Posts tagged ‘hasbara’

Apr 26

Christians of the Holy Land

Despite claims by Israeli government officials, Christian Palestinians regularly face discrimination.

A recent report by CBS show 60 Minutes on “Christians of the Holy Land” has received a lot of attention, not least for the embarrassing contribution by Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren.

It is interesting that Israel (and its advocates) have been so concerned about the impact of a short segment regarding the challenges faced by Christian Palestinians under Israeli military occupation. In fact, Ambassador Oren himself only recently tried to exploit Christians for propaganda purposes – only to find that they objected to his cynicism. Read more

Dec 17

The Economic Whitewashing of Political Discrimination against Arabs in Israel

In the last couple of years, there has been a concerted effort by both the Israeli government and private sector to talk up the economic potential of Palestinian citizens. The overriding reason why the ‘Israeli Arab sector’ has become an issue of concern is a realization that, in the words of the director of the Economic Development Authority in the Minority Sector, “if Israel wants to attain economic growth of 6 to 7 percent, it must allocate budgets to close the economic disparities.” Read more

Nov 27

Israeli bulldozers demolish a hotel in East Jerusalem in January Source: Getty Images

Defending the indefensible

Away from the comatose ‘peace process’ and focus on Iran, a wave of anti-democratic and nationalistic legislation in Israel’s Knesset shows no sign of slowing down.

For Israel’s liberals, these are worrying times. The publisher and owner of Ha’aretz newspaper this week issued a warning about apartheid and democracy, while his colleagues have launched a special project on Israel’s “eroding freedoms” called “Black Flag Over Israel’s Democracy”.

The rhetoric of anger and fear about these “threats to democracy” reflects a definite shift in Israel. It is crucial to note that Israel has never been ‘democratic’ for Palestinians, who are excluded from their homeland entirely, live under military rule in the West Bank and Gaza or are second-class citizens in the pre-1967 borders. Read more

Nov 2

Goldstone’s ‘apartheid’ denial sparks strife

After his famous article earlier this year on Gaza, Judge Richard Goldstone has written a new op-ed, this time seeking to defend Israel against charges of apartheid.

There are numerous problems with Goldstone’s piece, but I want to highlight two important errors. First, Goldstone – like others who attack the applicability of the term “apartheid” – wants to focus on differences between the old regime in South Africa and what is happening in Israel/Palestine. Note that he does this even while observing that apartheid “can have broader meaning”, and acknowledging its inclusion in the 1998 Rome Statute. Read more

Feb 23

Behind Brand Israel: Israel’s recent propaganda efforts

“The Delegitimization Challenge” report from the influential Israeli think tank the Reut Institute has put the spotlight on efforts by Israel and the Zionist lobby to counter the growing movement for justice in Palestine, and specifically, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. The work done by Reut has rightly attracted attention, but it is only one (particularly prominent) example of a wider trend, as the Israeli government and global Zionist groups mobilize to fight the threat to the apartheid system.

It was an issue discussed when Israeli policymakers convened for the recent Herzilya Conference where there was a session called “Winning the Battle of the Narrative: Strategic Communication for Israel.” There was also an associated working paper, prepared by a team that included Ido Aharoni from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), along with senior officials from the prime minister’s office, public relations firms and two key lobby groups — The Israel Project in the US, and Bicom from the UK (”Winning the Battle of the Narrative” (PDF)). Read more