Hasbara, Israel’s Propaganda and What it Means for Indonesia

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“There are many groups that try to delegitimize Israel online, and now you will have the tools to counter their efforts at the palm of your hand. We will show you how, by using the Act.IL app. Anyone can become an activist for Israel, anywhere, at any time. Welcome to the Act.IL App!”

— Activism for Israel (Act.IL) Introduction Video (2019)

Amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestinian war, IDF aren’t the only soldiers with their guns and rockets, but also the people sitting behind the screen relentlessly tapping away at their keyboards, crafting the words that materialize on the screen in front of them.

Their mission? Fighting against “the delegitimization of Israel” on social media. For Israel, the war happens also on the online battlefield, in various internet platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as they need to frame their land and army as “good” and “moral” amidst the news that state otherwise. 

Hasbara, Israel’s Name for Propaganda

In war, propaganda exists as an instrument to persuade neutral parties over to one side of another and influence them to defend one party’s cause. The propaganda used by Israel to cover up their war crimes, demonize Hamas, and bring more people over to their side in the name of “fighting antisemitism”. Hasbara, in Hebrew, is referred to as a definition for “explanation”, “information”, or another form of euphemism for propaganda (Nugraha, 2024). The name Hasbara was first coined in the 1930s when Gideon Kouts, author of the Revue Européenne des Études Hébraïques (REEH), introduced it in the Zionist vocabulary by the President of the World Zionist Organization from 1931-1935, Nahum Solokow (Kouts, 2016). A press release from the Israel Citizens Information Council (ICIC) in 2007 details the activities of Hasbara such as training and organizing foreign media, hosting visits from foreign countries, giving aid to individuals that are involved in Hasbara, and supporting student groups that are pro-democracy, pro-human rights, and anti-terrorism (ICIC, 2007). 

With the growing number of people and governments pledging their solidarity for Palestine, the Israeli government thus uses the term “Hasbara” as a strategy to curate their persona in the global circuit. The government realizes how crucial it is for them to sculpt their image so they’d be more acceptable to the public eye. Therefore, Hasbara targets those who sympathize with Israel and prompts them to counter information against Israel’s cause and spread them on social media. In today’s era, Hasbara spreads throughout social media in the form of posts, comments, and narrations made from pro-Israeli accounts. Hasbara targets everyone from civil societies, government bodies, research centers, NGOs, and even high-level lobby firms (Diwakar, 2021).

ACT.IL and HasbaraApp, Where You Can Become an Online Activist for Israel

Israel needs “an army” to help counter the narrations made by pro-Palestinian media that showcases Israel’s atrocities, such as the bombardment of safe zones, destruction of homes and schools, and the murder of thousands of civilians. In 2017, an investigative report from The Intercept revealed that millions of dollars were cashed out by the Israeli government for propaganda purposes— including those through mobile apps. Two mobile apps that are used as a propaganda field are Act.IL and HasbaraApp, whose purposes are to frame Israel as a democratic, peace loving country and counter narrations made by the BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanction for Israel) movement (Schwartz, 2017). 

The mechanics of Act.IL acts like a game, in which users are directed to complete “missions” which consist of liking, commenting, and sharing pro-Israeli content on social media. In contrast, users should flag, report, and respond to critics who are “delegitimizing” Israel. The more they engage in these missions, the more points these users obtain, which allows them to score higher on the app’s leaderboard. HasbaraApp, on the other hand, aims to portray Israel as a peace-loving country mistreated by anti-semitic individuals and states. HasbaraApp provides the users two types of information, (1) History of Israel/Palestine; and (2) Imperialism and Material Resources which are all written from a pro-Israeli perspective, which then frames Israel as a party wrongly accused for every crime that they’ve committed. 

Though the Act.IL application was closed in 2022 due to low engagement numbers and the HasbaraApp is no longer displayed on the App Store, the website for Act.IL and HasbaraApp is alive and well, regularly providing pro-Israeli content and links to join pro-Israeli groups on Telegram and WhatsApp. 

Indonesia’s Not Free From Hasbara: The Way Forward

Though Indonesia has always been in the frontlines in defending the liberation of Palestine, Indonesia’s social media circuit isn’t free from pro-Israeli content. Content creators such as Monique Rijkers, and Elisheva Dina Stross are spreading misinformation regarding Israel-Palestine. Being the actors who are constantly creating narrations that demonize Hamas on social media, Monique and Elisheva are responsible for creating pro-Israeli organizations such as Hadassah Indonesia, Fakta Israel, and Yayasan Eits Chaim Indonesia whose goal is to frame Israel in a good light (Nugraha, 2024).

In light of the recent election results, and the questionable stance of the newly elected president’s towards Israel, it could be possible that the issue of Israel-Palestine could be misconstrued in the media. Therefore, it’s crucial for the public to control the media’s narrative towards the reportages surrounding Israel and Palestine as well as counteract the hoaxes in the media surrounding the topic. Indonesian netizens should be aware of how news pieces frame Israel and Palestine and continuously support and amplify the effort to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel for the liberation of Palestine. 

WC: 919 words

References

Abba Eban. (n.d.). Act-il initiative. Abba Eban Institute. https://www.abbaeban.runi.ac.il/act-il

Diwakar, A. (2021, May 17). The art of deception: How israel uses “Hasbara” to whitewash its crimes. TRT World – Breaking News, Live Coverage, Opinions and Videos. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/the-art-of-deception-how-israel-uses-hasbara-to-whitewash-its-crimes-12766404

ICIC. (2007). ICIC Hasbara . Hasbara. https://web.archive.org/web/20070829141354/http://www.hasbara.com/

Kouts, G. (2016). From Sokolow to “Explaining Israel”: The Zionist “Hasbara” First “Campaign Strategy Paper” and Its Applications. Revue Européenne Des Études Hébraïques. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26624281

Nugraha, F. (2024, April 4). Melacak Operasi Hasbara di Indonesia, Strategi Propaganda israel di Indonesia. , Strategi Propaganda Israel di Indonesia – Deduktif.id. https://deduktif.id/melacak-operasi-hasbara-di-indonesiaSchwartz, M. (2017, June 30). Security flaw in Israeli propaganda app exposed user emails. The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2017/06/30/israel-propaganda-hasbara-app-security-flaw-rallyware-maccabee/

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