Remember when the defense department was paying public relations companies and Iraqi newspapers to insert articles praising the Iraq war? The companies also attempted to plant coverage favorable to the US military in US newspapers. There rightly was a media uproar about the manipulation. We’ll see whether the same happens over this (Hasbara spamming of blogs?)
The (Israeli) foreign ministry shouldn’t get a pass on this one. It may view such hasbara as maximising its efforts to “explain” Israel’s position in the world media. I view it as a cynical attempt to flood the web and news media with favorable flackery in a vain attempt to tilt public opinion toward Israel. Not only does it do Israel a disservice, it stains every legitimate effort that the ministry might make to explain Israel to the world, since no one will believe a word it says knowing it engages in such outright propaganda.
Not to mention that this is such cheap pennyante stuff. What do they gain by this? How effective can it be and how many can be convinced? By the way, I’ve even noticed the hasbaraniks in my own blog. You can see them a mile away because they’ve never published a comment before yet write something like: “I’ve enjoyed your blog for a long time, but anyone with a brain in their head knows that Hamas is out to destroy Israel blah, blah blah.” Pretty formulaic stuff. Also, you can Google a few phrases of the comment and if you find it appears elsewhere on the web you know you either have a hasbaranik or someone who has repetition compulsion….
Full article about Israeli military spamming of antiZionist blogs can be read at Hasbara spam alert …See wikipedia for more about hasbara, otherwise known as Israeli military propaganda spamming.
As one can see by the fake ‘discussion’ by Israeli military spammers here on Not My Tribe, this Israeli suppression of free speech and discussion is a very real problem. We have to spend inordinate amounts of our own time just discussing with these spammers about what they actually are doing rather than talking about anything more political than that. They are extremely boring for us, and extremely boring to others, too. Quite simply they clutter up blogs with their gang graffiti, and that is really about all they are actually about.
And be sure to visit the REPORTING AND CREATING THE MESSAGE art of political ‘Jewish State’ spamming page of the Israel Hasbara Committee to get it from the horse’s mouth. See how dishonest all these spammers really are when they claim to be mere concerned citizens all alone by themselves, rather than a concentrated and coordinated Israeli governmental effort in support of the Israeli war machine. They are lying when they pretend that we are making it all up. They are lying for Israel and in support of its racist policies. They are lying in support of the murder of more Arab peoples. They are lying to steal yet more Palestinian land.
Middle East Media Research Institute or MEMRI as they call themselves, is another conduit for Israeli military disinformation campaings directed at the media. They are used a lot against antiZionist bloggers by the Israeli funded Internet Megaphone directed spammers, who often go to their materials posted on youtube. Source Watch reveals that their funding comes from the American Right but that they were co-founded by Meyrav Wurmser and Colonel Yigal Carmon, formerly of Israeli military intelligence, both of whom were early critics of the Oslo accords.