Israel as a spurned Facebook friend: the worst propaganda video ever?

A new Israel propaganda video uses a Facebook motif to present Israel as the eternal victim of unremitting violence and enmity while skipping over Israel’s record of ethnic cleansing, occupation, colonization, violence and official hatred against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.

The propaganda video released on YouTube depicts Israel sending Facebook “friend requests” and “gifts” of “milk and honey” to Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians and getting nothing but bombs in return.

After all Israel’s “friend” requests are rejected, the video says “Let’s Talk” – echoing the official propaganda line that Israel is yearning for peace negotiations.

The video was released by the Hasbara Fellowships, a program of Aish HaTorah International, an extremist Zionist group that works to colonize eastern occupied Jerusalem and likens Jews to an “endangered species” of animal.

It’s difficult to tell who the video is aimed at. It may be applauded by those who already buy this shop-worn narrative of Israeli victimhood, but presenting Israel, a brutal apartheid settler-colony, as an earnest Facebook friend among a sea of aggresive Arabs won’t convince too many others.

The Hasbara Fellowships, according to the Aish HaTorah website, is a propaganda program developed at the behest of the Israeli foreign ministry.

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'Gifts of milk and honey to Palestinians'? Are you kidding me? Is anyone else as appalled as I to see the Israeli Foreign Ministry use a tactic perfected by the Nazis: tell a big enough lie often enough and people will believe it???? I am convinced the atrocities committed by the pro-Zionist factions in Israel are an unconconscious attempt to retaliate for the wrongs committed against the Jewish people. There are so many similarities between the treatment of their Arab neighbors and the ways the Jews have been oppressed historically. It's time for the Israeli people to forgive and transcend. They are an extraordinary tribe of humanity; we should expect nothing less of them.

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“ The blockade that brought about the flotilla is dehumanizing, barely justified on security grounds.[…]How long can our modern day Sparta live by it’s sword?”
Ehud Eiran, Major in the Israeli Defence Forces.

http://a-alyblog.blogspot.com/...
Need I say more?

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no question this is a "new low" in the business of canned lies....they've gotten 60 + yrs down to an "under 3 minute" ...woe is me, we just wanna be friends to appeal no doubt to the under 30 demographic.. forget the pre-emptive bombings, and invasions and land theft...forget the decades of threats, ethnic cleansings -- just as you'd trust "Crazy Eddie" with the lousy used cars..just keep repeatin' this crap ad nauseum.. Pffffft.

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That clip would be a joke, if it wasn't sick in a disgusting, despicable, perverted way. Zionazi Israel might be interested in "friends", but no one today can honestly say that Israel is interested in peace. Nothing Zionazi Israel has ever offered (or will ever offer) anyone has been intended to benefit anyone but Israel. You know Zionazi Israel is desperate when it must promote so many propaganda initiatives ... "Megaphone" (http://bit.ly/9WhC), "Talkbackers" (http://bit.ly/4lzne), "Hasbara Handbook" (http://bit.ly/mUGT3), etc .. and this kind of crap from "Hasbara Fellowships". Zionazi Israel should abandon the word "hasbara", as it's now known, worldwide, to mean "BS". And just as all the BS that Zionazi Israel has been throwing on the wall for so many years ain't sticking anymore, the BS that Zionazi Israels posts on Facebook "Walls" won't stick, either. It's over for Zionazi PR. See: "Internet Killed Israeli PR" (http://bit.ly/aR5YCi). The world is tired of being trolled and rickrolled. I share the hopes that it will soon be over for Zionazi Israel. Speak truth to power!! No justice - No peace!! Place your humanity above your religion, politics and nationalism!! We are the media!!!

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it's time all the coutntries in the middel east became more peaceful and friendly ....stop all the killing and fighting for the sake fo the children

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When you sell a shampoo, you don't say in the end of the commercial: "but there are problems with this shampoo. It's been tested on animals, it's manufactured in Turkey in a factory with no ability for workers to be in a union and strike, and other shampoos are maybe even cheaper and better".

Same about this facebook PR thing. It's sweet. It's one sided. And it's how a lot of Israelis see reality. We might be brainwashed. But this is more or less how most of us really see our existance in the Middle East.

When you make pro-Palestinian PR on Electronic Intifada, nobody blames you for not showing the Israeli side, the Jewish problem in Europe, the fact that Israel accepted the partition plan, the wars initiated by the Arab armies, etc.. It's obvious you won't. That's what PR is about. Israel is just fighting the PR damage you're trying to make. It's a battle of opinions, and we want to win. Is that so strange?

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Uri: what you say may largely be correct but PR can be converted from public relations into poor relations, which is what is happening to the name and reputation of Israel. In reality, Israel needs to adopt a new and fresh approach towards learning to live at least in a spirit of toleration with its neighbors. The first thing it needs is to come to terms with its Palestinian neighbors; to sign agreements with them which secure its and their borders. Israel will have to accept that the "settlers" will have to leave Palestinian West Bank territory, just as they left Palestinian Gaza territory. The US and EU should be able to find money to compensate the "settlers" with enough cash to ensure they leave their properties behind for the Palestinians to live in and so that they will have sufficient funds to acquire properties in Israel, if that is what they want. At the end of the day, you can wield all the persuasive gifts available but it is much better to have a peace based upon clear-eyed understanding by all parties involved, rather than try to hoodwink people, who will eventually realise what has transpired later on, which can set the scene for further recriminations and accusations.

Ali Abunimah

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, now out from Haymarket Books.

Also wrote One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Opinions are mine alone.