Public diplomacy in Israel (also hasbara) (Hebrew: הסברה) refers to public relations efforts to disseminate information about Israel.[1][2] The term is used by the Israeli government and its supporters to describe efforts to explain government policies and promote Israel in the face of what they consider negative press about Israel around the world. Others view hasbara as a euphemism for propaganda.[3][4][5]
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While hasbara literally means "explanation", its exact import in its current usage is debated. Gideon Meir has said that there is no "real, precise" translation of the word hasbara to English or any other language, and has characterized it as public diplomacy,[6] an action undertaken by all governments around the world with the growing importance of what Harvard professor Joseph Nye termed soft power. Gary Rosenblatt describes it as "advocacy".[7] Hasbara has been described as "pro-Israel propaganda,"[8] but while "propaganda strives to highlight the positive aspects of one side of a conflict, hasbara seeks to explain actions, whether or not they are justified."[4]
Early usage of the term in English mainstream print media,[9] dates to the late 1970s and describes hasbara as “overseas image-building.”[10] According to the Washington Post, "it is called hasbara when the purpose is to reshape public opinion abroad.”[11] In the early 1980s, Hasbara was defined as a “public relations campaign,“[12] In Newsweek it was referred to as “explaining.”[13] In 1986, the New York Times reported a similar late 1970s period for the start of a program for “communicating defense goals” and a 1984 implementation of a “Hasbara Project” to “train foreign-service officers in communications by placing them with American companies.”[14] Carl Spielvogel, chairman of Backer & Spielvogel, traveled to Israel to advise the government on communicating its defense goals.
The trip led to the Hasbara Project, an internship program established to train foreign-service officers in communications by placing them with American companies.Shmuel Katz's book Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine, published in 1973, was described as “an encyclopedic source-book for those involved in Israel's hasbara (public relations) effort.”[15] In 1977, Prime Minister Menachem Begin named Katz "Adviser to the Prime Minister of Information Abroad."[16][17]
During the Madrid Conference of 1991, The Age newspaper described Netanyahu as having "perfected the craft of delivering his message pugnaciously in made-for-television soundbites".[18]
In May 1992, the Jerusalem Post reported that American Jewish leaders hardly reacted to news that the Foreign Ministry's hasbara department would be eliminated as part of a sweeping reorganization of the ministry. Malcolm Hoenlein noted there had been talk of streamlining the ministry's hasbara functions for some time. He said that merging the hasbara department's functions with those of the press department did not portend any downgrading in the priority the Likud government gives to hasbara abroad. Abe Foxman, reacted similarly, saying he was "not distressed or disturbed", and noted that disseminating hasbara has always been the responsibility of every Foreign Ministry staff officer, especially those working abroad; if eliminating one department means everyone will assume greater responsibility for his or her own efforts in distributing hasbara, then he is all in favor. It also reported that personnel in foreign hasbara departments would be shifted to press departments, which is where much of the work currently done by hasbara officials properly belongs. He explained that Israel's efforts to provide hasbara abroad would focus on media communications.[19]
In 2001, Shmuel Katz published a retrospective of Israeli hasbara efforts and said that the task of Israel's hasbara "must be tackled not by occasional sudden sallies but by a separate permanent department in the government."[20] Sharon did increase hasbara efforts, but did not create a cabinet-level ministry for that purpose.[21]
Also in 2001, the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry,[6] the diplomatic arm of the Government of Israel, was an original co-sponsor of the Hasbara Fellowships activities of Aish HaTorah. The Jewish Agency for Israel, Department for Jewish Zionist Education, operates a campaign, "Hasbara, Israeli Advocacy, Your Guide to the Middle East Conflict".[5] In May 2007, the Hasbara Fellowships opined that, "Wikipedia is not an objective resource but rather an online encyclopedia that any one can edit. The result is a website that is in large part is controlled by 'intellectuals' who seek re-write the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. These authors have systematically yet subtly rewritten key passages of thousands of Wikipedia entries to portray Israel in a negative light. You have the opportunity to stop this dangerous trend! If you are interested in joining a team of Wikipedians to make sure Israel is presented fairly and accurately, please contact [our] director".[22] A similar advocacy campaign on Wikipedia was later launched by the CAMERA in May 2008; it resulted in administrative action by the encyclopedia, and several editors were banned.
In 2002, the Israeli State Comptroller's office issued a report critical of Israel's PR efforts, "A lack of an overall strategic public relations conception and objective" and lack of coordination between the various organizations were mentioned. Funding levels are modest; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent about US$8.6 million on these efforts in 2002, and the Government Press Office was only budgeted at US$100,000.[23]
In 2008, Yarden Vatikay was appointed to coordinate Israel’s domestic and foreign media policy.[24]
In 2009, Israel's foreign ministry organized volunteers to add pro-Israeli commentary on news websites.[25] [26] [27] In July 2009, it was announced that the Israeli Foreign Ministry would assemble an "internet warfare" squad to spread a pro-Israel message on various websites, with funding of 600,000 shekels (c $150,000).[28][29]
The Israel Citizens Information Council (ICIC) says its purpose is "to assist efforts to explain Israeli life from the vantage point of the average Israeli citizen. Towards that end, the ICIC enlists Israelis from all walks of life to participate in its various projects ... One of our major activities is the production of special Powerpoint presentations which we post on our website. These presentations review specific aspects and issues related to Israel and the Middle East." [30]
Some hasbara experts study methods used by Palestinian activists and offer advice on how to respond. Describing demonstrators as "youths," for example, creates a different impression from calling them "children." They draw attention to the subtle differences of meaning between words such as demonstration and riot, terror organization and Palestinian political organization. They advise against name calling and point scoring.[31]
Edward Said wrote that hasbara methods used during the Second Intifada included lunches and free trips for influential journalists; seminars for Jewish university students; invitations to congressmen; pamphlets and donation of money for election campaigns; telling photographers and writers what to photograph or write about; lecture and concert tours by prominent Israelis; frequent references to the Holocaust; advertisements in the newspapers attacking Arabs and praising Israel.[32]