Colonial complicity is a bigger problem than Israeli-sponsored influencers

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  by Ramona Wadi

Palestinians flock to the Zikim crossing to acquire limited food aid as hunger crisis worsens with the ongoing Israeli blockade in North Gaza, Gaza on August 18, 2025. [Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut – Anadolu Agency]

“I’m here in Gaza and all I see is food, water and opportunity.” Sponsored by Israel’s Diaspora Ministry, a group of US and Israeli influencers were given access to the distribution sites, or kill zones, managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, ostensibly to make people believe that during genocide, Palestinians are being protected from starvation and famine. Israel made clear the intent to starve and kill Palestinians since the start of the genocide. In typical Israeli style, running loops around its own rhetoric, the world is now supposed to believe colonial state-sponsored influencers that genocide is somehow blissfully bountiful.

Palestinians in Gaza “are being fed here in a peaceful and calm manner.” This is another statement that is in complete dissonance with the reality of the distribution sites. Besides the patronising rhetoric – “being fed” – there have been countless reports, even by Western media, of aid distribution sites being utilised as kill zones. But now that Israel brought influencers onto the scene, genocide is synonymous with humanitarian aid.

The staunchest political supporters of Israel are either celebrating or deploring Israel’s genocidal tactics. According to the UN, around 1,400 Palestinians have been killed at the GHF sites. Scenes depict crowds of Palestinians waiting in crowded spaces enclosed by barbed wire. Who of thee influencers would like a taste of Israel style genocide “food, water and opportunity,” waiting in deathtraps, surrounded by snipers?

Filtering reality is an influencer’s strongest point and its weakest spot. Israel has not chosen the best propaganda weapon by selecting influencers to talk about abundance in Gaza when there is no sign of healthy life for miles. It is banking on the short attention span and the leverage it can use on social media given the blackout caused by killing journalists and refusing entry to foreign journalists. But on the other hand, social media has also been Israel’s medium for bragging about its genocide in Gaza. People around the world have seen footage uploaded by the soldiers themselves killing Palestinians, celebrating detonations, dehumanising Palestinians, looting their homes, raiding their kitchens, torturing and killing Palestinians. This is the first genocide in which technology and military might have given an example of what governments have the power to do if they choose. A group of influencers cannot change what Israel has already showcased to the world.

The bigger problem is not the group of Israeli sponsored influencers. Millions around the world are in solidarity with Palestine. The problem is international complicity with Israel – allowing Israel to commit genocide, justify it through the coloniser’s so-called security concerns, and speak out later only when the humanitarian paradigm is directly threatened. As Israel continues to mock, maim and kill Palestinians in the name of humanitarian aid, bringing influencers for a touch of genocide glamour, supposedly, what is the international community doing? While Israel finds the funds to carry out this feeble campaign, has the international community at least come up with possible intervention suggestions? Standing on its own, Israel would collapse under the weight of its falsehoods. The system supporting it – the purported human rights defender borne out of former colonial powers – bears a complicity that needs more exposure than a group of influencers paid to spout some lies on Israel’s kill zones in Gaza. History is given no weight, but that is where colonialism can start unravelling.