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Hasbara (הסברה) (or hasbarah) is a Hebrew noun that literally means "explanation". The term has been used by the State of Israel and by independent groups to describe their efforts to explain Israeli government policies, and to promote Israel to the world at large. Hasbara is viewed positively, and is actively encouraged, by almost all Jewish, Zionist, and Israeli organizations and instititutions. They believe that hasbara bears similarities to programming on the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and the BBC World Service. Critics maintain that hasbara is white propaganda or public relations. According to them, Israeli efforts are no different from any other public relations effort to promote their views, actions and achievements in order to coordinate supporters, attract the undecided and skeptics, and counteract the efforts of opponents. There are a number of hasbara websites on the Internet, almost all of them operating independently of the Israeli government, and also dealing with other Jewish issues.
Meaning of the term While hasbara literally means "explanation", its exact import in its current usage is debated. Gideon Meir has has said that there is no "real, precise" translation of the word hasbara to English or any other language, and has characterized it as public diplomacy, an action undertaken by all governments around the world with the growing importance of what Harvard professor Joseph Nye termed soft power. Gary Rosenblatt describes it as "advocacy" .. Nathan Guttman has characterized hasbara as "pro-Israel propaganda, " while Avi Hyman has said "while propaganda strives to highlight the positive aspects of one side of a conflict, hasbara seeks to explain actions, whether or not they are justified." * Israeli government hasbara Several Israel government ministries and agencies deal with hasbara: In 2002, the Israeli State Comptroller's office issued a report critical of Israel's PR efforts, "A lack of an overall strategic public relations conception and objective" and lack of coordination between the various organizations were mentioned. Funding levels are modest; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent about US$8.6 million on these efforts in 2002, and the Government Press Office was only budgeted at US$100,000.* Methods In the words of one hasbara group, the Israel Citizens Information Council (ICIC): The purpose of the ICIC is to assist efforts to explain Israeli life from the vantage point of the average Israeli citizen. Towards that end, the ICIC enlists Israelis from all walks of life to participate in its various projects ... One of our major activities is the production of special Powerpoint presentations which we post on our website. These presentations review specific aspects and issues related to Israel and the Middle East ..." * Some hasbara documents explain their techniques, reporting on methods used by Palestinian activists, and providing advice on how to counter them, or how to use the same techniques in defense of Israel. For example, describing demonstrators as "youths" creates a different impression from calling them "children". For the Israel activist, it is important to be aware of the subtly different meanings that well chosen words give. Call 'demonstrations' "riots", many Palestinian political organizations "terror organizations", and so on. Name calling is hard to counter. Don't allow opponents the opportunity to engage in point scoring. * See also Promotion of hasbara Criticism of Hasbara | ||||||||
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