Ukraine and Israel Can Fight Disinformation Already Now

Glad to start the blog with some good news: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently reached out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a letter marking Ukraine’s Independence Day, referring to Iran as a common threat and calling for stronger bilateral ties.

The two leaders had also briefly met in Washington in July during the funeral of late U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, while Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar subsequently spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and invited him to visit Israel.

And that is amazingly good news.

I wrote extensively about the grain scandal that strained Israeli-Ukrainian relations in the spring, an issue that was particularly sensitive for Kyiv, which, arguably, also handled the case somewhat questionably.

And I know that the largest window for substantially increasing Israeli military assistance to Ukraine came roughly two years ago, and that any deeper cooperation can only happen after the October elections. But I have a very concrete idea for how Kyiv and Jerusalem can start cooperating now: countering antisemitic and anti-Israel disinformation and hate.

In fact, it is the main reason I started my blog on TOI. I was extremely surprised that Russia’s obvious multidimensional campaign against Ukraine and Israel somehow was not making the headlines it should have.

I’m glad that my two cents, if you will, helped change that, and I have met quite a few Israelis who told me they had come across my posts, with Andrey X so far being the most popular one.

But this remains largely a private or community-level endeavor.

I think a step further should be taken.

I can understand that Israel is unable to fully cut its ties with Russia, which is home to thousands of Jews, and that it must maintain a working relationship with Moscow. But it is also important to remember that Moscow supports Tehran. It is Moscow that says things like Hitler was a Jew. It is Russian-language signs that you find inside Hamas tunnels, something I know firsthand from IDF combat medics I have spoken to. Even the U.S. State Department has documented the Kremlin’s use of antisemitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust distortion as part of its broader disinformation campaigns.

Ukraine has extensive experience tracking Russian information operations. I have personally worked in this field for many years, and I know that, should there be official appetite for it, assembling such a task force would not be a major challenge.

I also know there is interest. When I spoke to the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel, they told me they would welcome a visit from me to give a presentation on the subject, something I already mentioned in one of my blogs.

That can be done, but real change can only happen if the work is systematic and recurrent.

The task force should focus on monitoring Russian and Iranian narratives, tracing their movement between languages and platforms, and coordinating responses. Most importantly, operational conclusions must be drawn from that work.

Such cooperation would require neither major weapons transfers nor a fundamental change in Israeli foreign policy before the elections, but it could change a hell of a lot for both war-torn states.