Why was Netanyahu wearing a QR code at the UN, and where did it lead?
The QR code leads to a website with graphic images from the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Courtesy of Avi Ohayon, Israel Government’s Press Office
By Hannah Feuer and Jacob KornbluhSeptember 26, 2025
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“Remember Oct. 7,” read dozens of billboards and trucks around the United Nations building and in New York City’s Times Square, accompanied by a QR code that links to a website with images of dead bodies from the 2023 Hamas attacks.
The marketing campaign coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address in front of the General Assembly’s iconic green marble backdrop, speaking directly to a global and Israeli audience. Wearing a jacket adorned with the same QR code, Netanyahu promoted the campaign by directing those watching him at home to the new website.
To critics, the corporate-style marketing felt at odds with the gravity of the message. A QR code linking to graphic images of death? Website viewers are invited to submit additional relevant information about the invasion that launched the current war to [email protected].
Such marketing campaigns are not new for Israel, which has since inception practiced hasbara, or public diplomacy, aimed at shaping positive international perceptions of the country. But some experts say that in the current context — with Gaza in crisis and a constant stream of images of Palestinian suffering circulating on social media — such campaigns may not land.
“We are beyond the ability of regular and even creative marketing to fix the current situation,” Amir Grinstein, a professor of marketing at the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology, wrote in a statement to the Forward.
Nicholas Cull, a professor of public diplomacy at University of Southern California, said the campaign may be more “political performance…to show people that he’s trying,” rather than a genuine attempt at persuasion.
“The situation is now beyond what can be addressed with poster campaigns, even clever ones with QR codes,” Cull said.
Netanyahu’s office defended the billboards on X: “The goal of the campaign is to remind world leaders and the public about the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas and the unbelievable brutality of the terrorist organization that continues to hold 48 hostages in captivity in Gaza.”
For years, Netanyahu has used attention-grabbing props to punctuate his speeches at the U.N.
The tactics are aimed in part at a domestic audience, crafted for Israeli consumption to project strength — the statesman defending the beleaguered nation before the leaders of the world.
In the absence of those leaders, in a mostly empty hall, Netanyahu positioned himself as the showman, Israel’s A-team, determined to lift Israel’s image out of the mud.
In his remarks, Netanyahu reminded the world that Israel shares with the West a determined set of enemies. “When you stand with Israel, you stand for your own values and your own interests,” he said. “Yes, we’re defending ourselves, but we’re also defending you against a common enemy that, through violence and terror, seeks to destroy our way of life.”
Netanyahu, who studied at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and worked as marketing director for the Jerusalem-based mattress company Rim Industries, has long emphasized the importance of publicity. Last month, he critiqued his own public diplomacy office as being “stuck in the 1980s,” saying they needed to “enter the digital era.”
Even President Trump has acknowledged Israel’s difficulty in winning over public opinion.
Israel “may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations,” Trump told The Daily Caller earlier this month. “And it is hurting them.”
