Hasbara 2.0: Israel’s Public Diplomacy in the Digital Age

Abstract

The Internet has been a counter-public space for Palestinian liberation politics for over a decade, and digital technologies have become an increasingly important tool for solidarity groups across the world. However, the Israeli state and Zionist supporters worldwide are harnessing the same technologies and platforms to mobilize technology primarily to increase pro-Israel sentiments. The aims of this article are to examine hasbara [Israeli public diplomacy] through an exploration of similar diplomacy programmes; to illustrate how social media have affected the basic algorithms of hasbara; and to probe the assertions of hasbara in the light of pro-Palestinian solidarity. Through a study of public diplomacy, this article critically analyzes hasbara as a site of contestation and a method that is hampered by contradictions. On the one hand, there has been a massive growth in hasbara in recent years—indicated by the increase in funding for it and by its professionalized and centralized character; and on the other hand, hasbara has attracted sharp critiques in Israel for its reputed failures. To understand this contradiction, hasbara must be placed within the context of Israel’s settler-colonialism, which sets the state apart from other ‘post-conflict’ states. This article reviews the methods utilized in hasbara, as well as their readjustment in the context of recent wars. Events in 2014 illustrate that hasbara actually destabilizes Israel’s diplomacy. Online journalism and the suppression of solidarity for Palestine together stimulate more criticism and, in turn, help to shift public opinion. Paradoxically, therefore, adjustments (‘hasbara 2.0’) have underlined the image of Israel as a colonial power engaged in violent occupation.

Key Words:

• BDS
• Gaza
• Internet
• Israel
• Palestinian Liberation
• Propaganda
• Public diplomacy
• West Bank
• Zionism

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Jamie Allison, Linah Alsafinah, Sai Englert, Ashley Inglis and Mandy Turner for their advice and encouragement, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their feedback.

Notes

¹ C. Miéville (2006) The Lies that Aren’t Meant to Deceive Us, Socialist Review (November) Issue 311. Available at http://socialistreview.org.uk/311/lies-arent-meant-deceive-us, accessed August 15, 2015.

² See, for instance, the detailed report, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA 2014) Gaza Crisis Appeal: September 2014 Update. Available at http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/gaza_crisis_appeal_9_september.pdf, and a similar report at http://www.unocha.org/aggregator/sources/73?page=18, accessed August 15, 2015.

³ Debates focused initially on how images from Syria were claimed to be from Gaza. However, as visual evidence from the war emerged, the issue then shifted from verifying sources to overcoming discomfort about the upsetting content itself. For discussions about the various competing social media claims, see R. Tooth (2014) Warning: Upsetting Images, The Guardian (G2), July 27, 2015; also see BBC special at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnO4gy8dQIc debate, date of access; and Guardian contribution, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/21/sharing-pictures-corpses-social-media-ceasefire, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁴ Most figures for the oPt cover the West Bank only, but it is expected that Gaza has higher numbers. For regional/MENA statistics see: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁵ See M. Aouragh (2011) Palestine Online (London: I. B. Tauris).

⁶ D. Senor and P. Singer (2009) Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle (New York: McClelland & Stewart).

⁷ M. Aouragh (2008) Virtual Intifada: Online Activism and Everyday Resistance, Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research 1(2), pp. 109–130.

⁸ For more on the changing media landscapes in Palestine and their social and political implications, see M. Aouragh (2011) Palestine Online; M. Sienkiewicz (2012) Out of Control: Palestinian News Satire and Government Power in the Age of Social Media, Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, 10(1–2), pp. 106–118; L. Alsaafin (2013) Palestinians Turn to Facebook in Fight Against Occupation, Al Monitor. Available at http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/social-media-palestinian-activism.html#, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁹ For outstanding reports that contain important evidence, see: UN General Assembly Human Rights Council (2009) Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. Available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf; G. J. Wallance (2014) U. N. Human Rights Council’s anti-Israel inquiry, Los Angeles Times. Available at http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-wallance-gaza-unfair-un-resolution-20140729-story.html; M. Cohn (2014) US Leaders Aid and Abet Israeli War Crimes, Genocide & Crimes against Humanity. Available at http://jurist.org/forum/2014/08/marjorie-cohn-israel-crimes.php; A. Goodman and N. Shaikh (2014) As Palestinians Go to ICC, Human Rights Watch Alleges Israeli War Crimes for Shooting Fleeing Gazans, Democracy Now. Available at http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25442-as-palestinians-go-to-icc-human-rights-watch-alleges-israeli-war-crimes-for-shooting-fleeing-gazans; N. Cumming-Bruce (2014) U.N. Reports Dire Impact on Children in Gaza Strip, New York Times, August 5, 2014. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/world/middleeast/un-reports-dire-impact-on-children-in-gaza-strip.html?_r=0>; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28437626; Save the Children (2008) The Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion. Available at http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/the-gaza-strip-a-humanitarian-implosion, all accessed August 15, 2015.

