Israel operates a large propaganda machine that legitimizes the killing of thousands of civilians in Gaza, and portraying Palestinian lives as less valuable. Let's examine the details together...
Israel, which has killed more than 32,000 innocent civilians in Gaza since October 7, is conducting a massive propaganda campaign to guide the global public opinion in line with its own narratives.
In fact, Jewish agencies have been waging a significant perception and information war, especially in the United States, since the 19th century when migrations to Palestine began. They needed to come up with a compelling story to secure financial support from wealthy American Jews.
They had many myths to feed this. They succeeded, thus obtaining the great support that continues to this day.
During World War I and its aftermath, the fabricated lie of the "Jewish Homeland" was quite popular in the British House of Commons. As a result of these efforts, on November 2, 1917, the British government pledged to support the establishment of a "national homeland for the Jewish people" in Palestine with the Balfour Declaration.
The Second World War, which ravaged Europe, also presented significant opportunities for these agencies. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, from Russia to South America, from Africa to Asia, flocked to the lands of Palestine through these operations.
Established with Ben Gurion's declaration in 1948, Israel described itself as a "modern garden within the wild forest". Despite being the only nuclear power in the Middle East, it constantly portrayed itself as a society surrounded by enemies and helpless.
This perception campaign has constantly reinforced support for Israel in the United States and Europe, while also reinforcing social resistance and fear internally.
Since its establishment, Israel has been the only power in its region to expand its territories. It took land from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. However, Israel was still in danger. In the modern era, according to many authorities comparing the strengths of armies, Israel had the strongest army in its surroundings, but it still received the most support from the United States. So much so that Washington, the region's largest arms supplier, did not sell weapons to countries not approved by Tel Aviv.
On the other hand, Israel has also succeeded in "terrorizing" the defense reflexes of Palestinians who were forcibly expelled from their homes, which they have lived in for hundreds of years. Every action they take against the occupiers who seize their lands is stamped as "terrorism" in the West.
Today, Gaza, defined as the world's largest prison, has turned into a massive graveyard. More than 32,000 innocent civilians have been killed. Hospitals, schools, and aid organizations have been bombed in front of the world's eyes.
Gazans were forcibly expelled towards Egypt from the north. Hundreds of thousands of people are now trapped in a handful of land in Rafah. Moreover, they are hungry and thirsty.
Every day, news agencies report on yet another child dying from hunger and thirst. The United Nations (UN) cannot make decisions, and even if it does, they are not implemented. The case opened by South Africa is not considered binding by Israel and the United States. There are even threats of sanctions against the court.
As the United States heads for a critical election in November, Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden wants to win the support of Muslim voters. He asks Benjamin Netanyahu not to carry out an operation in Rafah, but his words are not heeded. It is time to change Washington's analyses of the population in Tel Aviv.
Since October 7th, millions of people have taken to the streets across Europe from the United States to South America and from Asia to condemn the war crimes committed by Israel. Presidents and governments have made statement after statement calling for the attacks to stop.
So, isn't this situation frightening for Tel Aviv, especially considering its constant portrayal of victimhood in the West? Even its biggest supporter, Donald Trump, said that the perception of Israel had undergone a negative change. Then why aren't the political and military elites taking note?
Wouldn't a change in this perception in the West be the last thing Israel wants? So why aren't they taking action?
Actually, they are.
As we learn from reports in the Israeli media, decision-makers in Tel Aviv are quite concerned about the changing perception of Israel around the world, and they are conducting various efforts to prevent this.
Now, let's take a closer look at Israel's deception system, which tries to legitimize everything it does, mislead the masses, and manipulate perception in its favor, even if it kills more than 32,000 innocent civilians and leaves 2 million people hungry and thirsty.
The United States hosts large and small 51 different pro-Israel lobbying organizations, expressed with organizations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has over 100,000 members.
Among them is the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), responsible for exerting pressure on the American media and controlling the editorial line when it comes to issues related to the Middle East.
CAMERA claims to be dedicated to "promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East."
Even as Israel continues its attacks on Palestinians, the dominant narrative often marketed in mainstream Western media outlets subtly advances the Israeli narrative.
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, or CAMERA, was established in 1982 in Washington by teacher and social services worker Winfred Meiselman to respond to The Washington Post's coverage of the Israel-Lebanon war, the newspaper's correspondent, and "general anti-Israel bias."
Prominent figures in Washington, including members of the House and Senate, journalists, ambassadors, Christian and Jewish clergy, joined the organization.
In 1989, CAMERA organized a major conference in Boston focusing on shaping public opinion about Middle Eastern politics and the potential harm of distorted coverage of events in the region.
Over a thousand people attended the conference, where distinguished professors from prestigious universities and prominent editors-in-chief spoke.
In 1991, Meiselman handed over the organization's leadership to Andrea Levin, the Boston office director. Under Levin's leadership, the organization's membership grew from one thousand to over twenty thousand.
Today, CAMERA's membership exceeds 60,000, and it has offices in Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Israel.
How does CAMERA limit critical discourse about Israel in the media?
