Hasbara

"Hasbara" ( _he. הסברה, also spelt "Hasbarah") is a Hebrew noun that literally means "explanation". ["The word 'hasbara' means, literally, 'explanation.'" Fein, Leonard. [http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.07.19/oped5.html Spinning Out Of Control] , "The Forward", July 19, 2002.] ["known by the prosaic Hebrew term 'hasbara,' ('explanation')" Burston, Bradley. "The media war Israel cannot win", "Haaretz", May 25, 2004.] The term has been used by the State of Israel and by independent groups to describe their efforts to explain Israeli government policies, and to promote Israel to the world at large.

There are a number of "hasbara" websites on the Internet, also dealing with other Jewish issues.

Meaning of the term

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, [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Structure+and+departments/What+Hasbara+Is+Really+All+About+-+May+2005.htm What “Hasbara” Is Really All About] . Meir, Gideon, 24 May 2005] 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".Rosenblatt, Gary. [http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=137571 ‘Hasbara’ Goes Prime Time] , "The Jewish Week", 12/03/2004.] Nathan Guttman has characterized "hasbara" as "pro-Israel propaganda," [Guttman, Nathan. [http://www.momentmag.com/5766/aug06/MOM-2006-08_jewishword.html Dancing the Hasbara] , "Moment (magazine)", August 2006.] while Avi Hyman has said "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." [http://www.israelnn.com/print.php3?what=article&id=4175]

Israeli government "hasbara"

The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry, 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". [http://www.jafi.org.il/education/hasbara/index.html]

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. [http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp487.htm]

A new "Hasbara czar", Yarden Vatikay, was appointed by the Israeli government in February, 2008. He heads a "unit to coordinate Israel’s domestic and foreign media policy". [cite news
publisher=The Jewish Chronicle
location=London
author=Pfeffer, Anshel
date=February 8, 2008
url=http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s19&SecId=19&AId=57904&ATypeId=1
title=New media czar lost for a message ]

Methods

In the words of one "hasbara" group, the Israel Citizens Information Council (ICIC):

The purpose of the ICIC 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 ..." [http://www.hasbara.com/]

Some "hasbara" documents explain their techniques, reporting on methods used by Palestinian activists, and providing advice on how to counter them, or how to use the same techniques in defense of Israel:

For example, describing demonstrators as "youths" creates a different impression from calling them "children". For the Israel activist, it is important to be aware of the subtly different meanings that well chosen words give. Call 'demonstrations' "riots", many Palestinian political organizations "terror organizations", and so on. Name calling is hard to counter. Don't allow opponents the opportunity to engage in point scoring. [http://www.wujs.org.il/activist/campaigns/propaganda_devices.shtml]

Palestinian-American professor Edward Said identified several hasbara methods used by pro-Israel groups during the Second Intifada:

This has included an entire range of efforts: lunches and free trips for influential journalists; seminars for Jewish university students who over a week in a secluded country estate can be primed to "defend" Israel on the campus; bombarding congressmen and -women with invitations and visits; pamphlets and, most important, money for election campaigns; directing (or, as the case requires, harassing) photographers and writers of the current Intifada into producing certain images and not others; lecture and concert tours by prominent Israelis; training commentators to make frequent references to the Holocaust and Israel's predicament today; many advertisements in the newspapers attacking Arabs and praising Israel; and on and on. [http://www.mediamonitors.net/edward37.html]

Various people may be trained in hasbara by the Israeli government:

"The Ambassador's course" offers community leaders, educators, students and activists in the Diaspora an opportunity to acquire both a comprehensive overview of the conflict, tools to understand Palestinian propaganda/media bias and the means to advocate Israel's policy. [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/4/Ambassador-s%20Course]

ee also

* Hasbara Fellowships

External links

Promotion of "hasbara"

* [http://www.hasbara.com/ Hasbara.com]
* [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/4/Ambassador-s%20Course Government courses]
* [http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/information/ Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Office]
* [http://www.infoisrael.net/ Israel Hasbara committee]
* [http://www.israelactivism.com/ Israelactivism.com] , an Aish HaTorah website.
* [http://www.jafi.org.il/education/hasbara/ Hasbara Israel Advocacy]
* [http://www.wujs.org.il/about/publications/hasbara_handbook.pdf Hasabara Handbook - Promoting Israel on Campus] Entire WUJS handbook, as .pdf
* [http://www.theisraelproject.org/ The Israel Project, USA] [Levine, Charley J. [http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2007/07_JAN/interview.asp "Interview with Jennifer Laszlo"] , "Hadassah Magazine", January 2007 Vol. 88 No. 5. "Q Why do people call The Israel Project a revolution in hasbara, pro-Israel information? How does it defer Jewish individuals or organizations from complaining about media bias or error? A. We strengthen Israel’s image and build support for public policies that make Israel safer. To do that, we are educational rather than confrontational, proactive rather than reactive. When a reporter is on a deadline and about to file a major story...we understand he needs to get the facts, sound bites or visuals to do the story right and in time for deadline. We work within that framework, knowing that complaints afterward aren’t going to help very much."]

Criticism of Hasbara

* [http://www.mediamonitors.net/edward37.html Edward Said. Propaganda and War]
* [http://thebigstory.org/features/history.html From Hasbara to Intifada: How Israel's foreign press corps rewrote history]
* [http://www.think-israel.org/shifftan.html Israeli Hasbara: A Nation Working Against Itself]

References