JAKARTA - The modern battlefield for Israel is not limited to its physical borders; the battlefield extends to the screens and social media of a global audience. Sophisticated, well-funded, unconventional public relations strategies, known as Hasbara or public diplomacy, are specifically implemented to shape the international narrative around the country's military operations.
The Israeli propaganda strategy known as Hasbara was popularized by a Polish Zionist activist and journalist named Nahum Sokolow since the early 20th century. Hasbara aims to have the public justify Israel's controversial actions and policies towards the Palestinian population through a series of information distortions and media engineering.
Through a writing entitled "Propaganda and War" contained in the Media Monitors Network, Edward Said, a founding professor of postcolonial studies, revealed various Israeli efforts to carry out misinformation. Through the Hasbara project, Israel made a massive falsification of history, so that the public felt that Israel's actions were right because they were only victims of Palestinian terrorism.
"This opinion leads to the statement that the reason why Arabs and Muslims, or even people around the world hate Israel is because of hatred of Jews or what they call antisemitism," he said.
The Hasbara discourse, as it was formed since the early 20th century, is not a recent phenomenon. The spread of false information and media engineering has skyrocketed along with the increasing use of social media around the world. No kidding, Israel has spent hundreds of millions of dollars for the success of this project. This means that Israeli propaganda will be easier to reach anyone who owns social media, regardless of age.
"As a result, there is confusion in the midst of the world community. To Israel or Palestine, they have to take sides? Or is it better to be neutral? Thus, the misunderstanding of history will trap us in this Hasbara trap," continued Edward.
The investigation conducted by Eurovision News Spotlight, revealed that the budget allocated for Hasbara in 2025 increased 20 times, namely 150 million dollars or around Rp. 2.4 trillion. This is part of public diplomacy and the recovery of Israel's image after the genocide actions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that the allocation of funds would be used to influence sentiment in foreign press and on social media.
The Israeli government understands the current world situation, especially in American campuses and streets where many demonstrations condemning Israel's genocide against the Palestinians have taken place in recent years. Pro-Palestinian actions are also echoed by many residents in various countries in the world. Therefore, the Israeli government held a discussion session with various individuals and groups in order to succeed in pro-Israel advocacy around the world. The participants are not only from among the officials of the state, but also media influencers, professional Hasbara supporters, cultural figures, and representatives of Jewish groups.
Hasbara and Opinion Influencing in Indonesia
Former Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi once emphasized that Indonesia would not have diplomatic relations with Israel. However, Israel will not stop attracting the sympathy of the Indonesian people. Through Hasbara, the invitation to understand Israel through their point of view will be open. An example is a program initiated by the Israel-Asia Center that has created a program entitled Israel-Indonesia Futures.
The program was carried out online from January 5 to May 4, 2025 in order to take participants on a journey to discover untapped potential between Israel (the Start-Up Nation and the only Jewish country in the world) and Indonesia (which is expected to become the 5th largest economy in the world by 2030 and the country with the largest Muslim majority in the world). Indonesian participants who apply will be invited to explore the history, politics, economy, culture, language, "conflict", and the emergence of Israel as a global center of technology and innovation.
Apparently, this program has been implemented in previous years. On the page, there are also testimonials from Indonesians who have participated in the program. The Israel-Indonesia Futures program is expected to open the normalization of relations between Israel and Indonesia gradually as has been done by Saudi Arabia. In the registration website, there is also a note about the importance of confidentiality guaranteed by the institution. "We understand the sensitivity of the relationship between Israel and Indonesia. Therefore, no names of program participants, speakers, partners, or supporters are published without their written permission," reads the statement on the Israel-Asia Center page.
The Chairman of the Yogyakarta National Transformation Care (Petranas), Guntur Surya Alam, revealed that Hasbara is not only about how Israel builds a positive image in the eyes of the world, but also how they try to embrace countries that have rejected their existence. With a more subtle and structured strategy, this propaganda continues to work, even without being noticed.
He explained, in the context of politics and strategy, Hasbara is used as an important tool by Israel to shape a global narrative that supports its actions, especially in conflicts with the Palestinians. Indonesia, which has a long history of supporting Palestinian independence, needs to be alert to the influence of hasbara that tries to divert attention from these fundamental issues.
"Critical awareness, education, access to objective and balanced information play an important role as a fortress to protect the public from the negative influence of Hasbara, as well as being able to better understand the actual situation in Palestine and not easily influenced by propaganda," he said.
Guntur also emphasized that the role of local media and civil society organizations is very important in conveying a true and balanced narrative. Media must be committed to presenting objective and in-depth reports on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, while civil society organizations can educate the public about human rights and global justice.
"Indonesia must strengthen its international network so that it can strengthen its position in supporting Palestine and fighting against the misleading Hasbara narrative. In addition, maintaining the integrity and awareness of the Indonesian people towards international issues is a strategic step to fight against the negative influence of Hasbara," he said.
Despite the various controversies behind Hasbara, it is not an exaggeration to say that Israel has understood the importance of making its allies support its brutality.
The ancient Greek playwright, Aeschylus, once said that "in war, truth is the first victim." But what if truth could be shaped, re-sculpted and digitized into a full participant in the war? Because, in modern warfare, the mastery of information can be as important as the mastery of the battlefield, and that is what Israel does with Hasbara.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
