US an “Open Field” for Manipulation by Israeli Propaganda: Mass Consciousness Activities
Middle East Monitor 06/27/2024
By Nasim Ahmed | –
( Middle East Monitor ) – Israel has long relied on its much-vaunted hasbara — propaganda — to obscure the brutal reality of its colonial occupation of Palestine. Essentially a sophisticated propaganda machine, the hasbara industry, as Professor Ilan Pappe demonstrates in his new book, has been instrumental in shaping the narrative in the service and maintenance of the Zionist project. Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic, as Pappe notes, has a long history. Having founded the state of Israel on terrorism, against the wishes of the native population, the Zionist groups that used violence to disrupt the history of Palestine are now determined to shield the occupation state from the global outrage that its genocide in Gaza has provoked.
New revelations by the Guardian have exposed the extent of Zionist lobbying in the US, revealing a coordinated and well-funded effort by the Israeli government to influence public opinion and political discourse. The goal is to shape American debates on college campuses, in Congress and across social media. Another top priority is suppressing criticism of Israel, which is achieved by lobbying lawmakers to adopt the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Jewish racism, and conflate legitimate criticism of Israel with . . . anti-Semitism.
The roots of this latest campaign can be traced back to 2017 when the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs developed a programme known initially as Kela Shlomo. This was designed to conduct what Israel termed “mass consciousness activities” targeted primarily at the US and Europe. The programme, later rebranded as “Concert” and now operating under the name “Voices of Israel”, was conceived as a vehicle to operate “outside the government” and provide a “rapid and coordinated response against the attempts to tarnish the image of Israel around the world.”
Former Minister Gilad Erdan envisioned Concert as a “PR Commando Unit” capable of launching social media attacks against celebrities who criticise Israel. The programme has since evolved and expanded its scope since 7 October. As of November last year, the Israeli government is said to have allocated at least 32 million shekels (approximately £6.8m) for advocacy efforts to reframe the public debate. This funding is overseen by Amichai Chikli, the 42-year-old Likud minister who now heads the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.
During a Knesset hearing in November, Chikli assured lawmakers that there was new money in the budget for a pushback campaign against global opposition to Israel, quite separate from traditional public relations efforts. However, this did not pose a challenge, especially considering the extensive network of Zionist organisations operating throughout the US, all happy to donate generously to such efforts.
Chikli mentioned 80 programmes already underway for advocacy efforts “to be done in the ‘Concert’ way”. The primary goal of Concert, as I wrote in 2022, is to privatise Israel’s propaganda efforts by recruiting influencers and organisations to speak favourably about the apartheid state in various media channels, social media platforms and conferences both at home and abroad.
The initiative was designed to operate indirectly, allowing the Israeli government to fund pro-Israel organisations and activities without appearing to do so overtly.
Several American organisations have been identified as working closely with the Israeli government’s advocacy efforts. These include the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), which reportedly received most of its funding in 2018 from the Israeli agency running Concert. ISGAP has been instrumental in shaping Congressional investigations into universities over claims of anti-Semitism. The Zionist lobby was named as one of the groups that spearheaded the push to drive Harvard University’s first black female president, Claudine Gray, out of office following a row over alleged anti-Semitism.
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Another organisation, the National Black Empowerment Council (NBEC), listed as a partner of Voices of Israel, has published open letters from Black Democrat politicians pledging solidarity with Israel. CyberWell, a pro-Israel “anti-disinformation” group led by former Israeli military intelligence and Voices officials, has established itself as an official “trusted partner” to TikTok and Meta, helping to screen and edit content. This partnership highlights a striking correlation between the inclusion of Zionist lobby groups as “trusted partners” and Meta’s “systemic censorship” of pro-Palestine content.
Another Zionist group mentioned by the Guardian is Hillel International, one of the largest Jewish campus organisations in the world. Hillel has received financial and strategic support from Mosaic United, a public benefit corporation backed by the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. This longstanding partnership is now being leveraged to shape the political debate over Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza. In February, Hillel’s chief executive, Adam Lehman, reportedly appeared before the Israeli Knesset to discuss this strategic partnership with Mosaic and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. Lehman noted that the collaboration had already yielded significant results.
Notably, none of the groups identified have registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a US law requiring groups that receive funds or direction from foreign countries to disclose their activities to the Department of Justice. “One struggles to find a parallel in terms of a foreign country’s influence over American political debate,” said Eli Clifton, a senior adviser at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “There’s a fixation on policing American discourse on the US-Israel relationship, even on college campuses, from Israel, going all the way up to Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
A key aim in this campaign has been the aggressive promotion of the highly controversial IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. This definition has faced criticism, including from its drafter, Kenneth Stern, who has argued that it is being “weaponised” by the pro-Israel lobby. Seven of the eleven examples cited by IHRA conflate criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. The result has been the stifling of free speech and legitimate criticism of the apartheid state. Several US states, including Georgia, South Carolina and South Dakota, have passed legislation recently incorporating the IHRA definition into hate crime statutes.
At the federal level, the US House of Representatives passed legislation in April this year to encode the IHRA definition into Department of Education standards. If enacted, this law would enable the federal government to withdraw funding from universities that fail to curb criticism of Israel and Zionism, as well as impose punitive measures against pro-Palestine advocates. The push to embed the IHRA definition into federal law is part of a wider campaign, particularly targeting US college campuses, where pro-Palestinian activism has surged since 7 October.
Israeli officials have conducted multiple Knesset hearings with American Zionist organisations to discuss co-ordination efforts. Margarita Spichko, an official from the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, testified that her office produces weekly reports based on information gathered from US partners, including Hillel. These reports are utilised to monitor and respond to campus activities related to Israel and Palestine. Additionally, an aide to Israel’s National Security Council noted that the Prime Minister’s office regularly meets with DC-based Zionist groups, further confirming Tel Aviv’s orchestration of American Zionist organisations.
Commenting on the Israeli “PR Commando Unit” targeting the American population, Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, said:
“There’s a built-in assumption that there’s nothing at all weird about viewing the US as sort of an open field for Israel to operate in, that there are no limitations.”
Craig Holman, an expert on lobbying rules at Public Citizen, noted the potential legal issues surrounding these activities: “While there are several exemptions to FARA registration, nearly all the exemptions are overridden if a person or group seeks to influence American public policy and public opinion at the suggestion or behest of the foreign government.”
The scale and sophistication of Israel’s efforts to shape public discourse in the US raise serious questions about the extent of its influence in American politics and academia. As the genocidal campaign in Gaza continues and criticism of Israeli policies intensifies, these coordinated efforts are poised to escalate. This growing Israeli influence threatens to undermine free speech and subvert the very principles of American democracy, all in the pursuit of defending what is so clearly a rogue, apartheid regime.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.