Maria Julia Cassis was sitting down to a meal in her terraced home in north London when her 6-year-old son ran into the dining room, his face pale. The puzzle game on his Android phone had been interrupted by a video showing Hamas militants, terrified Israeli families, and blurred graphic footage. It ended with a message from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs promising that those who harm Israel will pay a heavy price. The ad left the 28-year-old barista shaken, and she quickly deleted the game. The ad is one of several promoted by the Israeli government since Saturday’s attack by Hamas militants that set off a scorched-earth campaign to crush Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.
The colorful cartoon ad opens with cheerful nursery music and blue, pink, and yellow unicorns jumping among clouds, rainbows, and smiling anthropomorphized stars. But as the music fades, the ad cuts to a city skyline and a close-up of a star, which reveals that it’s the emblem of Israel. Its final line: “Israel is paying YouTube to place adverts like this before videos aimed at children.”
The Israeli military has bombarded Gaza with rockets, missiles, and artillery in its efforts to stop Hamas from firing rockets into Israel. Its ferocious offensive has killed nearly 3,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, including children. It has also destroyed the Gaza Strip’s economy and reduced access to water, electricity, and fuel supplies.
Israel’s efforts to sway public opinion include advertising on websites such as YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) and popular mobile games. It has paid to promote videos that have shown images of dead infants, testimony from relatives of victims, and claims about Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The videos have collectively racked up millions of views.
But it is the gaming experience that has drawn the most attention. In recent weeks, Reuters has documented numerous instances across Europe where the same pro-Israel video — which shows footage of rocket attacks, fiery explosions, and masked gunmen — has been displayed to gamers. Many have reported being shocked and angry at having the ad infiltrate their gameplay.
Attempts to establish how the Israeli ads made their way into children’s video games have yet to be conclusive. Apple and Alphabet’s Google, which oversee apps on their in-house software platforms for iPhones and Android phones, respectively, referred questions to the developers of the games.
LazyDog Game, the developer of the Alice’s Mergeland ad, did not respond to requests for comment. But the company has previously inserted the same video into family-friendly digital pastimes such as block-building games Stack, Balls’n Ropes Rollik, and Solitaire: Card Game 2023, as well as the run-and-jump adventure Subway Surfers. Reuters has contacted 43 advertising companies listed by Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, to try to determine who placed the ad. Most of the firms denied any involvement. Others, such as Amazon, Index Exchange, and Pinterest, said the ad did not meet their advertising guidelines and that it had been removed.
