Internet users paid to spread Israeli propaganda

[faceless]

Internet users paid to spread Israeli propaganda
Jonathan Cook,
The Electronic Intifada,
22 July 2009

The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback and comment sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitter and Facebook may not be all that it seems. Israel's foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel.

Internet-savvy Israeli youngsters, mainly recent graduates and demobilized soldiers with language skills, are being recruited to pose as ordinary surfers while they provide the government's line on the Middle East conflict. "To all intents and purposes the internet is a theater in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose," said Ilan Shturman, who is responsible for the project.

The existence of an "internet warfare team" came to light when it was included in this year's foreign ministry budget. About $150,000 has been set aside for the first stage of development, with increased funding expected next year. The team will fall under the authority of a large department already dealing with what Israelis term "hasbara," officially translated as "public explanation" but more usually meaning propaganda. That includes not only government public relations work but more secretive dealings the ministry has with a battery of private organizations and initiatives that promote Israel's image in print, on TV and online.

In an interview this month with the Calcalist, an Israeli business newspaper, Shturman, the deputy director of the ministry's hasbara department, admitted his team would be working undercover. "Our people will not say: 'Hello, I am from the hasbara department of the Israeli foreign ministry and I want to tell you the following.' Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis," he said. "They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the foreign ministry developed."

Rona Kuperboim, a columnist for Ynet, Israel's most popular news website, denounced the initiative, saying it indicated that Israel had become a "thought-police state." She added that "good PR cannot make the reality in the occupied territories prettier. Children are being killed, homes are being bombed, and families are starved." Her column was greeted by several talkbackers asking how they could apply for a job with the foreign ministry's team.

The project is a formalization of public relations practices the ministry developed specifically for Israel's assault on Gaza in December and January. "During Operation Cast Lead we appealed to Jewish communities abroad and with their help we recruited a few thousand volunteers, who were joined by Israeli volunteers," Shturman said. "We gave them background material and hasbara material, and we sent them to represent the Israeli point of view on news websites and in polls on the internet."

The Israeli army also had one of the most popular sites on the video-sharing site YouTube and regularly uploaded clips, although it was criticized by human rights groups for misleading viewers about what was shown in its footage. Shturman said that during the war the ministry had concentrated its activities on European websites where audiences were more hostile to Israeli policy. High on its list of target sites for the new project would be BBC Online and Arabic websites, he added.

Elon Gilad, who heads the internet team, told Calcalist that many people had contacted the ministry offering their services during the Gaza attack. "People just asked for information, and afterwards we saw that the information was distributed all over the internet." He suggested that there had been widespread government cooperation, with the ministry of absorption handing over contact details for hundreds of recent immigrants to Israel, who wrote pro-Israel material for websites in their native languages.

The new team is expected to increase the ministry's close coordination with a private advocacy group, giyus.org (Give Israel Your United Support). About 50,000 activists are reported to have downloaded a program called Megaphone that sends an alert to their computers when an article critical of Israel is published. They are then supposed to bombard the site with comments supporting Israel.

Nasser Rego of Ilam, a group based in Nazareth that monitors the Israeli media, said Arab organizations in Israel were among those regularly targeted by hasbara groups for "character assassination." He was concerned the new team would try to make such work appear more professional and convincing. "If these people are misrepresenting who they are, we can guess they won't worry too much about misrepresenting the groups and individuals they write about. Their aim, it's clear, will be to discredit those who stand for human rights and justice for the Palestinians."

When this reporter called the foreign ministry, Yigal Palmor, a spokesman, denied the existence of the internet team, though he admitted officials were stepping up exploitation of new media. He declined to say which comments by Shturman or Gilad had been misrepresented by the Hebrew-language media, and said the ministry would not be taking any action over the reports.

Israel has developed an increasingly sophisticated approach to new media since it launched a "Brand Israel" campaign in 2005. Market research persuaded officials that Israel should play up good news about business success, and scientific and medical breakthroughs involving Israelis. Shturman said his staff would seek to use websites to improve "Israel's image as a developed state that contributes to the quality of the environment and to humanity."

David Saranga, head of public relations at Israel's consulate-general in New York, which has been leading the push for more upbeat messages about Israel, argued last week that Israel was at a disadvantage against pro-Palestinian advocacy. "Unlike the Muslim world, which has hundreds of millions of supporters who have adopted the Palestinian narrative in order to slam Israel, the Jewish world numbers only 13 million," he wrote in Ynet.

