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As Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet with Donald Trump, the influential Israeli media outlet, Haaretz, has called on the country to end its influence ops campaign targeted at the US.
The so-called “hasbara” public diplomacy effort has failed and is now backfiring as American public opinion and the Democratic Party have soured on Israel in the wake of its carnage in Gaza.
Gallup reports that Americans with a negative view of Israel rose from 42 percent in 2022 to 60 percent in March.
In its July 26 editorial, Haaretz noted that since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the country privatized its public diplomacy campaign to Targeted Communications Global. That’s the firm of Brad Parscale, who was Donald Trump’s top digital consultant.
“The Government Press Office channeled 147 million shekels ($57 million) into a digital campaign approved without a competitive bidding process and Parscale's company received $40.5M. In exchange, Israel got 42 accounts and a mere 855 followers,” noted the editorial.
"Israel's actions in Gaza and the ramifications of Netanyahu's policies are part of the problem, but the conclusion is clear: The damage caused by hasbara seems to be as real as the waste of funds. After being caught out repeatedly, it's hard to believe Israel's government—almost regardless of Israel's real-world actions."
Haaretz believes Israel’s hasbara effort is not only useless but is now part of the problem.
“The damage is much greater than it seems. This failure cannot be fixed through a public relations agency connected to Donald Trump.
“Twenty years of half-truths, misinformation and the depiction of any critic as antisemitic have depleted any credit Israel was given in terms of credibility.
“Tragically, this happened amid an escalating antisemitism that needs to be addressed.”
The editorial concluded: “It may be a cliché, but it's still the truth: Israel has a reality problem because of its policies, not a hasbara problem. No campaign can fix policies, as Netanyahu will discover this week in Washington and perhaps—one could hope—at the end of October, too,” when Israel holds its election.
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