas deployed a well-coordinated propaganda operation. She points out that this war has magnified existing trends in journalism, creating significant challenges for reporters navigating propaganda, bot-driven disinformation, and biased data. She highlights the growing difficulty of verifying claims, especially when speed often takes precedence over accuracy, compelling both media outlets and public diplomacy efforts to work tirelessly to correct falsehoods and fill information vacuums.

“Unfortunately those organizations, extreme Islamic organizations like Hamas, are growing by the minute, and everyone in the West will experience it…I hope not, I really pray not, but I’m afraid.”

Keren Pikes

Spokeswoman for the NationalIinformation System of the National Public Diplomacy Directorate of Israel

Upholding Truth in a Chaotic War

The distortion of facts goes beyond simple bias. Pikes emphasizes that Israel has adopted a policy of rapid verification and honesty, even when the truth is uncomfortable. The prompt acknowledgment of regrettable incidents, such as civilian casualties caused by Israeli operations, differentiates a democratic state from terror organizations. Transparency, while risky, reinforces credibility in the long term.

This approach contrasts sharply with Hamas, whose orchestrated narratives appear instantly and spread virally online. Without reliable verification, some Western media outlets inadvertently amplify extremist tropes. Pikes underscores that Israel’s priority remains the war’s factual core: October 7th’s unprecedented Hamas attack, the mass slaughter, kidnappings, and acts of brutality that led to Israel’s current military response.

Confronting Global Protests

Mass protests in Western capitals chanting slogans like “From the River to the Sea” reflect a dangerous cocktail of ignorance and manipulation. Pikes stresses that much of the international audience, particularly younger generations, lack essential context. They may interpret Hamas’s narrative through simplified lenses, unaware of historical complexities or the atrocities committed. This educational gap, she argues, is a long-term vulnerability that Israel intends to address more proactively.

The spokeswoman finds it disturbing that organizations and movements that should naturally condemn atrocities - such as women’s rights groups in response to documented rapes and sexual violence on October 7th - remain silent or slow to react. The normalization of anti-Israel sentiment, even in liberal democracies, signals deep misunderstanding. Pikes notes how anti-Semitism, far from being a relic of the past, now resurfaces in new forms and venues.

Revolutionizing Media: Strengthening Public Diplomacy

The traditional media environment no longer holds a monopoly on information. With user-generated content, influencers, and citizen journalists shaping global perceptions, controlling narratives has become exceedingly difficult. State-backed propaganda machines from adversarial actors have learned to exploit this complexity. Coordinated disinformation campaigns - often funded by regimes like Iran and endorsed by extremist factions - overwhelm Western audiences with misleading claims.

In response, Israel’s public diplomacy aims to introduce advanced tools, training, and strategic messaging to break through the noise. While no single solution exists, Pikes indicates that building long-term credibility, investing in education, and ensuring rapid factual responses to breaking news are key components of Israel’s revamped information strategy. Through greater transparency and proactive outreach, Israel hopes to guide journalists and the global audience toward nuanced understanding rather than instant judgment.

A Call for Vigilance

Ultimately, Pikes’s perspective highlights a sobering reality: facts alone do not always prevail against engineered emotional narratives. She laments that Western observers often fail to grasp the existential stakes at play and remain susceptible to simplistic moral equivalences. Terror organizations thrive on this confusion, and the lack of swift international condemnation emboldens them.

As Western societies witness growing extremist influences, from extremist rallies to social media conspiracies, Pikes warns that ignoring such trends invites future danger. “The West is next,” she cautions, urging nations worldwide to recognize that attacks on Israeli civilians are a harbinger of a broader ideological assault on freedom and democracy. Without vigilance, knowledge, and consistent confrontation of falsehoods, no one is immune.

Stefan Tompson

Founder - Visegrad24