Arsen Ostrovsky
Hasbarist defending Israel from accusations of genocide
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arsen Ostrovsky (Hebrew: ארסן אוסטרובסקי)[15][16] was born in Odessa, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.[17] He is an Israeli activist,[citation needed] and a lawyer,[14] specialising in international law and human rights.[16] a freelance journalist, and award-winning pro-Israel advocate.[18]
- Public diplomacy in the Gaza war and genocide
- Opposition to South Africa's case against Israel at the ICC
- Wounded in the 2025 Bondi Beach shooting
Arsen Ostrovsky | |
|---|---|
ארסן אוסטרובסקי | |
| Other names | |
| Citizenship | Israeli |
| Occupations | Lawyer, Hasbarist, activist, freelance journalist |
| Known for |
|
| Television | Frequently interviewed speaking in support of Israel |
| Movement | Zionism (Revisionist) |
| Opponents | |
| Awards | 2018 Bonei Zion Prize for Israel Advocacy Hebrew: הסברה, lit. 'Hasbara' |
| Head of the Sydney office of the AIJAC[4] Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council | |
Current | |
| Assumed office November 2025 | |
| Migrated to Australia | November or December 2025 |
| Hasbara promotion during the Gaza war | |
| In office 10 October 2023 – end of the war Serving with
| |
| Appointed by | Foreign Minister Eli Cohen |
| President | Isaac Herzog |
| Prime Minister | Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) |
| Twitter information | |
| Handle | |
| Display name | Arsen Ostrovsky |
| Years active | 2011 to present |
| Topics | |
| Followers | 381.1K |
| Preceding | Position established [8] |
| CEO of the International Legal Forum | |
| In office 2012 – until recently [9] | |
| Israeli-Jewish Congress | |
| Executive director | |
| In office before 2017 [10] – after 2018 | |
| Israeli-Jewish Congress | |
| Director of research | |
| In office c. 2013 [11] | |
| Knesset Committee | |
| Invited Guest | |
| Committee | Aliyah, Absorption, and Diaspora Committee |
| Hebrew name | ועדת העלייה, הקליטה והתפוצות |
| Dates |
|
| Ministers | Amichai Chikli, Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Children | 2 daughters |
| Relatives | Rabbi Menachem Creditor (brother in law) |
| Alma mater | University of Wollongong, New South Wales |
| Made Aliyah | 2012 from New York[13] |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | State of Israel |
| Gaza war | Government-appointed public advocate for Israel |
| Occupations | Syria (Golan Heights) and Palestine (West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Law and lawfare |
| Sub-discipline | |
| Main interests | Innocence and legitimacy of the Jewish State |
| Writing career | |
| Nationality | Israeli[14] |
| Genre |
|
Ostrovsky has been a public advocate for the Jewish State of Israel for over a decade. He advocated on behalf of Israel during the Gaza war and genocide and particularly during South Africa's genocide case against Israel in the International Criminal Court. Until recently he was the CEO of the International Legal Forum. In November 2025 he moved to Australia to be the Australian head of the Sydney office of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).[4]
Ostrovsky suffered superficial head injuries and substantial blood loss when he was "grazed" by a bullet during a mass shooting, allegedly carried out by an Australian ISIS supporter (Naveed Akram) and his father (Sajid Akram) at Bondi Beach, East Sydney on 14 December 2025. Reports of that event said Ostrovsky had previously "survived" the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel.
Early life
Ostrovsky was born in Odessa, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, within the Soviet Union.[19][20][21] He then grew up in Sydney, Australia and graduated from University of Wollongong in New South Wales.[20][21] The Jewish News Syndicate erroneously reported that Ostrovsky was born in Australia.[22][19] He practiced law in Australia and the United States.[23] In 2012, Ostrovsky "made aliyah" to Israel.[20]
Hasbara before the Gaza war
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
He spoke to media during the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, as the CEO of the International Legal Forum and an "expert on digital politics".[9]
Lawsuit Against University of California, Berkeley
In November 2022, Ostrovsky and another attorney, Gabriel Groisman, filed a complaint against University of California, Berkeley with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR).[a] OCR opened a formal investigation in December 2022.[25] Their complaint was in response to Berkeley Law Student for Justice in Palestine (Berkeley LSJP)[26] announcement on 21 August 2022 that nine student organizations adopted a "pro-Palestine bylaw" and vowed[27] not to "invite speakers that have expressed and continued to hold views or host/sponsor/promote events in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine". A wide array of student organizations signed the Law Students for Justice in Palestine at Berkeley Law pledge.[b] This pledge supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.[28]
During the Gaza war and genocide
7 October 2023 attacks
Ostrovsky's own experience of the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel was sheltering from rocket fire in the stairwell of his Tel Abib apartment block.[30] Speaking to Indian television he called the attack "unprovoked".[31]
Ottawa conference and cockroach cartoon
In late 2023, Ostrovsky was a speaker at the Antisemitism: Face It, Fight It conference in Ottawa, Canada.[32] His appearance at the conference was criticised by Independent Jewish Voices Canada, a pro-diaspora Jewish advocacy group.[32] A cartoon posted on Ostrovsky's Twitter account to advertise the conference depicted Hamas militants as cockroaches, with Palestinian colours, being crushed under an IDF boot. The cartoon was placed under restriction by Twitter for its use of insect imagery, and Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East called it an example of "textbook Nazi propaganda".[33]
Gazawood Twitter account
In April 2025, FakeReporter reported that Ostrovsky was one of 30 prominent Twitter accounts promoting content from Gazawood, an Israeli Twitter account which attempts to discredit Palestinians by claiming they are exaggerating or faking their casualties.[34]
Gaza war and genocide
Criticism of South Africa
During South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Criminal Court, Ostrovsky accused South Africa of committing blood libel and of being the "legal arm of Hamas".[14]
In an interview with Mishpacha magazine, Ostrovsky said, “Essentially, it is no more than a blood libel and act of lawfare, in which South Africa is willingly serving as pro bono counsel for the Iranian regime and Hamas”.[35]
Ostrovsky Stanislav Pavlovschi, a a Moldovan politician from the Dignity and Truth Platform, wrote a January 2024 article for The Hill that said:
In baselessly leveling the charge of genocide against Israel, all that South Africa is doing is engaging in a form of lawfare as a proxy of the Iranian regime and Hamas. Furthermore, South Africa is only diminishing real acts of genocide, such as those that occurred in the Holocaust, as well as against Armenians, Yazidis, in Rwanda, Darfur and Syria more recently.
