opinion
In a Crisis, Social Media Is the Least
Effective Platform for Israel Advocacy
Joanna Landau
18 MARCH 30, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
make your case for Israel. However, in the era of “fake
news,” “alternative facts” and minimal fact-checking
even by reliable media platforms, the information you
provide can be easily disputed, skewed and discarded
as unreliable. It’s very hard to change a person’s
mind when they don’t believe the basic facts you’re
presenting them.

According to The Harvard Business Review, it is
an evolutionary fact that our brains are hardwired
to become defensive at times of conflict and to
shut out any views that are contradictory. We say to
ourselves, “I’m right and you’re wrong,” even though
we are ordinarily able to see multiple perspectives.

In other words, in conflict, we tend to become even
more entrenched in our own opinions and dismiss
countering views out of hand.

This is exacerbated by the fact that when the
social media algorithm detects conversations with
a lot of interaction — as well as arguments — they
are given more “airtime.” They are prioritized over
other content being posted, and pushed into more
and more news feeds. What started as one person
stating an opinion turns into hundreds of participants,
sometimes thousands, joining the debate. In a sense,
it was our own doing that brought all this negative
attention to Israel. The BDS movement should be
thanking us.

Instead of following the impulse to respond to every
anti-Israel post or meme on social media, here’s what
you can do instead:
1. Don’t engage publicly. When you see negative
comments about Israel, don’t respond. There is no
point in engaging because you likely won’t win the
debate, for all the reasons listed above. And because it
takes two to tango, if you don’t respond, the algorithm
won’t detect increased interaction. Thus, the shelf life
of the statements shared by the naysayers will expire
much faster.

2. Do engage privately. If you must respond, look
for the more moderate people participating in the
exchange and invite them to discuss the matter
privately by pinging them a non-combative message
offering a deeper conversation in private. The
algorithms stay out of private zones, so you won’t be
rousing the beast.

3. Positively promote Israel before and after the
crisis. Operation Guardian of the Walls lasted for all
of 11 days from start to finish. Are we really going to
let 11 days define Israel’s image for months and years
to come? Pew and Gallup poll data consistently show
that most people are indifferent to Israel, not against
it. Why concentrate on trying to change the minds of
the negative minority, when you have a neutral (and
positive) majority with whom you can start building a
constructive relationship?
Ultimately, it is we, Israel’s stakeholders, who
should be defining Israel’s narrative, not the haters.

We have an opportunity to do so and we must
do so before the next crisis occurs. Then, we will
have a fighting chance of winning the PR war
for Israel. ■
Joanna Landau is a branding expert and founder of
Vibe Israel.

adobe stock / guruXOX
I n May 2021, during the Israel-Gaza crisis, Israelis
were running to bomb shelters as Hamas launched
hundreds of rockets at them. A dozen Israelis
died and hundreds more were injured. (Some 250
Palestinians also died.)
At the same time, social media blew up with
aggressive and sometimes antisemitic rhetoric against
Israel. Memes accused Israel of ethnic cleansing
and wrongfully stated that Israel was massacring the
Palestinian people.

In response, the Jewish community did what it always
does during times like these: It urgently fundraised to
increase Israel advocacy training for young people
on campus and online and set up war rooms in
multiple languages to respond to the naysayers.

Pro-Israel influencers on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
and TikTok worked overtime. Everyone fought the
good fight. But was it effective? Did we really win on
the digital battlefield?
If we’re being honest, the answer is no. It’s
infuriating, isn’t it? Why is it that whatever we do, we
can’t seem to win the PR war for Israel, especially on
social media?
We blame antisemitism, the BDS movement and
Bella Hadid, but perhaps the answer is that Israel
advocacy on social media just isn’t effective, and
our attempt to win the PR war by using traditional
advocacy tactics online could be in vain.

Think about it: Nobody goes on social media to
admit that they’re wrong. We go on to validate our
opinions and find people who agree with us. In other
words, the platform itself is the problem, not the valiant
efforts being made by passionate advocates.

On social media, there’s no time to make a solid
argument. Conversations take place at breakneck
speed, especially if many people are commenting and
responding to one another. You simply cannot shift a
person’s deeply held position in three or four seconds.

You need more time. Much more.

There’s also no common ground on these platforms.

Human beings naturally distance themselves from
people they have nothing in common with. If you know
nothing about the person you’re engaging with and
they know nothing about you, all you’re left with is two
people accusing one another of having a worldview
that is different from their own.

Online, just like offline, you are totally reliant on
facts, figures and credible sources of information to



nation / world
Israel Says ‘Crisis’ With
Poland Over, Countries Agree
to Resume Student Trips to
Holocaust Sites
After a warm meeting with his Polish
counterpart on March 22, Israel’s
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen declared
From left: Israeli Foreign Minister Eli
Cohen meets with Polish Foreign
that the years-long “crisis” in relations
Minister Zbigniew Rau in Warsaw
between the two countries was over,
on March 22.

JTA.org reported.

Meeting in Warsaw, Cohen and Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau signed
an agreement stating that Israeli youth trips to Holocaust sites in Poland would
resume — rebooting a longstanding program that was called off last year as part
of a series of ongoing diplomatic spats. The Times of Israel reported that Israel’s
parliament, the Knesset, will have to approve the agreement for it to go into eff ect.

Poland also agreed to return its ambassador to Israel shortly. The Polish envoy
was recalled in 2021.

In 2018, Poland’s right-wing government caused a rift between the two countries
by passing a law that made it illegal to accuse the Polish nation of having commit-
ted crimes during the Holocaust, a move that critics called a whitewashing of
history. Then, in 2021, Poland passed another law that eff ectively closed off resti-
tution claims by descendants of families that had lost property during the war.

Israeli politicians, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, harshly
condemned both moves, and for a time Israel recalled its ambassador to Warsaw.

Poland’s prime minister canceled a trip to Israel in 2019.

Israel Ranked Fourth-happiest Country in World
Israel is the fourth-happiest country in the world, up from ninth a year ago,
according to a report produced by the U.N.-affi liated Sustainable Development
Solutions Network, JNS.org reported.

Based on Gallup World Poll data, the study leverages six key factors to help
explain variation in self-reported levels of happiness across the world: social
support, income, health, freedom, generosity and absence of corruption.

The report named Finland the happiest country in the world for the sixth
consecutive year, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel and the Netherlands. The
United States ranked 15th. Afghanistan and Lebanon were the two unhappiest
countries in the survey.

The report was released on March 20 to mark the International Day of
Happiness, which was established when the U.N. General Assembly adopted
Resolution 66/281 in June 2012.

Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images via JTA.org
Florida Bill Banning ‘Ethnic Intimidation’ Flyers Aims to Stop
State’s Neo-Nazi Rise
Responding to a recent rise in neo-Nazi activity in his state, a Jewish lawmaker
in Florida is trying to outlaw displays of “religious or ethnic animus” on private
property in his state, JTA.org reported.

H.B. 269 takes aim at a variety of activities that neo-Nazi groups in the state
have undertaken, from distributing fl yers with hate speech to broadcasting intim-
idating messages in public places.

Those groups’ activity has been rising in Florida for several years, according to
a 2022 report by the Anti-Defamation League titled “Hate in the Sunshine State.”
The report was published before the founder of the Goyim Defense League,
which distributes antisemitic literature in public places and to private homes,
relocated to Florida.

“We have actual Nazis who have proudly taken up residence in Florida,” the
bill’s co-author, Rep. Randy Fine, told the Algemeiner. “The things that they are
doing, all of which I fi nd disgusting, are reprehensible, and we are going to make
them felonies.” ■
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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