¹⁰ Molad (2012) Israeli Hasbara: Myths and Facts. Available at http://www.molad.org/images/upload/researches/79983052033642.pdf, accessed August 15, 2015.

¹¹ The Annual Report 61B (2010) by Comptroller (prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is discussed in Molad (2012).

¹² N. Snow (2008) Rethinking Public Diplomacy, in: N. Snow & P. M. Taylor (eds) Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy (London: Routledge), pp. 3–11.

¹³ See further Z. Harb (2011) Channels of Resistance in Lebanon (London: I. B.Tauris), pp. 12–13.

¹⁴ S. Saeed (2010) News Media, Public Diplomacy and the War on Terror, in: M. Zweiri & E. C. Murphy (eds) The New Arab Media: Technology, Image and Perception (Reading, UK: Ithaca Press), p. 51.

¹⁵ Ibid, p. 57.

¹⁶ Ibid, p. 48.

¹⁷ N. Chomsky & E. Herman (1988) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (New York: Pantheon Books).

¹⁸ See, for example, C. Sparks (2006) Contradictions of capitalist media practice, in: L. Artz, S. Macek & Dana L. Cloud (eds) (2006) Marxism and Communication Studies: The Point is to Change it (New York: Peter Land), pp. 111–132.

¹⁹ See E. Said (2001) Propaganda and War, Media Monitors Networks, 31, August. Available at http://www.mediamonitors.net/edward37.html, accessed August 15, 2015.

²⁰ I. Hall (2010) The Transformation of Diplomacy: Mysteries, Insurgencies and Public Relations, International Affairs, 86(1), p. 249.

²¹ Snow and Taylor (eds) Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy.

²² J. Panment (2013) New Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century (London: Routledge).

²³ Among the contributors in Snow & Taylor (eds) Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, are diplomats, military personal and policy consultants. A bottom-up angle and assessment after policies are put in place would, for instance, disclose the resistance to public diplomacy offered by a number of practitioners. See S. Jansen (2013) Review – New Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century, E-International Relations, August 26, 2013. Available at http://www.e-ir.info/2013/08/26/review-new-public-diplomacy-in-the-21st-century/, accessed August 15, 2015.

²⁴ See, e.g., Panment, New Public Diplomacy; Snow & Taylor (eds), Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy; B. White (2005) Diplomacy, in: J. Baylis, S. Smith & P. Owens (eds) The Globalization of World Politics, 3rd edn. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

²⁵ White, Diplomacy, pp. 387–403.

²⁶ Ibid, p. 388.

²⁷ Sparks, Contradictions of Capitalist Media Practice, p. 114.

²⁸ White, Diplomacy, p. 394.

²⁹ Ibid, p. 399.

³⁰ The link between political-economy and cybersecurity are very important to the ways cyber warfare and diplomacy are related in Israel. I discuss this elsewhere, in M. Aouragh (2015) Between Cybercide and Cyber Intifada: Technologic (dis-) Empowerment of Palestinian Activism, in: L. Jayyusi & A. S. Roald (eds) Media and Political Contestation in the Contemporary Arab World: A Decade of Change (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 129–160.

³¹ J. Nye (2005) The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs).

³² E. Gilboa (2006) Public Diplomacy: The Missing Component in Israel’s Foreign Policy, Israel Affairs, 12(4), p. 715.

