Social Media Activists Unite to Fight Incitement and Hate Against Israel
Israeli government hosts 60 pro-Israel advocates from around the world at #DigiTell18 in Jerusalem.
Earlier this week, the government of Israel organised the three-day #DigiTell18 conference aimed at formulating strategies to counter anti-Israel campaigns, hosting 60 pro-Israel advocates from 15 different countries in Jerusalem. I had the privilege to represent my grassroots group Indians For Israel at the event.
“For the first time, BDS [anti-Israel boycott campaign] groups are on the defensive,” said Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, highlighting the recent successes of the pro-active approach adopted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to combat these vicious and well-coordinated online campaigns.
The conference was a unique opportunity for the participants to interact and learn from each other’s experiences. Many of the attendees had guided and supported my group in running our online campaigns.
Alex Traiman covered the event for the Jerusalem News Syndicate:
“For the first time, BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] groups are on the defensive,” declared Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy to a group of more than 60 social-media experts gathered in Jerusalem on Monday and Tuesday for the three-day #DigiTell18 Conference sponsored by the Ministry. (…)
Erdan said the most powerful asset the group has at its disposal is the truth, and congratulated the conference participants for coming together to strengthen their skills. He encouraged the group to continue to publish and promote innovative content because “the work is urgent.”
David Keyes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign-media spokesman, discussed at length the powers of persuasion in communicating Israel’s messages in a nearly impossible messaging environment. “We are facing a ‘disinformation apocalypse’ unlike anything we have ever seen,” he stated.
70+ social media experts from Brazil to Australia have joined forces today to forge a new network against anti-Israel hate. And we have two more days to go! #DigiTell18 pic.twitter.com/GOWNOoGTxy
— 4IL (@4ILorg) March 12, 2018
Journalist Aryeh Tavor gave the context to the conference writing for the Israeli news website Lev Haolam:
The #DigiTell18 conference is the latest social-media related effort by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs to combat the rise of online anti-semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric. (…) Last year, Gilad Erdan announced the launch of 4il, which he called “the Iron Dome of Truth,” a reference to the highly-effective missile-defense system that Israel uses to shoot down enemy rockets.
Our group Indians For Israel was initiated in 2012 following the Gaza conflict and the accompanying wave of antisemitic sentiment in Europe. We initially created Facebook and Twitter accounts to offer a platform for the members of Indian diaspora in the West to express their support for the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
We have carried out several successful operations, including the Twitter hashtag #IndiaWithIsrael Twitter that trended during the 2014 Gaza conflict and the ongoing grassroots mobilization to urge the Indian government to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the embassy to the Holy City. Last month, we joined hands with like-minded Hindu activists to hold a 70,000-strong pro-Israel rally in the Indian city of Calcutta.
Our advocacy work is not merely based on our deep admiration for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, but also on a realistic assessment that antisemitic hatred and violence currently on the rise in Europe and elsewhere will someday be directed against the Hindu diaspora as well.
With #DigiTell18 concluded, I have never felt more energized, or as deeply committed & equipped with the necessary tools and network to defend & support #Israel in the on-line battlefield! #StrongerTogether ???????????????????? pic.twitter.com/WTr9enAGYp
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) March 14, 2018
I was delighted to meet the actual people behind these leading social media accounts and strengthen the bonds of camaraderie. Apart from sharing anecdotes and stories, it was disheartening to see many of them receiving hate mails and death threats for the simple ‘crime’ of defending Israel and standing up to antisemitic hatred online and out on the streets—a phenomenon not unknown to me. It is particularly viscous when such threats are directed at our families and loved ones. But that’s the nature of the enemy we face.
Despite their diverse backgrounds and geographies, I met men and women resilient in their beliefs, united in their love for Israel, and determined to challenge the growing campaign of lies and hatred against the Jewish people and the Jewish State.
