The office of Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar (pictured) announced on Tuesday the launch of a new initiative dubbed the “media war room,” aimed at targeting and countering pro-Palestine content across various online platforms. [Getty]
Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that the government is to launch a “media war room” to target Palestine content online, in the latest attempt to propagate pro-Israel narratives on internet platforms.
As reported by The Times of Israel, the office of Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that the war room will consist of Israeli diplomats and students who specialise in international communications.
The statement added that the initiative will focus on monitoring and reporting any pro-Palestine content, by researching roughly 250 news channels and around 10,000 Israel-related news items across various platforms.
The ministry claims that it will particularly target “false or biased reports,” further arguing that it will act “swiftly by deploying Israeli and pro-Israel spokespersons to debunk accusations and present Israel’s narrative”.
According to the statement, the initiative disclosed that it had been the first in Israel “to detect and act against” the BBC documentary Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone, after pro-Israel advocates targeted the film’s child narrator Abdullah Alyazouri and his father Ayman, five days after it was broadcast.
The film, previously available on the iPlayer streaming service, depicted the struggles of the 13-year-old Palestinian boy enduring Israel’s war on the devastated enclave.
The BBC removed the documentary after it was revealed that Abdullah’s father had worked as a deputy agriculture minister in Gaza’s government, which is controlled by Hamas, a group the UK classifies as a terrorist organisation.
This occurred despite the fact that the ministerial role was entirely a civilian position.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry lauded its efforts in leading boycotts against the documentary, stating that the media war room programme was in the trial period when “following intelligence from the war room, Israel’s embassy in London engaged with the BBC“.
It added that it plans to further “fight for international public opinion” by holding weekly press conferences led by either Saar or a senior Foreign Ministry official, with a variety of global media outlets in attendance, according to the ministry.
The ministry will also utilise “a network of pro-Israel influencers and spokespersons” to promote pro-Israel content on social media and other online platforms.
It also revealed plans to launch “additional projects” in “the near future” to counter pro-Palestine content, amid growing criticism of Israel’s harsh military actions in Gaza and Lebanon since October 2023.
This coincides with the Israeli military’s recent decision to fully enforce restrictions on social media use and the photographing of military bases, amid an increasing risk of Israeli soldiers being arrested abroad for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.
To date, around 50 criminal complaints have been filed in courts across the globe.
Research from Northwestern University in the US, published last May, revealed that pro-Palestine posts on the popular social media platform TikTok significantly outnumber pro-Israel posts, following a distinctly different pattern.
According to the study, the pattern of pro-Palestine posts aligns with those typically seen in a prolonged social movement, whereas pro-Israel posts follow a more typical pattern seen after major news events.
However, digital rights organisations have repeatedly raised concerns about violations of the digital rights by targeting pro-Palestine content online, with reports suggesting potential widespread suppression across various platforms.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also accused the social media giant Meta of engaging in “systemic censorship” of Palestinian content on both Instagram and Facebook.
