The Invisible Weapon: Propaganda Operations Behind Global Antisemitism and the Israeli-Palestinian Narrative
Of the many, many world events that have surprised and confused me over the past 4 turbulent years, perhaps the most shocking was seeing mass demonstrations across the Western world in support of Hamas in response to their Oct 7th terrorist attack on Israel.
From street protests and traffic blockades to a flood of social media posts, a strong narrative has taken hold globally and is driving a mass anti-Israel activist movement. The narrative goes something like this: Jews are white colonizers who stole Israel’s land from the native Palestinians, created an apartheid state, are holding Palestinians in prison-like conditions, and are committing genocide against them.
Amazingly, every single part of this narrative is definitively false; yet it is widely and passionately believed around the world- especially among young people.
The goal of this text is not to prove why the narrative is wrong, as many other people are already doing so and the facts are readily available to anyone willing to do research. My goal is rather to bring light to the side that no one is talking about, to expose where the narrative comes from and reveal what might be the world’s most successful propaganda and psyop campaign, ever.
Could it be that the widespread falsehoods and misunderstandings about the history of Israel and the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians organically emerged and found ideological adoption around the world? It turns out, no.
In this work, I aim to clearly and concisely demonstrate how the Soviet Union and subsequently the current Russian regime have developed and propagated a fabricated narrative and recruited, trained, planted, and supported a network of agents to carry out a wide-reaching campaign of deception and ideological subversion with the intent to advance their geopolitical interests in the Middle East and beyond — and that this Russian effort is at the heart of modern day global antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment.
In making my case, I will rely heavily on firsthand accounts from expert witnesses who held high ranking positions in Soviet intelligence and verified classified Soviet documents. By definition, the work of the KGB or any intelligence organization, if effective, is supposed to be undetectable and untraceable; which is why it’s crucial to rely on sources from the inside.
“There is a widespread belief that the worst damage from Soviet/Russian intelligence operations against the West has been the theft of highly classified secrets, such as the technology for the atom bomb. Not so. The absolutely worst — and often irreparable — damage done to the Free World has been caused by the Kremlin’s disinformation operations designed to change the past… In KGB jargon, changing people’s pasts was called ‘framing,’ and it was a highly classified disinformation speciality.” — Disinformation, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa
In their groundbreaking 2019 academic paper, The KGB and Anti-Israel Propaganda Operations, Eli Cohen and Elizabeth Boyd succinctly describe the challenge of piecing together the totality of the picture: “The facts are well documented but not well known in any single discipline. In this sense, it is transdisciplinary.”
But to make it make sense, I will need start by briefly going back in time.
Anti-Semitism As A Political Strategy
If you’re a football (soccer) fan, you may have heard the saying, “The English invented football, but the Brazilians perfected it.” While I don’t know where antisemitism started, I can tell you that the Russians perfected it.
Antisemitic propaganda in Russia goes back to the czarist era when a forgery called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was published in the newspaper Znamya in 1903, purporting to expose a conspiracy of Jewish world domination. It was later cited by Hitler in his book Mein Kampf, used by the Nazis as justification for their genocide of Jews, and continues to echo today in anti-semitic and “anti-Zionist” conspiracies spreading on social media.
“In fact, ‘imperial-Zionism’ was a Moscow invention, a modern adaptation of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ and long a favorite tool of Russian intelligence to foment ethnic hatred. The KGB always regarded anti-Semitism plus anti-imperialism as a rich source of anti-Americanism.” — The KGB’s Man, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa [no paywall]
But in 1947, the USSR actually pivoted away from their long-running anti-Zionist stance to support the UN partition plan for Palestine and to be the first to recognize Israel in 1948; because they believed the newly established State of Israel would adopt a socialist system, align itself to the Soviets, and serve to weaken Western influence in the Middle East.
When Israel became a democracy aligned with the US, a more systematic development of Russian antisemitic propaganda and active measures emerged, further heightened by Israel’s repeated military victories against Soviet-backed Arab armies in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973. This was known as Operation SIG.
“Operation SIG is the KGB operation to sow worldwide disapproval for the US and Israel. SIG is the Russian acronym for Sionistskiye Gosudarstva, or ‘Jewish (or Zionist) Government.’ The operation started shortly after 1967, when the drive for Arab unity collapsed along with the economies of the armies that attacked Israel… [it] created the cover for antisemites and antidemocratic forces, thus fulfilling the KGB’s ambition to create chaos in the Middle East…” — The KGB and Anti-Israel Propaganda Operations, Cohen & Boyd
The PLO: World’s Most Successful Psyop Ever?
