Fake rabbi curse, banned pilgrimage — Russian disinformation fuels Ukraine–Israel tensions
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Russian disinformation networks have sought to fan the recent tensions between Ukraine and Israel over shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain, a monitoring group told the Kyiv Independent on April 29.
The Russia-linked bot network "Matryoshka" has circulated videos falsely claiming that an Orthodox rabbi "cursed" President Volodymyr Zelensky due to the dispute, or that Ukraine may bar Israelis from the Uman pilgrimage, Antibot4Navalny said.
The falsehoods drew on a recent diplomatic spat between Ukraine and Israel over cargoes of Russian-looted grain from occupied Ukrainian territories arriving at Israeli ports.
The monitoring group said it had detected nine videos published on X and BlueSky on April 29, the same day when Israeli and Ukrainian foreign ministers traded barbs on social media.
The clips falsely use logos of established media outlets such as RFI, Euronews, and AFP, alongside unrelated stock footage and overlaid text — a technique commonly employed by Matryoshka.
One video, posing as the Montreal-based outlet La Presse, falsely claims that Orthodox rabbi Yosef Dayan had cast the "Pulsa diNura" death curse on the Ukrainian president.
Another fake posing as AFP alleges that "Ukrainian activists" have vandalized Jewish bakeries in Paris in retaliation for Israel accepting stolen Ukrainian grain.
Yet another false post alleges that, according to an undisclosed "source close to the President's Office," Ukraine is considering restricting access for Israeli pilgrims to Uman, a Ukrainian city that draws thousands of Jewish travelers on Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year.
The fakes also include German officials, like Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, urging Kyiv to refrain from criticizing Israel, or Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko claiming Israel had provided the capital with "defective generators" during the Russian winter strikes.
The actual reach of the videos is difficult to establish. According to the monitoring group, Matryoshka artificially inflates views on X.
"Adjusting for that, it's under 1,000 views per post most of the time," the group said.
BlueSky has no public view count metric, meaning "one can only derive it indirectly from a followers count of the accounts that Matryoshka hacked for posting this," according to the group.
Latest developments signal a potential easing of tensions between Ukraine and Israel over a Panama-flagged bulk carrier that arrived at the Haifa port earlier this week.
Ukraine confirmed on April 30 that the ship, Panormitis, allegedly loaded with stolen Ukrainian wheat and barley, had been prevented from unloading its cargo.
But another vessel, the Russian bulk carrier Abinsk, allegedly unloaded stolen Ukrainian wheat in Israel earlier in April, despite appeals by Kyiv to intervene.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also said that the case has not been isolated to Israel, as other countries — such as Turkey, Algeria, or Egypt — previously accepted similar shipments.
Russia's latest disinformation campaign reveals an attempt to further drive a wedge between Ukraine and Israel, as part of Moscow's broader efforts to strip Kyiv of international support.
Ukraine-Israeli ties during Russia's all-out war have been complex. Israel has supplied humanitarian aid to Kyiv but is reluctant to provide direct military assistance, despite both countries sharing a common adversary in Iran.
Editor's note: This article was published as part of the Fighting Against Conspiracy and Trolls (FACT) project, an independent, non-partisan hub launched in mid-2025 under the umbrella of the EU Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). Click here to follow the latest stories from our hub on disinformation.
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