In conversation with Awi Abelow, director of the Israel Video Network, after the DigiTell18 conference:
[Cover image via Twitter 4IL]
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
It’s Friday, so it had to be something Israel! Of course it’s all about perception. They want to ensure that the perception of Israel isn’t damaged by certain reports and media. Well well well. Stop the presses. I mean literally stop the presses. Just shut them down. There is a world of precedent for that from Henry V to that bad Nazi who will remain unamed, to Obama. If you don’t have bad reports then everything is OK. Isn’t that the logic? But, of course, no real discussion of the existential issues. No movement or idea that would advance the solution to the problems in Israel and Palestine (even if you think that it all belongs to the choosen people). Nothing. All just propaganda. Again and Again and Again. Really, it has been two days since the prior articed so why not just regurgitate.
how cute you are – LOL
if the arabs who were led by the Mufti hadn’t tried to destroy Jews in 1929 and later in europe there would NOT have been a ‘palestinian problem’.
there has been a Jewish presence in israel since the return after the destruction of the 2nd temple.
in the 1880s, there was a push for the Jews from the russian Pale to return to ‘the promised land’
the original Olim, BOUGHT land from and worked with arabs.
learn some history before you show your bigotry!
Most people who make snide remarks about ‘the chosen people’ (even when they spell it correctly) know nothing about what the concept means, except that it gives them a convenient excuse to vent their contempt for Jews. Projecting their own attitudes, they assume that it has something to do with special privileges rather than special obligations.
@RasMoyag Sir, I don’t understand your mini-rant. The solution for the Palestinian belligerent issues seems self evident to me. We can all agree that those who call themselves ‘Palestinians’ will never be happy with the division of land without the total expulsion of the Jewish nation from the land they call their own. This formula means Palestinians HAPPY, Jews UNHAPPY.
There is a conflict formula that will make both sides happy. Encourage the Palestinians to embrace Jihad against Israel, then kill them wholesale. Palestinians obtain Paradise = ETERNALLY HAPPY; Jews live peacefully in Israel according to the Promise of G_d = ETERNALLY HAPPY.
“HAPPY – HAPPY” always works!
This is the only workable solution for everyone, in my opinion.
The decision to time the article was mine alone. If I hadn’t been tied up at the conference I would have submitted the post earlier.
The story is unrelated to any pervious post.
don’t get bogged down trying to explain yourself –
we appreciate you and the Indian people who help support us.
“ignorance is Bliss – AntiSemites must be ecstatic”
Vijeta Uniyal keep up your good work!
God bless you.
@Vijeta Uniyal
Regardless, your post really blessed my heart! What a great way to enter the weekend here in America! With all my heart, I know that Israel shall prevail against her enemies… His promises cannot fail!
(Isaiah 62:1-7)
For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
http://www.jpost.com/Blogger/Vijeta-Uniyal
Vijeta Uniyal
Vijeta Uniyal is an Indian writer based in Europe. He graduated from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and worked for more than 10 years in international organizations including the German Foreign Office, Goethe-Institut and Humboldt-Foundation. He is presently a Contributing Editor for the UK-based Commentator and Fellow of the Lawfare Project.
Those Un-Social Media mobsters aren’t the only ones inciting hate through Media/MSM.
“Tom Donohue Warns President Trump Against Trade Action Toward China…”
“U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue is warning President Trump not to take any trade action against China or he will unleash his purchased control agents within congress and financial media to destroy his presidency.
“Donohue takes-in hundreds of millions in payments from multinational corporations who hold a vested interest in keeping the U.S. manufacturing economy subservient to China. The U.S. CoC then turns those corporate funds into lobbyist payments to DC politicians for legislative action that benefits their Chinese trade deals. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the #1 lobbyist in DC; there are trillions at stake.
Wall Street’s famous CONservative mouthpieces then take their cues from Donohue and decry any Trump trade policy that might impact their multinational benefactors. They hide behind catch phrases like “free trade”, or “free markets”. However, what they are really hiding is the truth, there is no free market – it is a controlled market. It’s a circle of trade and economic propaganda driven by the most well known guests that appear on Fox News. Ben Shapiro is one such example; there are hundreds more……
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/03/16/tom-donohue-warns-president-trump-against-trade-action-against-china/comment-page-1/#comments
GOOD READING!
Thank you friends and readers for your messages of support and appreciation.