Dear influencers, the Christian thing to do is visit Gaza, not Israel

Displaced Palestinians walk past destroyed buildings in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, in the southern part of Gaza City, on November 29, 2025. [AFP]

What does it mean for a country at war to go out of its way to invite influencers to sanitise its image? And what, in this scenario, does it mean for the influencers to say yes to this sanitization project? These questions were at the forefront of many minds over the past week, when a number of Kenyan influencers took a trip to Israel, ostensibly to promote it. Among the group were notable faces in the gospel music industry, and other creators who have professed their Christian faith loudly online. The timing could not have been worse, coming at a moment when a ceasefire has been declared over the bombing of Palestine, and yet Palestinians have not known a single day of peace since. Worsening the optics was the fact that, whilst American influencers on similar recent trips were paid in the thousands of dollars, Kenyans were paid absolutely nothing.