Israeli soldiers disguised themselves as pro-Palestinian protesters to dupe students into talking with them as part of a propaganda operation across US university campuses.

​Footage captured outside Columbia University in New York last week showed a student approaching a man who was wearing a keffiyeh and holding a Palestinian flag.

The student – who had found the soldier’s social media account on her phone – asked him to confirm he was a first sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The soldier, Adi Karni, said he was, and explained that the ruse was intended to get people to talk to him, since they would not usually want to listen to an Israel supporter.

“When I’m wearing a keffiyah, people listen to me more as a Palestinian, as a Hamas terrorist, instead of listening to the IDF,” he said.

Karni was part of a group working with Frontline Advocates, a pro-Israel propaganda organisation that focuses on US university campuses where large numbers of students have protested the genocide in Gaza.

“We deploy trained Israeli advocates directly to the most hostile college campuses and public squares in America,” the group’s website says. It adds that it has “debated and engaged directly with thousands” of students “in the most hostile environments”.

The delegation had set up a table with a sign that read: “We are IDF. We’ve been in Gaza. Ask us anything.”

One member, who goes by the name Jewish Jess on social media, said in a video that her group decided to trick people after realising Palestine supporters were “too afraid to come and speak to us”.

“Two members of our delegation wrapped themselves up in keffiyehs… and decided to befriend the pro-Palestinian lunatics,” she added. “The trap worked seamlessly.”

Frontline Advocates says it has also sent delegations to Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington and Boston, as well as Canada and Ghana.

People in the US, and especially young people, hold increasingly negative views of Israel in the wake of its genocide in Gaza. Just 18% of people aged 18-29 hold a favourable view of the Israeli government, according to Pew Research. Overall, 62% of American adults have an unfavourable view.

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