Israel has become particularly concerned that support is ebbing among the younger generations in Europe and the United States. In 2007 it emerged that the foreign ministry was behind a photo-shoot published in Maxim, a popular US men's magazine, in which female Israeli soldiers posed in swimsuits.

Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net.

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There's not really many hard facts in this story, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was entirely true. Answering points from a preset list just shows how brainwashed these people are though - can't they think for themselves?

Ironically enough, this method is also employed by the BNP in Britain.

[luke]

this had been going on for some time, i downloaded what they call the 'hasbara' manual quite some months ago ( basically ways of dealing with debate, being friendly and getting other people onside, trying to emphasis commonality etc), the israeli government and media were quite open about it at the time, i remember i read quite a few articles on it

[luke]

not about isarel, but the use of the internet to spread propaganda

US Spec Ops operates psywar websites targeted at UK
As far as we can tell we aren't one of them

The secretive US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has awarded arms globocorp General Dynamics a $10m contract to set up a network of psychological-warfare "influence websites" supporting the Global War On Terror. France and Britain are specifically included as "targeted regions".

SOCOM is principally famous for its large contingents of elite, secret operatives from all four US armed services (Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Delta Force, Team-6/DevGru, "the Activity" etc etc). What's less well-known about the organisation is that it also includes the US forces' active psychological-warfare apparatus. According (pdf) to the 4th Airborne Psychological Operations Group - the only full-time psywar unit in the US Army, and part of SOCOM:

PSYOP is the dissemination of truthful information to foreign audiences in support of US policy... these activities are not forms of force, but are force multipliers that use nonviolent means in often violent environments... they rely on logic, fear, desire or other mental factors... The ultimate objective of US military psychological operations is to convince enemy, neutral, and friendly nations and forces to take action favorable to the United States...

Their purpose can range from gaining support for US operations to preparing the battlefield for combat.

Now SOCOM's Joint Military Information Support Command, which "orchestrates a 24/7 multi-media campaign formatted to the cultures and languages of relevant audiences" in "what has become a tough, entrenched war of ideas" has deployed what it calls the Trans-Regional Web Initiative (TRWI). Specs on the programme were issued last year (pdf) and earlier this month General Dynamics was awarded $10,116,177 to run the Initiative for the first year.

The Initiative contract goes into detail:

Special Operations Command requires the capability to posture for rapid, on-order global dissemination of web-based influence products and tools in support of strategic and long-term U.S. Government goals...

[Contractors will] develop, design, construct, operate, and maintain a series of synchronized influence websites supporting [Global War On Terror] requirements ... Government estimates a minimum of two and no more than twelve websites.

The SOCOM psywar sites will be run much in the same fashion as any normal web-media portal. There will be "indigenous content stringers and editors" within "targeted regions" providing 24-hour "original features, news, sports, entertainment, economics, politics, cultural reports, business, and similar items of interest to targeted readers".

Looking for operatives fluent in "English (British dialect)"

All the standard bread-and-butter methods will be employed:

Government will require the use of XHTML, PHP, Java scripting, and flash development... Free email service for users of TRWI websites, as determined feasible by SOCOM, in order to integrate them as active participants of the site... Contractor is required to incorporate into TRWI websites the use of web logs (blogs), streaming Video/Audio, moderated chat rooms, downloads of wall papers (inclusive of calendars) when directed by SOCOM... contractor will, at a minimum, develop Internet-based marketing procedures such as use of Google AdWords and Search Engine Optimization to prioritize search result listing of the applicable websites.

The difference will be that rather than a normal media boss, the Initiative websites will be controlled by managers reporting to SOCOM based in US regional command HQs around the world - managers holding US Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information clearances, with "extensive public diplomacy, journalism, and mediarelations skills". Rather than ads or venture capital, the cash will come from SOCOM's psyops war chest.

Then there are hints of unconventional web tactics, different from your normal media:

The Government will require the contractor to provide “ghosted” websites that are protected by username and password and ready to go active upon approval by SOCOM.

So who are the "targeted readers" who are to be steered into supporting US policy, in particular the War On Terror?

A hint is given by the list of required foreign target languages, which includes obvious ones like Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Russian, Malay etc - but also French, and "English (British dialect and spelling)".

There's also a suggestion that operations similar to the Initiative may already be running, supporting the "24/7 multi-media campaign" spoken of last year (pdf) by SOCOM's commander.

