“Buying the Narrative, losing the world”
JVL Introduction
This is another post on how Israel’s propaganda is failing to work. (see also here). This is not to be complacent but to help get some perspective when the pressure from those who support Israel – and usually uncritically – seems to be so powerful especially when it comes to influencing politicians. While most governments still seem cowed by it most people are not, instead they are appalled at what is happening and the dehumanisation of Palestinians and this is true even if they mainly see mainstream media as there is some (not enough) coverage of the ongoing nightmare in Gaza and the aggressive settler attacks in the West Bank and the reality of how the war started with Iran.
A recent Ha’aretz piece referred to in the article below is entitled notes that Israel is in a “frantic battle to win back US public opinion” but now 60% of people in the US hold views unfavourable towards Israe. this is up from 42% since 2022 and from 53% in 2025! The reality is that, despite “unprecedented sums” being spent, the truth cannot be hidden away, especially in a time of social media and with the courageous work of Gazan journalists and others documenting the reality of their lives while Israel continues to bomb and take control over more and more of the land. Israel is wasting its time and money and completely failing to address the real reasons for its growing isolation, not only in Gaza but also Iran and the dreadful attacks by settlers backed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
I am reminded of the chant “(name) you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide” and take heart from Israel’s increasing isolation on the world stage. Allegations that this is because of antisemitism do not wash and attempts, eg to portray Mamdani, the ICC and the Church of England as hostile to Jews are being seen, correctly, as ridiculous.
This article was originally published by Palestine Chronicle on Fri 24 Jul 2026. Read the original here.
Netanyahu and Israel’s Hasbara: Buying the Narrative, Losing the World
The lesson Hasbarists fail to grasp is that the crime of genocide cannot be concealed, no matter the deception applied, nor the millions spent
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I will probably be regarded as a pedant, but I believe that libelling people – albeit accidentally – by grossly misrepresenting their beliefs is to be avoided, even long after their death.
The ‘quotation’ from Voltaire in the final paragraph is a crude translation of a single sentence from a confidential letter written to a friend, taken completely out of context, about a very personal matter: it is plain from the context that it was not remotely intended as some kind of general recommendation, let alone one concerning ‘the dark art of spinning a war’. Moreover the injunction ‘one must lie like the devil…’ in Voltaire’s letter is immediately preceded by the qualification:
‘Lying is a vice only when it does harm. It is a very great virtue when it does good. Therefore be more virtuous than ever.’
Although begging many questions, this is a maxim with which the most heroic resistance movements of the oppressed would hardly disagree.
Also the cited article is NOT from Le Monde, but is by Alain Gresh published in the May 2024 issue of Le Monde Diplomatique.