In his book “Measuring Goliath,” the head of the Department of Communication at the University of Haifa claims that Israel receives coverage that is exceptional in scope and nature, and recommends establishing a professional, long-term advocacy body, detached from politics.
One of the things that frustrates every Israeli is how it is possible that precisely after Hamas attacked and murdered men, women, children, and the elderly on an epic scale on October 7, 2023, the world only condemns Israel for its response and exaggerates its damage. Not only that, the global media is helping Hamas in its vision to eliminate the State of Israel by eliminating its legitimacy.
It seems that anti-Semitism is only growing in the world, and acts of terrorism against Jews are increasing more and more. At this time, the question that arises is: Where is the Israeli propaganda? How is it that a country that is in the center of the global media spotlight hardly responds? Prof. Eli Avraham, head Department of Communication at the University of Haifa, has published a new book that examines the distorted coverage of Israel in the global media, reveals the mechanisms behind the media obsession with the State of Israel, and offers concrete courses of action to improve outreach.
“The purpose of the book is twofold,” he explains the reason for writing it, “First of all, to see how Israel is covered in the world media, but the novelty here is to explain why. Why there is such an obsession around this country and why the coverage is characterized by puzzling things that are not found in other countries. At the same time, the book examines what Israel is doing and what can be done better when the propaganda actually doesn’t work.
I was on sabbatical in Dallas in 2007-2009. They asked me to give lectures on the media coverage of Israel. I met Jewish communities who were frustrated by the media distortion and asked why Israel was not doing anything about its media image. So I started collecting materials from 1998, but when the last war started, I said to myself: ‘If I don’t write the book now, then when?’ And I sat down and wrote.”
Coverage Obsession: The Numbers Speak
Prof. Avraham has revealed an obsession with Israel. “Dozens of articles about Israel every day. For example, the New York Times had 900 articles in 2023, even before the war – almost 3 articles a day. Hamas is barely mentioned, Hezbollah, Sudan – almost not,” he notes. “Studies have shown that similar events that occurred in other countries are covered 4-5 times less. Articles about Israel always get huge headlines, on the front page, with pictures that trigger emotion – dead children, children in the hospital.”
How are the articles themselves structured?
“Most articles are framed as ‘there is injustice here’ – always David versus Goliath. The Palestinians as the victim, Israel the attacker. When there is a terrorist incident, the language is distorted. They try to whitewash the terror – it’s not a ‘terrorist’, it’s a ‘12-year-old boy’. They don’t say he tried to murder. A terrorist attack in Jerusalem, 12 dead – they won’t write ‘a Palestinian terrorist carried out a terrorist attack.’ In the articles, Israel is always to blame. The Palestinians are presented as innocent victims who just want a state. And they don’t cover negative things about them – not the incitement to terrorism, not the abuse of other Palestinians, not the internal violence.”
How can it be that all media outlets have the same direction?
“There are several reasons. Most journalists go through the same socialization at universities – multiculturalism, the weak against the strong. But Jews are seen as a privileged white group that is not entitled to the same protection that is offered to other minorities. In addition, there are also journalistic practices. Editors think: ‘Israel – Bad Guys, Palestinians – Good Guys.’ The reporters understand that if they report positive stories about Israel – it doesn’t make it into the newspaper. So they only report negative stories.
Israel is the opposite of everything Europe is today – post-Holocaust, post-territory, post-religion. And we are still fighting wars over identity, religion, territory. They don’t understand the complexity.”
Supply chain
An interesting point that Prof. Abraham points out is who is the source of the news from Gaza. “Palestinian reporters who work for this media are under Hamas surveillance. They can’t write what they want. That’s why they don’t publish pictures of terrorists, they don’t write bad things about Hamas, they don’t say that Hamas is launching rockets from civilian buildings.
Take, for example, the case of Matti Friedman, who was an editor at the AP, who resigned in 2014 because of the news agency's anti-Israel bias. He said that the AP had 40 reporters in Israel, and one reporter for Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria combined. So 40 reporters understand: 'Let's deliver the goods.'"
And where is our advocacy?
“There is no public relations today. In the past, the Foreign Ministry coordinated the activity, but they took away its powers – they established a Ministry for Strategic Affairs, a Ministry of Public Relations, a Ministry of Diaspora, etc. Everyone wanted powers in the field of foreign relations, but this meant that no one knew who was doing what. The minister responsible for public relations resigned at the beginning of the war and said: ‘I have nothing.’
There is a perception from 1948 that ‘what matters is what you do on the ground. What difference does the image make?’ On the other hand, the Palestinians, as early as the 70s, were able to connect with the West through the language of human rights and freedom, and they built perfect public relations. Hamas are champions – they have someone who monitors the media, sees what works, and deploys dozens of reporters to investigate against Israel.”
What's the solution?
“I propose establishing a national information authority – detached from politics, with a budget for 10-20 years. There will be professional people who will take the theoretical and professional knowledge, will operate civil society organizations. It will not be amateurish – something very professional that has nothing to do with politicians.
We need to monitor foreign media outlets, contact them and show the distortion of their reporters regarding their coverage of Israel: '78 out of 80 negative articles – we are no longer cooperating.' We need to train high school students, people who go abroad, ambassadors. There are professional ways, but there is no policy. Here at the university, we established an 'Online Ambassadors' program that trained 25 students a year – Arabs, Druze, Bedouins. We gave them tools, they activated groups on the Internet. It worked for 7 years until the Corona pandemic, but the budget ran out. Today we train students for a master's degree in strategic communication, but we need much more."
Closing message
“Hasbara is a matter of national security. You can win on the battlefield but lose in hasbara – and the world is against you. When the war started, people who speak foreign languages were sought on neighborhood WhatsApp. We are a country where every two years there is a crisis – how is it that there is no system that knows who is doing what? No one knows who is doing what, and we must wake up.”
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- Between antisemitism and scientific truth
- The stinging failure of the presidencies of the prestigious universities in the congressional hearing reflects a lack of hands in dealing with anti-Semitism and anti-Israel acts on campuses
- Innovation competition to fight anti-Semitism
- Anti-Semitism, in the shadow of which my father grew up, returns to me
- A noticeable increase in expressions of anti-Semitism in general and violence against Jews in particular