The Government will provide the contractor with Government Furnished Information (GFI) from any existing, USSOCOM-operated influence website strategies.

It would appear that any UK media site or channel which appears to be functioning without any visible means of support appropriate to its expenses may in fact be a tentacle of US Special Ops psywar command.

We've obviously checked with our upper management regarding the identity of our backers, but it seems we don't have any need to know who they are.

from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/16/socom_psyops_against_uk/page2.html

[luke]

there was a call to galloways show over the weekend about david miliband, the bbc and hasbara



if this site is legit it would appear the caller was correct

[luke]

Israel investing $1.6 million in "new media warriors"

The Israeli military establishment is once again on the offensive, but instead of high-tech weaponry and missiles, it is using computer screens, keyboards and rapid wireless connections to fight what Israeli military representatives are dubbing a "new media war."

In early February, military spokesperson Avi Benayahu announced that approximately $1.6 million would be invested to train more than a hundred Israeli "media warriors," who would use social media tools to disseminate Israeli propaganda to audiences around the world.

"We need to ensure the confidence of the public, and assist the minister of foreign affairs to obtain that legitimization which is required for an army like ours to effect a military operation, whether it's in the north or the south," said Benayahu of this new media campaign during the 11th annual Herzliya security conference in early February.

Held at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya near Tel Aviv, the Herzliya Conference is a largely right-wing, neo-conservative gathering that brings together mainly Israeli and American government, business and academic figures to discuss Israeli policy and regional and global issues. This year's conference, which was covered by this reporter, was held under the theme "The Balance of Israel's National Strength and Security."

Speaking on a panel called "New Media as a Strategic Weapon," Benayahu told the audience in Herzliya that Israeli soldiers are now forced to be more aware of the fact that new media users can be documenting their actions at all times.

"[There is] an unprecedented responsibility to the commanders," he said. "They have to think if the civilian across from them or the child on the second floor above them is a combatant or a new generation media person."

According to Benayahu, the Israeli military has prioritized the field of new media in order to combat "pro-Iranian factors" which use the Internet to "delegitimize Israel."

"It is orchestrated and timed and financed by all the pro-Iranian factors," he stated. "They know how to flood us with media and information. They are also nurturing all these pro-radical organizations. The Palestinian Diaspora [is] conducting this [work] in universities, in the [United Nations] institutions, in the human rights institutions, and in the new media," he added.

Strategy perfected during attack on Gaza

It was during the outbreak of Israel's attacks on Gaza in the winter of 2008-09 -- during which more than 1,400 Palestinians, including 300 children, were killed -- that the Israeli hasbara campaign concentrated its focus on new media sources.

"Hasbara," the Hebrew word for "explanation," is used to describe official Israeli efforts to release information, spin and propaganda on behalf of the state and its governmental, communication and informational branches.

Key messages during the three weeks of attacks, dubbed Operation Cast Lead by Israel, included the claims that Hamas broke the ceasefire agreement with Israel, that Israel's aim was to defend its citizens and that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Israel's assault on Gaza has been condemned by numerous international human rights organizations. Israeli officials responsible for the attacks are suspected of war crimes according to the UN-commissioned fact-finding mission led by international jurist Richard Goldstone.

"Israel knew of the violent extent of its planned war on Gaza well before it took place," Ramzy Baroud, a Palestinian-American political analyst, journalist and author, told The Electronic Intifada.

"The political rationale for that was Hamas needed to be taught a lesson, hoping for two possible outcomes: that either Hamas will simply disintegrate under the weight of Israeli bombs, or that the people will topple the government," Baroud added. "For that to happen, the extent of the violence had to be extraordinary, and had to target largely civilian infrastructure and exact a high price in terms of civilian causality."

"That required planning and lots of it. The propaganda, as in disseminating misinformation, falsehoods, half truths and selective versions of events, was more institutionalized than ever," he said.

In order to carry out its hasbara campaign, the Israeli military opened a YouTube account in December 2008 (http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk), where administrators uploaded dozens of videos depicting Israeli bombings and missile strikes, and images of Israeli shipments of humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.

One of the first videos uploaded to the account on 31 December 2008, for example, displays what the Israeli military defined as "a precision [air force] strike against weapons hidden in a Gaza mosque."

According to Aliza Landes, an Israeli soldier originally from Boston, Massachusetts, who now heads the military's new media unit, the YouTube account has been the Israeli army's "greatest success" to date.