³³ See T. Sheafer & S. Shenhav (2010) Mediated Public diplomacy in a New Era of Warfare, The Communication Review, 12, pp. 272–283; Gilboa, Public Diplomacy; B. D. Mor (2006) Public Diplomacy in Grand Strategy, Foreign Policy Analysis, 2, pp. 157–176; R. Schleifer (2003) Jewish and Contemporary Histories of Israeli Hasbara, Jewish Political Studies Review, 15(1–2), pp. 123–153; M. Sherman (2013) Into the Fray: Dereliction of Duty, The Jerusalem Post, October 25, 2013. Available online at http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-The-Fray-Dereliction-of-duty-329723, accessed August 15, 2015. However distressing it is to read, at times, this Israeli body of work is helpful for two reasons: Firstly, it does not shy away from proclaiming its militaristic goals and Zionist ideology, unlike work that is framed as neutral yet which adheres to Israeli agendas; and secondly, the linguistic overlap with military terminology also suggests a (professional) background that is shared by the authors and the military, e.g., the reference to ‘the enemy,’ which, in this case, only can be the Palestinians (Schleifer, Jewish and contemporary histories, p. 123).

³⁴ Gilboa, Public diplomacy, p. 716

³⁵ This sudden shift in argument is only possible when ignoring the negative turn that was already visible in the 1980s, when Israel invaded Lebanon and was involved in the Sabra and Shatila massacre, followed by the crackdown on the non-violent mass civil uprising of the First Intifada. A telling reminder of the long legacy of hasbara is the quote by Abba Eban in The Jerusalem Post reproduced in the next section.

³⁶ P. Taylor (2008) Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications, in: Snow & Taylor (eds) Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, p. 15.

³⁷ This quote refers to the summer of 1982; it was published in The Jerusalem Post and was retrieved by Ben White. The complete quote is reproduced in B. White (2013) Abba Eban’s Comments on the Idiocy of Hasbara Just as True Three Decades Later, Electronic Intifada, February 18, 2013. Available at https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ben-white/abba-ebans-comments-idiocy-hasbara-just-true-three-decades-later, accessed August 15, 2015.

³⁸ See Z. Shalom (2012) The Role of U.S. Diplomacy in the Lead-Up to the Six-Day War: Balancing Moral Commitments and National Interests (Brighton, UK: Sussex Academic Press); and S. Sofer (1998) Zionism and the Foundations of Israeli Diplomacy (New York: Cambridge University Press). Also, R. Schleifer (2011) Perspectives of Psychological Operations (PSYOP) in Contemporary Conflicts: Essays in Winning Hearts and Minds (Brighton and Portland: Sussex Academic Press).

³⁹ Sofer, Zionism.

⁴⁰ Shalom, The Role of U.S. Diplomacy.

⁴¹ See L. Z. Eisenberg (2013) Review of Shalom, Zaki. 2012. The Role of U.S. Diplomacy in the Lead-Up to the Six-Day War: Balancing Moral Commitments and National Interests, Digest of Middle East Studies, 22(1), pp. 190–193.

⁴² Schleifer, Jewish and Contemporary Histories, p. 124. By ‘clean’ Schleifer means non-violent or within the limits of the law, which completely overlooks the violence of euphemisms used to cover-up colonial injustice. The ‘apologetic Jew’—a ‘weak and inferior Jewishness’ with a ‘Freudian longing’ for acceptance—is described as lacking the wit to dispense Christian prejudice; this apparently has become a source for weak hasbara (p. 126).

⁴³ Schleifer, Perspectives of Psychological Operations.

⁴⁴ Mor, Public Diplomacy in Grand Strategy, p. 160.

⁴⁵ E. Said (1995) Peace and its Discontents: Essays on Palestine in the Middle East Peace Process (New York: Vintage Books).

⁴⁶ Schleifer Jewish and contemporary histories of Israeli Hasbara, p. 144

⁴⁷ H. Aked, T. Mills, T. Griffin & D. Miller (2013) The UK’s Pro-Israel Lobby in Context, Open Democracy, December 2, 2013. Available at https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/tom-mills-hilary-aked-tom-griffin-david-miller/uk’s-pro-israel-lobby-in-context, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁴⁸ Miéville, The Lies that Aren’t Meant to Deceive Us.

⁴⁹ This telling example of the systematic demand to condemn Hamas rockets during the 2014 war was illustrated by the appearance of a Palestinian-American director of the Jerusalem Fund on the Fox news show Hannity. As Munayyer explains that he does not want to discuss his personal opinion, but to debate the reasons behind these violent outbursts by militants, Hannity shouted: ‘What part of this can’t you get through your thick head?’, before cutting Munayyer off. See the episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FnV9Qc9MTY, accessed April 2015.