I just want to preface this part by saying that I was both very shocked and very fascinated when I first came across this information. It can be hard to process information that strays so far from the popular narrative being echoed every day from so many different directions (media, politicians, academics, international organizations). I believe there is an inherent subconscious process that takes place when we hear the same notion repeated by so many different people — it just becomes true in our minds, by default, and warrants not doing any research to confirm it. It’s also hard to accept when the reality of a situation is more unbelievable than the fabricated version.
As revealed both by KGB internal archives that were smuggled out of Russia by Vasili Mitrokhin and by the writings of former Lt. General of Soviet Intelligence Ion Mihai Pacepa, the Palestinian Liberation Organization— the official representative of the Palestinian people since 1964 through today — is not what it claims or appears to be on the surface.
In 1964, as a brilliant counter to a strengthening state of Israel, the KGB created the PLO, mirroring other guerrilla Marxist-Leninist “liberation” movements the Soviets were supporting or launching elsewhere to expand global influence and control and to counter the US — including the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1949), Cuban Revolution (1958), National Liberation Army in Peru (1962), National Liberation Army in Bolivia (1964), FARC in Colombia (1965), and the People’s Army in Bangladesh (1971). A common thread shared by all of these movements is that they professed a Marxist philosophy of class struggle for the benefit of the people, yet what they produced for the people was oppressive, miserable conditions and staggering numbers of deaths.
“Before I defected to America from Romania, leaving my post as chief of Romanian intelligence, I was responsible for giving Arafat about $200,000 in laundered cash every month throughout the 1970s… I was given the KGB’s ‘personal file’ on Arafat. He was an Egyptian bourgeois turned into a devoted Marxist by KGB foreign intelligence. The KGB had trained him at its Balashikha special-ops school east of Moscow and in the mid-1960s decided to groom him as the future PLO leader. First, the KGB destroyed the official records of Arafat’s birth in Cairo, replacing them with fictitious documents saying that he had been born in Jerusalem and was therefore a Palestinian by birth.” — The KGB’s Man, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa [no paywall]
Through generations of brainwashing, the Palestinian population has been radicalized to the point of being ready to commit the most heinous acts against Israeli civilians, on command. The human mind is a powerful weapon and terrorism is an underestimated political tool. As KGB General Aleksandr Sakharovsky said, “In today’s world when nuclear arms have made military force obsolete, terrorism should become our main weapon.”
“Before 1969 came to an end, Palestinian terrorists trained at the KGB’s Balashikha special-operations school east of Moscow had hijacked their first “Zionist” El Al plane and landed it in Algeria, where its thirty-two Jewish passengers were held hostage for five weeks. The hijacking had been planned and coordinated by the KGB’s Thirteenth Department, known in Soviet bloc intelligence jargon as the Department for Wet Affairs (wet being a KGB euphemism for bloody). To conceal the KGB’s hand, Andropov had the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (created and financed by the KGB) take credit for the hijacking.
The media frenzy generated by that terrorist operation convinced Andropov that airplane hijacking was the weapon of the future. He therefore extended the hijackings from Israeli planes to any other ‘Zionist’ flying target of opportunity. During the next two years, various Palestinian terrorists (trained by the KGB) took credit for hijacking thirteen Israeli and Western passenger planes and for blowing up a SwissAir plane in flight, killing forty-seven passengers and crewmembers.
The huge political “success” brought about by the hijacking of ‘Zionist airplanes’ prompted Andropov to expand into organizing ‘public executions’ of ‘Zionists’ in airports, train stations, and other public places. Andropov’s puppet Dr. George Habash, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a fanatical Marxist, mirrored the true colors of the new terrorist tactic: ‘Killing one Jew far from the field of battle is more effective than killing a hundred Jews on the field of battle, because it attracts more attention.’” — Disinformation, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa
The global mindshare of the “Palestinian liberation” movement is an extremely valuable Russian political asset, utilized as a mechanism for leverage not only against Israel, but in the greater Middle East and even the West as a strategy in their fight against US dominance.
Today, Mahmoud Abbas, who was revealed by the Mitrokhin Archives to be a former KGB agent, is the current president of the Palestinian Authority and chairman of the PLO, as successor to Arafat. The man who was his KGB handler, Mikhail Bogdanov, is Russia’s current Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The PLO’s Middle East Operations, Beyond Israel
A brief examination of the PLO’s historical activities outside of Israel demonstrates that they have consistently worked to carry out Russian interests.
