A group of immigrant high school students at WIZO Nachlat Yehuda Youth Village in Rishon Lezion spent the past year learning how misinformation spreads online. This month, they put those lessons into practice by building tools intended to help others spot it.
Twelfth-grade students in the Na’ale program took part in a two-day public diplomacy hackathon at the youth village, bringing together young immigrants from countries of the former Soviet Union with Russian-language media professionals, diplomats, communications experts, and Israel advocacy figures.
The event marked the conclusion of “The Leader Within You,” a year-long initiative led by the Russian-language HASBARA Association. The program aims to give immigrant teenagers practical tools to navigate online misinformation, understand Israel’s history and current challenges, and communicate with communities abroad.
For the students, many of whom remain closely connected with friends and family in their countries of origin, the issue is not abstract.
“Since the beginning of the war, many of our students have encountered hostile conversations about Israel, including from friends and acquaintances in their countries of origin,” said Arina Aminov, the association’s volunteer CEO and Na’ale coordinator at WIZO Nachlat Yehuda.
A year of learning culminated in hackathon projects on misinformation
The students had spent the year meeting journalists, digital media professionals, and public diplomacy experts, while learning about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, antisemitism, new media, and information warfare. They also worked on fact-checking, critical thinking, and building messages for international audiences.
At the hackathon, the participants were divided into teams and asked to develop projects addressing disinformation, antisemitism, identity, and the delegitimization of Israel.
The winning project, CriticalMind, was designed as a Telegram bot that could analyze a message, image, or link and offer users an assessment of whether the material appeared verified, manipulative, or false. The concept also included identifying original sources and explaining possible techniques used to distort information.
The project reflected a challenge that has become increasingly familiar to young people online: not merely finding information, but deciding what can be trusted.
Other student projects included “Myth or Reality: Israel Edition,” an interactive game intended to challenge common claims about Israel through research and historical questions. Another team proposed a youth community club centered on Israeli culture, language, and informal weekly gatherings for immigrant teenagers.
One group developed an interactive exhibition on Israeli medical innovation aimed at medical students abroad, combining scientific information with visual storytelling about Israeli developments in health care and technology.
For participant Arseniy Kogan, 18, the hackathon was as much about confidence as it was about the final project.
“This was an excellent opportunity for me to express myself and demonstrate my abilities,” he said. “In Israel, where innovation, technology, and entrepreneurial thinking are highly valued, a project like this gives teenagers the chance to feel part of that culture, face real challenges, and develop skills that will help them in the future.”
Fellow participant Tanya Bernstein, also 18, said the program had changed how she approaches material she encounters online.
“I learned how to search for information from different sources, check facts, and work as part of a team,” she said. “After working on the project, I became much more critical of what I see online.”
The students presented their projects before a panel that included representatives from Russian-language media, public institutions, Jewish organizations, and Israeli public diplomacy. Among them were Rishon Lezion Deputy Mayor Yevgeny Brachman, KKL-JNF Eurasia CEO Yigal Yasinov, former MK Dr. Alina Bardach-Yalov, and Channel 9 website editor-in-chief Roman Yanushevsky.
Morit Drori, director of WIZO Nachlat Yehuda Youth Village, said the program’s purpose extended beyond producing polished projects.
“Our goal is not only to create a high-quality final project,” she said. “First and foremost, we want to empower the students and help them recognize their individual strengths.”