Hasbara - The Zionist War on Truth

Hasbara - The Zionist War on Truth

July 24, 2006

From the article "Israel calls up media 'reserves'" by Gil Hoffman in the July 17, 2006, issue of The Jerusalem Post:

But [Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's media adviser Assaf] Shariv and [Israeli Foreign Ministry's deputy-director general for media and public affairs Gideon] Meir said that Israel was winning the international battle for public opinion.

"We take the job of explaining our position to the world very seriously and we are doing exactly what we need to do," Shariv said. "The foreign press can't complain that they don't have anyone to speak to."

Shariv said that Israelis have been interviewed by the foreign press four times as much as spokespeople for the Palestinians and Lebanese. As proof of Israel's success, he also cited a poll of Sky News viewers that found that 80 percent believe that Israel's attacks on Lebanon were justified.

"We have never had it so good," Meir said. "The hasbara effort is a well-oiled machine."

The images and text below are from a Hasbara newsletter dated May 2007.

Jewish students, paid by Hasbara fellowships from the Israeli government, are mobilized to edit Wikipedia in a pro-Israel manner.

Hasbara is the Hebrew name for pro-Israel propaganda. To learn more about hasbara go to:

Jewish sites:

Hasbara - Your Resources to the Middle East conflict (Jewish Agency for Israel: Department for Jewish-Zionist Education)

How to orgainize a campaign

IsraelActivism.com - the official website of Hasbara Fellowships

Hasbara Fellowships is Active on These Campuses

Israel Hasbara Committee

Hasbara Handbook: Promoting Israel on Campus

Anti-Zionist sources

On Jewish Students Hasbara Handbook

Hasbara spam alert

Jonathan Cook has a good article on the Israeli media war, in general, and the JPost article cited above, in particular, entitled "The Human Shields of Nazareth" at antiwar.com.
See also: "Initiative: Talkback offensive in support of Israel" by Moran Zelikovich in the Israeli Ynetnews.com, 07.20.2006. Here's the lead paragraph:

In light of anti-Israel demonstrations worldwide, pro-Israeli organization launches international campaign titled "Take three minutes." Students, activists abroad who speak foreign languages to be called to join 'talkback war' on global websites, aimed at swaying public opinion, fighting de-legitimization of Israel's operation in Lebanon

The article tells:

The students are set to log onto different websites considered hostile to Israel, with the goal of visiting few sites every day and flooding the different polls on the legitimacy of Israel's operation with pro-Israel answers and points of views.
Each student sends the poll to his/her email list with a request to take three minutes and send the link to that poll to each person's own email list, thereby hopefully creating a positive public opinion regarding Israel in the world.
[...]
The National Union of Israeli Students was also recruited to the cause and sent a letter to the International Students Forum, calling to support Israel.

On Jewish Students Hasbara Handbook
Includes revealing excerpts from this Jewish propaganda handbook - a must read!

Hasbara spam alert - The hasbara brigade strikes again!
Article from The Guardian on Israel's Foreign Ministry organizing Jewish volunteers to flood news websites with pro-Israeli comments - the world of Propaganda 2.0.

Online battle for Israel’s hasbara
By Eyal Lehmann, Israeli news site YNetNews, September 19, 2013

More on the Internet and Jewish influence, Israeli interference