In the 70’s, the USSR had political strongholds in Egypt and Syria but not in neighboring Jordan or Lebanon. They mobilized the PLO as a weapon against those regimes with the aim of consolidating Soviet power in the region.
In 1970, Yasser Arafat led an attempt to overthrow the Jordanian regime and assassinate King Hussein — a period known as Black September, when the PLO (supported by Soviet-backed Syria) fought a civil war against the Jordanians; who successfully resisted the PLO and kicked them out of Jordan.
With Syrian assistance, the Palestinian militants then moved across their land and into Lebanon, where in 1975 they instigated the Lebanese Civil War, tearing Lebanon apart for 15 years, as the PLO (with Syrian and Shiite leftist support) fought against the Christian Lebanese Forces (with Israeli support).
Despite failing in Jordan, the Russians scored 1 out of 2, with the war in Lebanon resulting in major changes to the Lebanese regime and constitution, the formation and rise of Hezbollah as a power in Lebanon and another “resistance movement” to the North of Israel, as well as a 30 year military occupation and brutal killings of Lebanese people by Syrian forces. Notice how Hezbollah felt no need to resist that occupation.
Tying Together Past & Present Russia
“Post-Soviet Russia has been transformed in unprecedented ways, but the widely popular belief that the nefarious Soviet legacy was rooted out at the end of the Cold War the same way that Nazism was rooted out with the conclusion of World War II, is not yet correct.
In the 1950s, when I was chief of Romania’s foreign intelligence station in West Germany, I witnessed how Hitler’s Third Reich had been demolished, its war criminals put on trial, its military and police forces disbanded, and the Nazis removed from public office. None of these things has happened in the former Soviet Union. No individual has been put on trial, although the Soviet Union’s Communist regime killed over a hundred million people. Most Soviet institutions have been left in place, having simply been given new names, and are now run by many of the same people who guided the Communist state. In 2000, former officers of the KGB and the Soviet Red Army took over the Kremlin and Russia’s government.
Germany would have never become a democracy with Gestapo and SS officers running the show.” — Russian Footprints, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa
While we can examine in depth the hidden actions of the USSR thanks to evidence from the inside, we do not have such direct insights into today’s Russian regime. What we do have is a few pieces of a large puzzle, patterns that indicate a continuous presence of Soviet-era strategies, and the knowledge that no radical changes were made to the Russian regime after the USSR collapsed.
“The technology for spreading disinformation and the use of that fake fact to spread friction and discord, to deceive and to menace, may have changed, but the mind-set has remained the same. With an old K.G.B. hand, Vladimir Putin, at the helm, Russia still sees Active Measures as a legitimate means of closing the gap between Russia and the West, and increasing Moscow’s influence across the globe — including in the Middle East.” — How the K.G.B. Started the War That Changed the Middle East, Ronen Bergman
From these, there are three high-level conclusions to be drawn:
- The Russians and Americans never actually stopped fighting each other when the Cold War “ended” after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- The USSR’s transition to the Russian Federation was a reconfiguration and really good rebrand of a country still consisting of the same agencies and the same political leadership.
- Modern day Russia utilizes “hybrid warfare” methods against the US, Europe, and Israel; in addition to the familiar “active measures” tactics that were highly effective in the past.
“Russian Hybrid Warfare is little more than a remodeled and modern version of KGB active measures: the old ‘tool box’ of the Soviet period has been replaced with modern tools to fit 21st century technology along with the socioeconomic and political climate which differs greatly from the Cold War period.” — KGB Active Measures and Russian Hybrid Warfare: A Brief Comparison, Alan Malcher
In today’s sophisticated hybrid warfare strategy, social media platforms are a core Russian weapon.
“Although Putin’s Russia still use KGB Active Measures to plant stories in the Western Media — paying Journalists to place stories; using lesser known media platforms which are known for not checking sources; the use of forged ‘official’ documents and using radio and television to disseminate the Kremlin message, the power of the internet is now fully exploited. Working in conjunction with the Kremlin controlled press, social media and seemingly independent websites supported by an army of Russian trolls, have made the dissemination of Russia initiatives for systematic and intentional deception not only easier but also allows the creation of artificial credibility. It is often now more difficult to identify the original source which inevitably is a Russian asset or agency.” — KGB Active Measures and Russian Hybrid Warfare: A Brief Comparison, Alan Malcher
A long-running Kremlin strategy from the Soviet era through today has been to engage covertly in political activism, such as developing protest slogans, organizing and co-opting “grassroots” movements, and disseminating forgeries to subvert Western political causes that run against their interests and to support those that help their interests. It is a clever exploitation of a fundamental vulnerability in democratic systems: politicians must be responsive to the voices of their citizens, even if those citizens have been manipulated by a foreign power.