⁵⁰ G. Hage (2003) ‘Comes a Time We Are All Enthusiasm’: Understanding Palestinian Suicide Bombers in Times of Exighophobia, Public Culture 15(1), p. 71.

⁵¹ Miéville, The Lies that Aren’t Meant to Deceive Us.

⁵² The normalization of hasbara through this hugely popular program revolves around a competition between hasbarists, battling to represents Israel; see C. Urquhart (2004) Our Man in the US: Israel uses TV show to Find its best Spin Doctor, Guardian, November 27, 2004. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/27/israel1. The programme was supported by a variety of political organizations (e.g., see Hillel International (2006) Vote for Israel’s next ‘Ambassador’ to the United States, Hillel International News and Views – Blog. Available at http://www.hillel.org/about/news-views/news-views---blog/news-and-views/2006/02/24/vote-for-israel-s-next-ambassador-to-the-united-states-, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁵³ In particular, the hiring of Avi Mayer as a new media specialist resulted in a new style of diplomacy online; see, e.g., http://www.jewishagency.org/blog/1/article/58, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁵⁴ See the announcement and list of participants here: http://embassies.gov.il/new-york/SpeakersBureau/Pages/El-Al-Ambassadors-.aspx, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁵⁵ See also B. Ravid (2013) Prime Minister’s office Recruiting Students to Wage Online Hasbara Battles, Haaretz, August 13, 2013. Available at http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.541142, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁵⁶ See Corporate Watch (2012) Corporate Watch Magazine # 52, Spring/Summer 2012, for a clear explanation of the main idea behind ‘astroturfing,’ a term that refers to fake green grass to point at the fake endorsements of products: https://corporatewatch.org/magazine/52/springsummer-2012/online-astroturfing, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁵⁷ Aked et al., The UK’s pro-Israel Lobby.

⁵⁸ See, for instance, Christians For Israel International. Available at http://www.c4israel.org/c4i/about_us/offices.

⁵⁹ The report was leaked to Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/2009/07/08/the-israel-project-s-2009-global-language-dictionary.html., accessed March, 2010. The manual claims to be informed by polls and focus group experiments, although it presents no indications of methodological evidence. A number of investigative journalists have been tracking such hasbara projects, see: M. Blumenthal (2013) Israel Cranks up the PR Machine, The Nation, November 4, 2013; M. Leas (2010) Delegitimizers of Israel, Counterpunch, May; R. Silverstein (2009), Hasbara Spam Alert, The Guardian, January 9, 2009. The consistent reporting by Electronic Intifada and Mondoweiss is also very helpful.

⁶⁰ The report also found that certain words—accountability, children, diplomacy, prosperity, prevention, perseverance—or general references—Hamas or militant Islam instead of Palestinians—work better.

⁶¹ Yisrael Sheli made one of the most outstanding interventions by organizing seminars teaching how to edit online content in favor of Israel, for a report of such a gathering see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t52LB2fYhoY. See also: http://www.webelieveinisrael.org/ where similar assistance and model letters are offered. Accessed August 15, 2015.

⁶² R. Hassman (2008) The Israel Brand: Nation Marketing under Constant Conflict. Available at http://spirit.tau.ac.il/government/downloads/Rommy_Hassman_HebBLINT.pdf, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁶³ C. Liphshiz (2014) From Dutch Situation Room, pro-Israel Volunteers Defend Jewish State on Social Media, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 29, 2014. Available at http://www.jta.org/2014/07/29/news-opinion/world/in-dutch-situation-room-pro-israel-volunteers-defend-jewish-state-on-social-media, accessed August 15, 2015

⁶⁴ See F. Kiblawi and W. Youmans (2015) Israel’s Apologists and the Martin Luther King Jr. Hoax, Electronic Intifada, August 15, 2015. Available at http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-apologists-and-martin-luther-king-jr-hoax/4955, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁶⁵ On rare occasions, people also coordinate offline efforts, such as pro-Israel (counter-) demonstrations. In this case €1400 was made selling 121 plastic bracelets in Dam Square in the capital city Amsterdam. It is important to note that this step was in response to three successive large pro-Palestinian demonstrations throughout the country. The Facebook group can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Holland4Israel/info?tab=page_info and the Twitter account at https://twitter.com/Holland4Israel, last accessed August 15, 2015.

