A 30-second anti-Hamas ad shown on Hulu has drawn attention because it appears to use generative AI to present an imagined version of Gaza. The spot begins with the visual language of a tourism campaign, then turns sharply toward war imagery and a political message.
The ad matters beyond one streaming placement. It shows how quickly AI-made images can be folded into political communication, especially when the goal is to create an emotional contrast that is easy to understand and hard to forget.
What the Hulu ad showed
The ad opens with scenes that resemble a travel promotion. Viewers see palm trees, coastlines, five-star hotels and children playing. People are shown dancing, eating and laughing as a voiceover invites visitors to “experience a culture rich in tradition.”
Then the tone changes. A smiling man’s face turns into a grimacing one, and the narrator says, “This is what Gaza could have been like without Hamas.” The next images show fighters, weapons and children in the streets or holding guns.
The ad says it comes from the State of Israel, although the Israeli government does not appear to have claimed involvement in it. Israel's foreign press office did not return WIRED's emails seeking comment about the ad itself, whether Israel had paid for it, or whether generative AI was used to make it.
WIRED saw the ad play on Hulu on Sunday. Hulu declined to comment. It was not clear whether the ad remained on the air as of Tuesday.
Why the AI question matters
The first half of the ad appears to contain imagery made with generative AI. The signs include its aesthetic, errors in perspective and repeated facial expressions. The ad also makes clear that its early scenes are not documentary footage, but a fictional picture of a city without conflict.
WIRED consulted two AI image-detection companies, Inholo and Sensity, about the ad. Both said AI was used in the creation of the first part of the ad.
This is not described as a deepfake. The issue is different: generative AI can produce lifelike scenes that do not need to impersonate a real person to influence how people feel. A synthetic image can still carry emotional force, especially when it is built around a simple before-and-after story.
Sam Gregory, executive director of Witness, said the apparently AI-generated version of Gaza resembles a TikTok trend that uses AI to create alternate histories. In this case, he said AI seems to function as “a cheap production tool” used to persuade viewers, reinforce an existing view, or “to generate news coverage around the use of AI itself.”
The conflict compressed into a spot
The ad presents Gaza through a narrow political frame. The source article notes that the reality of responsibility for Palestinian suffering in Gaza is far more complicated than the ad suggests.
Hamas has been deemed a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, Britain, Japan, and the European Union. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Israeli troops and settlers occupied Gaza from the 1967 war until 2005, when Israel's military and citizens withdrew from the Palestinian territory.
The United Nations and several other international entities still consider Gaza to be effectively occupied. The US and Israel dispute that label.
The human toll described in the source is severe. As of last week, more than 25,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October, according to Gaza's health ministry. The UN estimates that 1.9 million people in Gaza, approximately 85 percent of the population, have been displaced. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas in the October 7 attack that led to the current crisis.
That context is important because the ad uses an imagined, polished Gaza to make a political claim about what might have been. The short format leaves little room for history, competing claims or the complexity of civilian suffering.
Platform rules and political ads
Hulu’s advertising guidelines say political ads can be rejected if they are “deemed offensive” on ethnic, religious, or racial grounds, or if they offend Hulu’s sensibilities. Hulu did not comment on this story.
An earlier version of the ad began circulating on X earlier this month, but it was not attributed to Israel. The Hulu version’s attribution to the State of Israel adds another unresolved question, because the Israeli government does not appear to have publicly claimed involvement.
This is not the first time ads in favor of Israel have surprised viewers. Graphic pro-Israel ads appeared in children’s video games last fall. Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has also posted many ads to YouTube, including one in October with rainbows and a lullaby that said, “Just as you would do everything for your child, we will do everything to protect ours.” It was viewed a million times.
AI makes tailored imagery easier
The Hulu ad points to a broader shift in influence media. Before generative AI, a similar spot could have been assembled with stock images. AI makes it easier to create scenes designed precisely for a narrative: a coastline, a hotel, happy families, then a sudden turn to fear and violence.
That precision is why the technology is useful in propaganda and political advertising. The synthetic scenes do not have to be real to help set the emotional terms of a message.
Nick De Mey, founder of Inholo, said the power of such images comes from how viewers process them. “Once you show images, people stop thinking,” he said. “Your brain fills in the gaps or inconsistencies, and you just follow the story.”
The central lesson is not only that AI may have been used in one Hulu ad. It is that common AI tools are becoming part of the machinery of persuasion, where imagined visuals can make political arguments feel immediate, simple and visually complete.