“Political activities include orchestrating political events, demonstrations, civil disturbance and general unrest, by exploiting existing laws in the target nation. Political influence activities can also involve financial support to opposition parties (opposed to the current government or its policies) and lobbying activities aiming at changing laws and regulation in a way favourable for the foreign power.” — Social Media’s Role in Hybrid Strategies, Thomas Elkjer Nissen
False statements, historically inaccurate references, and antisemitic slogans being chanted by activists in the West (who don’t understand what they mean) are being driven by social media-based campaigns.
Telling patterns emerge when we observe the massive wave of anti-Israel social media content today, alongside known Russian propaganda campaigns targeted at other groups or objectives.
“Russian operatives created hundreds of fake personas on social media platforms and then posted thousands of advertisements and messages that sought to promote racial divisions in the United States. This was a coordinated propaganda effort.” — Virtual Hatred: How Russia Tried to Start a Race War in the United States, William J. Aceves
A glimpse into Russia’s international gaslighting can be seen by comparing their covert actions covered in this piece to their overt actions, such as putting forward a UN resolution for an Israeli ceasefire 1 week after October 7th, Putin’s conciliatory public urges for dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian leadership and volunteering to be a “neutral” mediator, and taking public steps to enter formal relations between Russia, Hamas, Fatah, the PLO, and other Palestinian factions. These public moves work hand in hand with private moves carried out via covert operations and proxy groups.
The Free Palestine Movement
By my analysis, Pro-Palestine/anti-Israel protests and propaganda serve to advance pro-Russia/anti-US political objectives by:
- Reducing (perceived and real) popular support for Israel among US citizens, thus pressuring US politicians to pull back on financial and military support and weakening Israel’s economy and military defense capabilities.
- Weakening US geopolitical influence in the Middle East by loosening ties to its most valuable ally in the region.
- Reducing the intelligence, security, technological, and economic benefits that the US gains from its relationship with Israel.
- Perpetuating and reinforcing KGB-derived false narratives as accepted truths. Propaganda mindshare is an appreciating asset as it gains deeper adoption.
- Building public pressure on Israel to withdraw from the war in hopes of preventing the destruction of valuable Russian assets in Gaza (this is the point of the “Ceasefire Now” movement).
- Causing civil unrest, division between citizens, and destruction of cultural symbols in the US and its European allies; thus degrading the identity and unity of Western nations and creating a climate of instability.
Patterns & Puzzle Pieces
Putting the pieces together:
- Israel is a strategic chess piece in the ongoing battle between the US and Russia for global dominance, from its establishment in 1948 until today.
- The “Palestine Liberation” militant movement and its associated terrorist activities were formed as a Russian psyop and continue to be led by a known Russian asset.
- Antisemitic propaganda has deep roots in Russia, but has been significantly amplified internationally ever since Israel became a target of Russian subversion in the 1960s.
- The “Free Palestine” activist movement in the West is a product of Russian propaganda that has used false narratives to manipulate large numbers of people, with immense success, to promote Russia’s agenda within its enemy countries.
- Today’s international spike in antisemitic rhetoric and actions is a direct result of decades of Soviet and Russian active measures and hybrid warfare operations.
While Jews and Arabs are suffering severe consequences, the endgame of this strategy does not inherently appear to be about Jews or Arabs. It is ultimately a means to advance Russia’s overall battle against the West, by targeting all permutations of the Western democratic system. The enormous amounts of pain, suffering, and bloodshed this has caused for Jews and Arabs are all collateral damage.
Closing Messages
To the Jewish community, in Israel and around the world: know your enemy.
To the people of the US and Europe: recognize that the fierce societal division and chaos you are experiencing is an intentional outcome of hybrid warfare tactics.
To the pro-Palestine activists: you have been manipulated into believing a false version of reality and serving as pawns in a political chess game that is bigger than Gaza and Israel and has no concern for their lives or yours.
To the global Muslim community: see how your religion has been twisted and abused for political gain, by outsiders who treat your people as disposable tools and by corrupted leadership figures who act as their puppets.
To those who will oppose and/or dispute this content: I welcome any feedback that improves this content’s accuracy or shows any points or sources that I’ve brought forth to be invalid. If you express your opposition by personally attacking me, finding minute and inconsequential points to emphasize, or making distracting statements that are not relevant to the issues discussed here, you will only confirm that my case is valid, you are threatened by the availability of this information, and you have no legitimate basis upon which to dispute it.