— Arsen Ostrovsky and Stanislav Pavlovschi, Israel is not committing genocide — but Hamas is, The Hill.[36]
Gaza Strip population statistics controversy
In December 2024, Ostrovsky and IDF military officer John Spencer co-authored an opinion piece in Newsweek criticizing Amnesty International's characterization of Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide, which they described as "no less than a blood libel".[37] The article originally stated:
To demonstrate just how utterly ludicrous Amnesty's accusation of genocide is, one only needs to see that, according to the CIA World Factbook, the population in Gaza has actually increased 2 percent in the last year. This is the very opposite of seeking to destroy, in whole or in part or in any way, a group of people.[37]
In January 2025, Newsweek removed this sentence, issuing a statement that read:
This article previously stated the CIA World FactBook claims the Gaza's population increased in 2024. That statement has been removed.[37]
Separately, the Australian Associated Press FactCheck team analyzed social media claims that Gaza's population had increased by 2 percent according to the CIA World Factbook and determined them to be false, noting that the figures were based on U.S. Census Bureau projections from August 2023, before the outbreak of conflict.[38]
Writing about the Gaza genocide in 2025
In a September 2025 article he wrote for The Jerusalem Post he maintained his stance that Israel was not guilty of genocide in Gaza.[39]
Move to Australia
He lived in Israel for 13 years before moving to Australia at the end of November 2025.[40][41] He is now the head of the Sydney office of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).[4]
Wounded by ISIS-aligned Australian terrorists
During the mass shooting, at Archer Park, Bondi Beach, East Sydney, a bullet "grazed" Ostrovsky's head, he sustained only superficial injuries but allegedly lost a life-threatening a quantity of blood.[18] His injury was reported internationally, in Hebrew, English, and Russian.[42] Ostrovsky and Syrian Australian hero Ahmed al-Ahmed were the first two wounded survivors of the Bondi Beach shooting to waive their right to name suppression in the prosecution of alleged ISIS terrorist Naveed Akram.[15]
After he was grazed by a bullet in the Bondi Beach shooting, several media reports described him as having also "survived" the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel (see above).[18]
Writing and media appearances
Newspapers and magazines
Opinion articles
- Ostrovsky, Arsen (20 August 2014). "ISIS and Hamas: The Double Standard". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023.
- Ostrovsky, Arsen (10 May 2021). "Sheikh Jarrah: A legal background". JNS.org. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. (about the Sheikh Jarrah controversy)
- Ostrovsky, Arsen (4 January 2024). "Israel is not committing genocide — but Hamas is". The Hill. (about allegations of genocide in the October 7 attacks)
- Ostrovsky, Arsen (5 September 2025). "Why claims of Israeli genocide in Gaza are legally false | The Jerusalem Post". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Israel.
Television interviews
- Interview on South African TV station SABC: "SA-Israel genocide case | Israeli Lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky weighs in on the ruling". www.youtube.com/@sabcdigitalnews. South Africa: SABC. 26 January 2024.
Social media
Ostrovsky has one of the most followed Israeli Twitter accounts. In 2016, Jewish Telegraphic Agency included him on their list of the '25 most influential people' on 'Jewish Twitter', ranked 16th.[43][44] In 2025, The Jerusalem Post included him on their list of "50 Most Influential Jews", ranked 45th in a group entry of "seven pro-Israel influencers" that also included Gal Gadot (Israel actress and model), Siggy Flicker (Real Housewives of New Jersey), Hen Mazzig (social media influencer), Hillel Neuer (Executive director of UN Watch), Noa Tishby (Israeli actress and model), and Eyal Yakoby (social media strategist).[45][1]
Contributions to books
Following the 14 December 2025, Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in East Sydney, Australia, Ostrovsky's brother in law, Rabbi Menachem Creditor, published We Will Prevail: Voices, Fury and Faith After Bondi, an anthology of essays, poems and firsthand reflections brought together in the immediate wake of the antisemitic terror attack.[46] The anthology, which includes a searing foreword by Ostrovsky, as a survivor of the attack.[4]
See also
- Allegations of genocide in the October 7 attacks
- Allegations of genocide against Palestinians
- Amichai Chikli, Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism
- Civilian Information Headquarters
- Dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli discourse
- Israeli transfer of Palestinian militant bodies (2012)
- Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism
- Misinformation in the Gaza war
- Universities and antisemitism
Notes
- pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964[SP1].[24]
