(Israeli) Infowar / Wikipedia

In 2010, two Israeli groups started to set up training courses in Wikipedia editing with aims to 'show the other side' over borders and culture. The groups sought to gain the upper hand in the online debate by launching a course in "Zionist editing" for Wikipedia, the online reference site.

Yesha Council, representing the Jewish settler movement, and the rightwing Israel Sheli (My I srael) movement, ran their first workshop this week in Jerusalem, teaching participants how to rewrite and revise some of the most hotly disputed pages of the online reference site.

Critics cite the editing problems as proof of a flawed site that can be edited by almost anybody, but its defenders claim the issues are tiny compared with its scale.

What is hasbara? The most known explanation is the following:

From Wikipedia:

"Israel uses public diplomacy to communicate directly with citizens of other countries to inform and influence them so that they support or tolerate the Israeli government's strategic objectives."

First, the Israelis don't use diplomacy. They use the politics of oppression which is to recognize when they say "If you don't, we do it alone." or "We will react accordingly."

Hasbara is a language of exaggeration and dissemination, whereby exaggeration refers to intentionally making something more extreme or more dramatic than it is, while dissemination is spreading widely.

Example: They claim that the October 7th was a massacre as it have cost 1.139 colonists their lives while the Israelis have massacred, costing more than 41.000 Palestinians in Gaza their lives (Sept. 27, 2024)

Hasbara is just a political language to mislead, to indoctrinate, and to have the upper hand in public opinion. The latter is often by expressing threats, accusation and even ruining someone's career.

Their approach is driven by two phrases. The first one is Zionist, the second is brought into British Mandatory Palestine by German Ashkenazis.:

"You may lie if it is to defend yourself"

"If you are accused, blame the victim."