"YouTube is our greatest success," said Landes, who was called on stage by Benyahu during the "New Media as a Strategic Weapon" panel, to talk specifically about the Israeli military's New Media Desk and spoke for approximately ten minutes. "Visual material is what is most compelling online. It's evidence. It's proof in a way that a written statement isn't. If there is a big operation going on and we can provide visual evidence of what's happening, then other people can use that to make arguments and discuss things."

Tangible impact on Palestinians

While the real impact of Israeli hasbara is difficult to determine, perhaps its most dangerous impact is how it easily seeps into newspapers and magazines in Israel and abroad, thereby swaying the public discourse.

"The media has I think the tremendous power to influence how society sees itself, how it interprets its reality," explained Nasser Rego, the International Relations Coordinator at I'lam, the Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel. "The media is extensively consumed in Israel; 90 percent of the public takes in media on a regular basis. So it has a tremendous impact."

According to Rego, the Israeli media's portrayal of Palestinian citizens of Israel has a palpable impact on the community, which accounts for 20 percent of the population. "I think what it does is it dehumanizes Palestinians and the community [and portrays them as] being interlopers or being these people that come from the outside. Then it seems almost justifiable to treat them or deal with them in a way that's reflective of that coverage. So to continue to deny them their rights as human beings, basic civil rights, to continue and to press with the policy of home demolitions."

Rego explained that the Israeli reaction to its attack on Gaza in winter 2008-09 is a prime example of how Israeli hasbara -- and the coverage allotted to this propaganda by Israeli news sources -- can influence public opinion, which was largely favorable to the Israeli attack.

"I think unfortunately when the community has been dehumanized, there really [aren't] too many barriers to such kind of action continuing or even increasing in degree and worsening. For now I think this is the most troublesome impact of this kind of coverage," he told The Electronic Intifada.

A more recent example of how easily Israeli hasbara can infiltrate into the mainstream media and influence a situation was evident at the beginning of this year when Jawaher Abu Rahmah died as a result of excessive tear gas inhalation during a demonstration against the Israeli wall and settlements in the occupied West Bank village of Bilin.

Almost immediately after her death, the Israeli military made statements suggesting a variety of lies and misinformation. Anonymous "army sources" were widely quoted by Israeli reporters and bloggers as stating that Abu Rahmah was possibly not even present at the 31 December 2010 demonstration in Bilin, or that her death resulted from a pre-existing medical condition.

While these claims were quickly refuted by eyewitnesses and doctors at the Ramallah-area hospital where Abu Rahmah passed away, the damage was already done: the link between fiction and reality had been blurred.

"The army is trying to evade its responsibility for Jawaher's death with lies and invented narratives that have no basis. They are spreading these lies and invented narratives via the media, which is not bothering to do basic fact checking," explained Mohammed Khatib, a member of the Bilin Popular Committee, in a press release put out by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.

"Our version is supported by named sources and with medical documents. In a properly functioning society, the army's version, which has been spread by anonymous sources, would not be considered worthy of publication," Khatib added.

Hasbara's greatest challenge is Israel itself

According to Ramzy Baroud, an absence of Palestinian voices in US media depictions of the situation in Palestine makes it more difficult to counter Israeli propaganda.

"I don't think it's a matter of Israel's propaganda machine's own success or failure that is causing this amount of misunderstanding among general publics, mostly in the West," he said. "The misconstruction and confusion are largely caused by the absence of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices -- in fact reasonable and objective voices altogether -- when it comes to the conflict in Palestine, from mainstream US media."

A lack of coordination, an absence of media platforms and "the wall of the mainstream media" all make getting Palestinian voices to a large, international audience much more difficult than it is to present Israeli voices, whose messages are long-established and have been ingrained into Western discourse, Baroud explained.

"The Israeli propaganda is older and is almost embedded in Western psyche which sees Israel as the embodiment of goodness, freedom, bravery and democracy, while Arabs are the antithesis of all that is good and 'American' or 'Western.' In other words, Israelis are 'us' and the Arabs are 'them,'" he said.

Still, Baroud added that the greatest challenge to Israel's hasbara campaign is Israeli actions and policies themselves.

"Israel's real challenge is not the Palestinian voice per se, but Israel's own behavior. Even if there is no Palestinian voice altogether, Israel's war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank are so revolting that even well-financed media campaigns cannot hide their atrociousness in their entirety," he said.

"Israel's biggest opponent in the media is its own crimes."

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11828.shtml