Israel to combat media bias via flurry of international delegations
Four hundred international delegations with more than 5,000 participants will visit the Jewish state by the end of the year, as part of a new campaign to fight the widespread anti-Israel narratives in world media, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem announced on Thursday.
Faruqi protesting during parliament opening (Instagram)
Participants will include statesmen, public figures, journalists, influencers, intellectuals and cultural and religious figures.
In an average year, the ministry invites 25 delegations, Walla News reported.
The initiative, titled “Airbridge to Israel,” will cost an estimated 135 million shekels (A$62 million) and is based on studies that demonstrated the effectiveness of invitees experiencing Israel’s challenges first-hand, the report read.
The ministry pointed to American influencer Caitlyn Jenner, who visited Israel during its 12-day war with Iran in June. Jenner’s social media posts during her stay reached millions of people worldwide, painting Israel in a positive light.
A bipartisan delegation of 250 lawmakers from the U.S. is slated to arrive in Israel in September, with subsequent visits of a thousand American religious leaders and a large German delegation to mark 60 years since Jerusalem and West Germany opened diplomatic relations, Walla reported.
Meanwhile, the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism held a tour on Thursday for a delegation of content creators in English and Arabic with large social media followings, at the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing.
The influencers were able to witness Israel’s humanitarian efforts in the Strip, which contradict claims about intentional starvation.
On July 27, the Israel Defence Forces announced a series of humanitarian measures aimed at refuting “the false claim of deliberate starvation” in Gaza, including “tactical pauses” in the war on Hamas.
While emphasising that “combat operations have not ceased” across the Strip, the IDF said pauses in military activities would be instituted in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City “every day until further notice.”
The decision to cease fighting in those areas between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. was coordinated with United Nations officials and other international organisations “following discussions regarding the matter,” it stated.
According to Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister for Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, surging antisemitism across Europe and the United States since Oct. 7 is a modern manifestation of millennia-old, virulent Jew-hatred.
“In the past, religious blood libels led to torture, burnings at the stake and pogroms,” Chikli told JNS. “In the 20th century, horrific racist theories spawned the Holocaust.”
The same libels “are directed not at individual Jews, but at the Jewish state” today, he said. “Israel is accused of deliberate starvation, genocide against Palestinians, apartheid, colonialism and more.”
JNS
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