Facebook joins the dark side in raising arms for Israel

Alameen Templeton

Facebook is hosting paid adverts for charities fundraising for Israeli Wehrmacht battalions accused of war crimes and for its Nazi lawmakers who are encouraging the resettlement of the Gaza Strip.
Eko, a US-based campaigning organisation, has identified 98 Facebook adverts in Europe and the US to solicit funds for Israeli army equipment, including advanced thermal drones, assault rifle sights, armour, night vision goggles and helmets.
“The most concerning issue with these fundraising appeals is their focus on drones potentially used in the ongoing violence in Gaza and Lebanon,” Eko says.
“Many of the drones… are reportedly modified by the Israeli army to carry explosives.”
One advert depicts a soldier called Kobi, a “lead machine gunner” for the 551 Commando Brigade, appealing for night vision goggles in front of a destroyed masjid.
Middle East Eye reports Bellingcat has identified the 551 Commando Brigade and the 8219 Combat Engineering Battalion as the main wreckers of Gaza’s non-military infrastructure, specialising in destroying residential blocks, mosques and entire neighbourhoods. The UN has described these demolitions as potential crimes against humanity.
Another advert from the Tsedaka Centre, a Miami-based non-profit, features an Israeli captain asking for donations linked to the Chesed Fund, which purchases armour plates, tactical helmets, vests, assault rifle lasers and advanced drones.
Eko says the ads may violate EU and US laws and could affect charities’ tax-deductible contributions if the funds are directed toward military purposes.
Maen Hammad, a campaigner for Eko, said Meta has become the megaphone for Israeli extremists: “Meta has become the megaphone for the Israeli far-right, amplifying their calls and profiting from their ads which push their extremist and genocidal policies.
“Worse yet, the platform is also a hub for groups to fundraise for military equipment used by IDF units implicated in war crimes. This is far from an oversight – it’s another example of Meta’s profit-driven betrayal of human rights.”
Eko also found Hebrew-language adverts describing Palestinians as “savages” and “bloodthirsty” and called on the Israeli army to use the “dahiya” doctrine – the mass destruction of civilian infrastructure – against Palestinians.
Other adverts include posts by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Snotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Religious Zionism party, and the Noam Party.
One advert for Snotrich, which ran in October 2024, declared that his “life mission is to ensure that a Palestinian state will never be established. It’s taking Gaza and multiplying it 20 times”.
A spokesperson for Meta said it was investigating Eko’s findings.
“Our ad policies also don’t allow ads that promote the sale or use of weapons. Our ads review process has several layers of analysis and detection, both before and after an ad goes live, and ads may be rejected or restricted for violations of our policies at any time. We are investigating the ads cited in this report.”