At the WIZO Nachlat Yehuda Youth Village in Rishon Lezion, a group of immigrant high school students from the former Soviet Union has spent the past year engaging with one of the most pressing challenges of the digital age: the spread of misinformation online. Through the “The Leader Within You” initiative—a program spearheaded by the Russian-language HASBARA Association—these students have moved beyond theory, diving into the complexities of information warfare, digital ethics, and the art of public diplomacy. By the end of this year-long journey, the program’s goal was clear: to provide these young leaders with the critical thinking skills necessary to navigate a polarized media landscape while effectively representing their perspectives to the wider world.
For these students, the curriculum is far from an abstract academic exercise. Many continue to maintain deep personal ties to family and friends in their countries of origin, where the discourse regarding Israel has often turned hostile since the outbreak of war. According to Arina Aminov, the initiative’s volunteer CEO and coordinator at the youth village, students frequently find themselves on the front lines of digital arguments, needing to defend the reality of their lives in Israel against distorted narratives. By grounding the program in these real-world personal stakes, the organizers ensured the students felt personally invested in learning how to fact-check, identify media manipulation, and engage in constructive dialogue across international borders.
The culmination of this year-long effort was a two-day public diplomacy hackathon that brought together the students, seasoned journalists, communications professionals, and diplomats. This high-energy environment forced the students to think like innovators. Divided into teams, they were challenged to build tangible solutions to combat the spread of disinformation and the rise of antisemitism. The projects they produced were not only creative but surprisingly sophisticated, reflecting a keen awareness of how technology can be used both to distort the truth and to facilitate the spread of verified, transparent information.
The standout winner of the hackathon was “CriticalMind,” an ingenious Telegram bot designed to help users instantly assess the credibility of digital content. The tool evaluates links, images, and text to determine if they are verified or manipulative, while also tracing the information back to its original source. This project clearly struck a chord with the judges, as it addresses a fundamental anxiety of the modern internet user: the difficulty of discerning what is true in a flood of content. Other teams were equally inventive, presenting projects ranging from an interactive history game meant to debunk common myths about Israel to a digital exhibition focused on showcasing the country’s high-tech medical breakthroughs to students overseas.
Beyond the technical skills acquired, the participants emphasized the profound impact the experience had on their self-confidence and their connection to their new home. Eighteen-year-old Arseniy Kogan summarized it well, noting that in a country that prides itself on entrepreneurship and technological drive, the ability to build a project from the ground up allowed him to feel like a true contributor to Israeli society. His teammate, Tanya Bernstein, added that the program fundamentally changed her habits; she is now a much more proactive and skeptical consumer of information, having learned the vital importance of vetting sources before hitting “share.”
Ultimately, the administration at WIZO Nachlat Yehuda views the success of this program through the lens of empowerment. Director Morit Drori stressed that while the projects were impressive, the true objective was to help these young immigrants recognize their individual strengths and find their voices as advocates. By providing them with the expertise to navigate the digital world responsibly, the program has equipped them not just with tools for a hackathon, but with a foundational sense of agency that will serve them long after they graduate. These students have proven that being an informed, critical, and ethical communicator is one of the most powerful contributions one can make in today’s global landscape.