⁶⁶ Cf. A. Mohammed (2014) Moeen Ali and the Language of War and Protest, Islam 21C, August 18, 2014. Available at http://www.islam21c.com/politics/moeen-ali-and-the-language-of-war-and-protest/, last accessed August 15, 2015.

⁶⁷ Apart from external influence, one can also read these hasbara videos as simultaneously communicating to Israelis that they are stronger and are winning, i.e., do not need to question their colonial policy. Besides the motive of distracting them from the ‘real issues’, announcing intent for Israelis themselves is thus an important parallel motive in much of the hasbara propaganda.

⁶⁸ Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (2010). See full talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06gjuYT7eMU, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁶⁹ It is outside this article’s scope to discuss the impact of new media on grassroots politics in Palestine. For an extensive analysis see Aouragh, Virtual Intifada; E. Siapera (2013) Tweeting #Palestine: Twitter and the Mediation of Palestine, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(6), pp. 539–555. doi: 10.1177/1367877913503865; A. Najjar (2010) Othering the Self: Palestinians Narrating the War on Gaza in the Social Media, Journal of Middle East Media, 6(1), pp. 1–30.

⁷⁰ B. Makuch (2014) Israel is Outgunning Hamas on Social Media, Too, Motherboard Vice, July 25, 2014. Available at http://motherboard.vice.com/read/israel-is-outgunning-hamas-on-social-media-too, accessed August 15, 2015; D. Kerr (2014) How Israel and Hamas Weaponized Social Media, CNET, January 13, 2014. Available at http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/how-israel-and-hamas-weaponized-social-media, accessed August 15, 2015; H. Sherwood (2014) Israel and Hamas on Social Media, Guardian, 16 July, 2014. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/israel-hamas-clash-social-media, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁷¹ For interesting reportage, see R. Aren (2010) available at http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/anglo-file/1.296914, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁷² J. Cook (2009) Internet Users Paid to Spread Israeli Propaganda, The Electronic Intifada, July 21, 2009. Available at https://electronicintifada.net/content/internet-users-paid-spread-israeli-propaganda/8355, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁷³ Typical of the ‘start-up nation’s secret of success, Dratwa began an online marketing and public relations firm, which gave him additional experience, scope and clients. See J. Urich (2011) Meet the Head of the IDF’s New Media desk, Israel Defence Forces, June 27, 2011. Available at http://www.idf.il/1398-12231-en/Dover.aspx, last accessed August 15, 2015.

⁷⁴ Kuntsman & Stein 2010; D. Allan & C. Brown (2010) The Mavi Marmara At the Frontlines Of Web 2.0, Journal of Palestine Studies, 40(1), pp. 63.

⁷⁵ While it was named ‘Pillar of Clouds’ in Israel, for Western media the less harsh sounding name ‘Pillar of Defence’ was used. For Palestinians, it was a military operation that killed almost 500 Palestinians.

⁷⁶ M. Borgstede (2013) Tweet Offensive: Social Media is Israeli Military’s Newest Weapon, Worldcrunch, 21 July, 2013. Available at http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/tweetoffensive-social-media-is-israeli-military-039-s-newest-weapon/israel-tsahal-social-media-idf-avital-leibovich-hamas-hezbollah/c3s12783/#.U-jwgBZeNG5, accessed August 15, 2015

⁷⁷ Ibid.

⁷⁸ Z. Papacharissi & M. Oliveira (2011) The Rhythms of News Storytelling on Twitter: Coverage of the January 25th Egyptian Uprising on Twitter. Paper presented at the World Association for Public Opinion Research Conference, Amsterdam, September 2011. Available at http://www.researchgate.net/publication/264645964_Affective_News_and_Networked_Publics_The_Rhythms_of_News_Storytelling_on_Egypt, last accessed August 2015.

⁷⁹ G. Philo & M. Berry (2011) More Bad News from Israel (London: Pluto Press); D. Baram (2004) Disenchantment: The Guardian and Israel (London: Guardian Books); and A. Bishara (2013) Back Stories: U.S. News Production and Palestinian Politics (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press).