CAMERA monitors everything published about Jews and Israel in Western media. It communicates with the responsible parties of these media outlets to report content it sees as professional violations and demand corrections.
The organization's website indicates that CAMERA has made significant efforts over the years to "improve" coverage of Israel and the Middle East by major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, and NPR.
The organization emphasizes that "significant successes" have been achieved through these methods and that monitoring and engagement are still needed.
CAMERA presents itself as an independent organization not affiliated with any political movement, taking no position on Israel-American relations and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The organization runs various projects, such as the Student Employment Project, in North America, Europe, Israel, Spain, South Africa, and Latin America, which encourage students to educate their peers about the "truth" through training programs.
In addition to ensuring that students track what newspapers publish about Israel and the Middle East, it also closely monitors the correct promotion of Israel at universities.
For this purpose, the organization launched the "CAMERA on Campus" project in 1990 to encourage the establishment of pro-Israel groups on campuses. It also established the CAMERA Education Institute, focusing on combating anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda at all levels of pre-university education.
Furthermore, the organization has a special section dedicated to monitoring major media outlets it sees as "problematic," such as "The Guardian," "The Independent," and the "BBC."
CAMERA's Arab Media Department collaborates with Western media organizations' Arabic departments, including BBC, AFP, CNN, among others.
The word Hasbara means "explanation" in Hebrew. It was first used in the early 20th century by Polish Zionist activist and journalist Nahum Sokolow.
One of the primary functions of modern Hasbara is to portray Israel as a "victim" and even as "oppressed."
Hasbara shares many commonalities with other modern forms of propaganda, but it is generally regarded as a detailed explanation of distortions and fabrications used to justify Israel's controversial actions and policies.
To accomplish its mission, Hasbara targets diplomats, politicians, and the public through mass media channels. It also conducts its operations through numerous institutes, government agencies, research centers, universities, NGOs, and lobbying firms.
Hasbara is versatile and well-adapted to the digital age. It encompasses a partnership between the government, which leads the implementation of a disinformation strategy, and dedicated volunteers.
In fact, Hasbara even offers scholarships to promote advocacy for Israel. Many individuals, ranging from journalists to bloggers, work to promote a positive image of Israel.
While images of innocent civilians' destruction and shattered bodies flood social media, Hasbara advocates continue their efforts to shape perceptions with fabricated stories.
They effectively respond to every criticism against Israel through established fake social media accounts and websites in various languages. Especially during the Gaza attacks, Hasbara aimed to force Western public opinion to choose between Hamas and Israel.
Western intellectuals, politicians, or citizens who sought to hold Israel accountable for the deaths of innocent children were confronted with the question, "Hamas or Israel?"
Another tool produced by Hasbara was the deception of antisemitism. Any criticism of Israeli policies, whether human rights violations or the presence of settler colonialism in Palestinian territories, was commonly associated with antisemitism as a prevalent Hasbara tactic.
In recent years, one of the strategic threats to Israel has been the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Israeli authorities attempted to demonize BDS supporters as anti-Jewish and claimed it was linked to terrorism, leading to anti-BDS laws being passed in the US.
After Israel's attacks on Gaza began, the most significant complaint among social media users was that platforms were punishing "pro-Palestinian" or "anti-Israel" expressions.
As the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza escalated, complaints on social media platforms increased. Initially, platforms that blocked the display of posts began to shut down accounts.
META, especially Facebook and Instagram, emerged as the leading platform in this regard.
Another significant social media platform, X, could not sustain its initial policy as restrictions on posts related to Palestine began following Elon Musk's visit to Israel.
Moreover, some experts claim that "Google even accepts money from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to spread propaganda, despite it being against its terms and conditions." This significantly enhances Israel's propaganda and disinformation capabilities.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the government acquired an advanced cyber system, the first of its kind globally, to counter solidarity campaigns with Palestine on the internet.
The move came after defense and intelligence units realized they were losing the battle on the internet against what Hamas referred to as a "well-equipped psychological and information warfare machine."
The system, besides its other features, can automatically generate tailored content for specific target audiences. Initially designed to address intelligence and psychological warfare needs, the system is now operated by a government department.
Israeli government sources stated that the system was prepared to combat the situation they referred to as the failure of "public diplomacy" and the confrontation with the "psychological and information warfare machine" of the resistance, citing the increasing international solidarity campaign with Palestine.
In addition to this sophisticated cyber campaign, Israel relies on its intelligence agencies and electronic committees within the Foreign Ministry to spread this deceptive campaign.
David Saranga, the head of the digital department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, admitted in an interview with the Jerusalem Post's website that their daily work aims to "reshape the international narrative" regarding the conflict.
Under Saranga's leadership, the department targets social media users with misleading propaganda in six major languages.
An Israeli official described their propaganda strategy as follows:
"I'm not trying to convince people against Israel because I won't succeed. So, we focus our efforts primarily on people who are undecided, who have no idea what's going on. We reach out to those who support Israel because we want to give them Israel's message and ask them to spread our message."
