Many articles have appeared on various platforms, asking if Israel can win the narrative war. At present, though, there’s a particular problem. Israel’s public diplomacy has been lacking a leader for over a year.
No new head of the National Public Diplomacy Directorate has been appointed since Moshe Aviv resigned a year ago. It should be obvious to the powers that be that someone who is directing hasbara should be sitting in on high-level meetings
In addition, the team is understaffed. The responsibilities for the overall effort are broken up and, worse, are under the administrative supervision of several different entities. Given the ongoing campaign against Iran, coordinated, targeted, and sleek, surely we can do better.
Israel’s hasbara efforts are not at present under-funded. Neither do they lack pizzazz, if required. As the the main body engaged in hasbara, the Foreign Ministry’s current budget for it is a reported to be over half a billion shekels (approximately $135 million). There are concerns that the budget is not being adequately spent and, in fact, too much money remains unassigned.
There is, too, the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry. Minister Amichai Chikli is working hard on hasbara efforts as antisemitism now plays a major role in the attempt to deny Israel its voice. Unfortunately, his ministry has not benefited administratively from the former Information Ministry in October 2023 except, perhaps, to learn from its minister’s experience.
Pushes for a better Israeli public diplomacy strategy
Back in December of last year, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar convened a day’s get-together of various hasbara people and groups. It was a preparation for a new public diplomacy strategy for Israel. He had previously declared he was interested in media campaigns abroad, both in the established press and on social media platforms. He wanted “concentrated activity on US campuses to change their attitude towards Israel and its policies.”
The conclave centered on what is today’s contemporary fashion: influencers and public opinion leaders. Those on Instagram and YouTube, those with podcasts, and those who are civil society activists. Some represented specialized interests, with gender-oriented issues, or those who employ humor, as well as women of great beauty and allure and men with charm.
AS WE know, however, Israel and Zionism are not detergents, snacks, or cosmetics. The methods employed in commercial marketing can be similar and even effective but the complexities of the history, the extreme need for knowing details and facing the fabrications and lying pro-Israel spokespeople confront, as well as presenting all that with confidence, aplomb, and a convincing manner, are a challenge. They can make a point but hasbara is a multi-level operation.
One thing that interferes is the unwillingness or inability and, at times, downright refusal, of officials to work with independent groups or individuals. Bureaucracy cannot tolerate a form of guerrilla-style or outside-the-circle operation. It must exert control. There needs to be a change in this attitude.
Information, unless top-secret, must be shared. For sure, it should not be withheld if some official thinks it will help a political viewpoint with which he disagrees. Regavim, for example, recently produced a long page report on the issue of “settler violence”. It was held up for several years, mainly because, to my understanding, data on Arab violence in Judea and Samaria from the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Security Agency and the Israel Police was not forthcoming. There was little cooperation.
Another example that was published in the press was Palestinian Media Watch not being updated regularly concerning how much money a country donates to the Palestinian Authority. Since huge sums of those funds find their way to supporting terrorists and their families (the “pay-for-slay’ program”) and even terror incitement via school or media programs, the ability to confront visiting representatives of those countries, or pro-Israel groups in those countries is stymied.
Sa’ar was quoted as terming hasbara a “consciousness warfare.” It could be that it is more. I would say it is cognitive warfare. And in war, much should be considered “fair.”
Too often hasbara, being a responsive effort, can be seen to be defending or explaining away a claim. Much of hasbara needs to do that, for sure. Moreover, going on the attack mode can attract content, tone, and words that do more damage than ignorance or a fumbled response. Yet, a very good defense is a better offense.
Zionism was not a colonialist movement. It is not an intrinsically occupational force. What was, however, was the invasion of Arab Muslim armies throughout the Middle East from the Saudi Peninsula. Israel does not illegally occupy Judea and Samaria. Jordan, however, between 1948 and 1967, was very much was such an illegal occupier but no one complained. Not even the so-called “Palestinians.”
Major players in African slavery were Arabs.
Then there are topics that are ignored. Jews constantly and consistently resided in the Land of Israel during the 18 centuries of foreign rule.
Arab anti-Jewish violence was their go-to response since 1920 and even previously.
Hasbara should not only be an instrument to massage people’s hurt feelings regarding the calumnies they hear about Israel and even believe.
It should actively undermine and disprove, forcefully, the untruths spread by Israel’s opponents, whether non-Jews or Jews, whether liberals or progressives, whether Christians or Muslims. It must be guided by a purpose that is to assure Jewish survival.
If today our fellow Jews do not know their own history, our culture, and customs and our national language, hasbara efforts will end up being too shallow. The massage may feel good, but the message might be inadequate.
In 1903, Ze’ev Jabotinsky addressed a group of teachers and educators in Odessa. His topic was Zionist national education. He said, “We must first of all give [the Jew] the chronicle of our nation, so that he may thoroughly understand how it lived from the first days of its journey.”
That needs be the spirit of hasbara now; Zionist hasbara, that is.
The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.