This is the Forward’s coverage of hasbara (which translates roughly to “explaining”), a key component of Israel’s public relations strategy.
Hasbara
The Latest
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Letters No, American Zionism Is Not Apathetic
Last month on the pages of The Forward I claimed the right to be a liberal Zionist in America, one who feels a deep connection with Israel, one who continues to envision a democratic Jewish state that exists alongside a free and independent Palestine — but also one who recognizes that a half-century after the…
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Opinion Why Do People Care More About Adelson’s Money Than The Lives Of Palestinians?
Over the past three weeks, 13 Birthright participants decided to walk off their Birthright trips, causing quite a stir. The walk-offs happened on three different trips, but all for the same reason. After repeatedly asking questions about the material they were being presented and then receiving whitewashed answers about Israel’s military rule over Palestinians, or…
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Opinion Walking Out On Birthright Was The Right Thing To Do
Last week, five participants of Birthright walked out on the program and straight onto a tour of the segregated city of Hebron with IDF veterans from Breaking the Silence, where they saw what Birthright desperately tried to hide. They saw the checkpoints, the streets Palestinians aren’t allowed to walk on and the caged windows that…
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Fast Forward After Gaza Deaths, Israeli Leaders Are Asking Where Their PR Went Wrong
JERUSALEM (JTA) — When the smoke from the rifles of Israeli sharpshooters and the firebombs thrown by Gaza Palestinians cleared in the wake of the Palestinian March of Return, there were at least 15 Palestinians dead and hundreds of protesters injured. Israel, meanwhile, had a huge PR mess. Israeli troops “overreacted” Friday in confronting thousands…
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Opinion Michael Oren’s Conspiratorial Hasbara Is More Common Than You Think
We’re living in an age hospitable to conspiracy theories. Surely everyone knows someone with these tendencies. Maybe it’s your wacky uncle who believes the pyramids were really built by aliens, or the taxi driver who takes the opportunity to explain how the entire world is really controlled by a cabal of seven Jewish families. Or…
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Fast Forward Security Flaw In Israeli Propaganda App Exposed User Data
An app designed to help users spread pro-Israel messages on social media contained a security flaw that exposed the email addresses of its users, The Intercept reported Friday. Act.il was developed by three pro-Israel groups that receive funding from Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson. It has been a pet obsession of Israeli Minister of Strategic…
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News Making A Sexy Pitch For Israel
“Welcome to BDS News! Where we pretend to care about Palestinians, but really just want to see Israel disappear!” Thus opens one of the videos the Israeli government hopes will go viral in what is billed as a new large-scale “cyber second strike” campaign. Supported and spearheaded by the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, the campaign…
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Fast Forward After Super Bowl Win, This New England Patriots Star Says: ‘I’m Going to Israel’
A New England Patriots tight end is heading to Israel after the team’s historic win on a hasbara, or Israeli public relations tour for American football players. Martellus Bennett will be joined by 11 other football players from teams including the Seattle Seahawks, the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders. His Jewish teammate Julian Edelman,…
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Fast Forward Can Mamdani stop NYC’s Jewish comptroller from purchasing millions in Israel Bonds for the city?
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News Why New York’s Sephardic Jews are more Zionist — and more wary of Mamdani — than their Ashkenazi neighbors
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