⁸⁰ Papacharissi & Oliveira, The Rhythms of News Storytelling on Twitter.

⁸¹ Magnay tweeted about being harassed and called the Israelis on the hilltop ‘scum.’ She was removed from Palestine by her employer and sent to Moscow, provoking mocking comments about her being sent to Siberia. Mohyeldin commented about this on Facebook. He also was pulled out, presumably in response to his personal comments on Facebook. He was reinstated after a big outcry by fans and colleagues. Beaumont tweeted about having seen a father scraping up his son and putting the pieces into a plastic bag. See, respectively: M. Calderone (2014) CNN Removes Reporter Diana Magnay from Israel-Gaza after ‘Scum’ Tweet, Huffington Post, July 18, 2014. Available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/cnn-diana-magnay-israel-gaza_n_5598866.html; G. Greenwald (2014) NBC pulls veteran reporter from Gaza after witnessing Israeli attack on child, The Intercept, July 17, 2104. Available at https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/17/nbc-removes-ayman-mohyeldin-gaza-coverage-witnesses-israeli-beach-killing-four-boys/; P. Beaumont (2014) A father opens a plastic bag: ‘This is my son’, he says, killed by an Israeli shell, Guardian, July 18, 2014. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/18/father-gathers-body-dead-son-two-plastic-bag-gaza-shelling, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁸² Israel’s chief spokesman for the country’s Prime Minister, Mark Regev, normally is allowed to out-talk his opponents, but during a Channel 4 interview by Jon Snow there was a confused and irritated look on his face: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_-76H-YRjs, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁸³ Sparks, Contradictions of Capitalist Media Practice, p. 130.

⁸⁴ This argument is developed in greater detail in A. Alexander & M. Aouragh (2011) The Egyptian Experience: Sense and Nonsense of the Internet Revolution, International Journal of Communication, 5, pp. 1344–1358; and A. Alexander & M. Aouragh (2014) Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution: The Role of the Media Revisited, International Journal of Communication, 8, pp. 890–915.

⁸⁵ L. Artz (2006) On the Material and the Dialectic: Toward a Class Analysis of Communication, in: L. Artz, S. Macek & D. L. Cloud (eds) Marxism and Communication Studies.

⁸⁶ D. L. Cloud (2006) Change Happens: Materialist Dialectics and Communication Studies, in: L. Artz, S. Macek, D. L. Cloud (eds) Marxism and Communication Studies, pp. 62–65, provides an interesting reflection of the different takes on the extent of the spontaneity of consciousness between Lukacs, Luxemburg and Gramsci.

⁸⁷ L. Artz, On the Material and the Dialectic, p. 46.

⁸⁸ In D. Kerr, How Israel and Hamas Weaponized Social Media. Al-Qassem is considered ‘a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization’, hence banned from YouTube. Whatever the reasoning is, the result is that state violence is preferred over non-state violence.

⁸⁹ M. Aouragh (2012) Social Media, Mediation and the Arab Revolutions, Triple-C: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, 10(2), pp. 518–536.

⁹⁰ Cf. B. Dabour (2014) In Asymmetric Twitter War over Gaza, Palestinians are Winning, Electronic Intifada, August 21, 2014. Available at http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/belal-dabour/asymmetric-twitter-war-over-gaza-palestinians-are-winning, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁹¹ Cf. A. Kaczynski (2014) Rihanna tweets ‘#FreePalestine,’ quickly deletes tweet, BuzzFeed, July 15, 2014. Available at http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/rihanna-tweets-freepalestine-quickly-deletes-tweet#.glwvGrbP, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁹² See the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZC7A-Lr4Eo, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁹³ For both questionnaires see: http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/ejq2q2g7ym/Internal_Results_140728_War_Crimes_W.pdf; http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/ytggo8ho42/YG-Archive-Pol-Sunday-Times-results-140725.pdf, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁹⁴ See this extensive assessment by the BBC: http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/may12/BBCEvals_May12_rpt.pdf.

⁹⁵ Aked et al., The UK’s pro-Israel Lobby.

⁹⁶ For the full transcript of his speech, see: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.577920, accessed August 15, 2015.

⁹⁷ Miéville, The Lies that Aren’t Meant to Deceive Us.

⁹⁸ Molad (2012) Israeli Hasbara: Myths and Facts, p. 11.