Israeli celebs fight the anti-Zionism, antisemitism war on social media

It’s a very modern kind of bombardment. In response to Operation Guardian of the Walls, Instagram accounts and social media of Israelis celebrities and influencers have been filled with messages from Arab and pro-Palestinian users calling for a boycott of Israel. 

Moreover, they are disseminating fake news about events taking place here and IDF activity. 

Among the famous people in Israel and abroad being attacked are Gal Gadot, Bar Rafaeli, Esti Ginzburg, Noa Tishby, Lee Levi, Noga Erez and Idan Amedi. A number of anti-Israel organizations have also been besieging social media accounts of Israeli celebs and influencers with nasty comments. 

“This is the most extreme situation we’ve ever seen in terms of the number of anti-Israel responses,” states Aviv Luski, CEO and founder of Digistage, a digital service company for Israeli artists and celebrities. “We are losing big time in this war when it comes to our image. The pro-Palestinian side has millions more hashtag supporters than we do. The other side has been super-successful in the war of consciousness they’re waging, and the most serious problem is that they’re using celebs around the world for this purpose.”

“We at Digistage manage many leading Israeli social assets, and I can see we’re dealing with extremely well-organized attacks. It’s hard to say exactly who is behind them, but they are usually run by university students throughout the Arab world who pick their targets and then set out for battle.”

According to Luski, this battle is being fought simultaneously on two fronts. 

“In the first, they are making phishing attempts to hack into people’s Facebook and Instagram accounts by sending the target a message that there’s a problem with their account. 

“The second way they are waging this battle is by posting comments and talkbacks. All the accounts of celebs that we manage ... are being barraged with all sorts of anti-Israeli comments, mostly in English and Arabic. This happens every time Israel is engaged in military operations. 

“In the current campaign, however, it’s been seriously insane. Many of the messages are just emojis, with most of them including the Palestinian flag.”

“We’ve reached the unequivocal conclusion that the best way to deal with these comments is by simply ignoring them. There’s no way we could trace hundreds of thousands of talkbacks. Technically, this would be pretty challenging. Oftentimes this leads to a battle between the pro-Israel and anti-Israel camps. Of course, clearly there are plenty of negative comments, so we are making great efforts to ensure there are plenty of pro-Israel comments too.”

According to Prof. Elazar Lev-On, an Internet and social media expert from Ariel University, there are a few reasons for the recent escalation in the number of comments made on social media. 

“People’s lives – especially celebs’ – have become more focused on social media, and new platforms are popping up all the time that enable people to stay in touch with their followers,” explains Lev-On. “Celebs are expected to be active on their social media more now than ever before. You won’t find almost any famous people who don’t have at least one active account that is maintained on a daily basis. In recent years, it has become common for celebrities to express their opinion on their social media in times of crisis. Since there is more sympathy for the Palestinians, it makes sense that this would be reflected on social media. 

“Moreover, there are many, many more Arabs and Muslims in the world than Jews, and celebs with pro-Israeli views might be hesitant to make their opinion public in fear of being labeled extremist. Unfortunately, celebs who are anti-Israel have no concerns making their opinion known publicly.”

ONE OF the stars who made headlines following the recent escalation of violence was Hollywood actress Gal Gadot, who was hounded by Israeli followers who pressured her to make public her support of Israel. She finally came out with the following statement, “My heart breaks. My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people. This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long. Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation. Our neighbors deserve the same. I pray for the victims and their families. I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end. I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we could live side by side in peace. I pray for better days.”  

Gadot’s post also caused a great stir from followers on both sides who believed that her words were not strong enough.

Noa Tishby, who has served many times as Israel’s unofficial ambassador abroad, filmed herself explaining why the Sheikh Jarrah matter is more complicated than it appears on the surface. She also emphasized that it was an issue involving “ownership and the return of property that has been going on for years.” Bar Rafaeli shared Tishby’s video and also uploaded two of her own stories to Facebook, one of which shows fathers with newborn babies scrambling for shelter after a warning siren sounds.

Daniella Alter, a TV presenter and social media influencer with 30,000 Instagram followers, experienced firsthand a drastic increase in the number of anti-Israel comments. 

“I received quite a few threatening messages on Instagram after I posted a story on Facebook in support of Israel,” says Alter. “These messages were from people who had no problem posting with their name, as well as a number from fictitious accounts. Of course, I erased those messages and blocked them from my account. There’s no doubt that the deeper our world advances into the digital age, the more wars will take place virtually on social media. The propaganda is no longer taking place only in the field and in the traditional media like TV and radio. 

“Nowadays, the real propaganda war is taking place on social media. Every social media influencer who has even a minimal understanding of politics can express themselves and by doing so have a strong effect on public opinion. What’s more, there’s always the option of blocking certain comments or only allowing certain geographic locations, which many of my colleagues do. An extremely serious and ugly propaganda war is taking place on social media in which many attempts are being made to block others and report to Instagram on offensive content and shocking talkbacks that are really unpleasant to read.”

What can we do to counteract these attempts?

“I was added to a Foreign Ministry WhatsApp of social media influencers/celebs, whose goal is to disseminate on social networks accurate and specific facts, videos and pictures that can help influence public opinion, clarify the situation and help to correct the falsehoods being spread about us.”

Eden Alene, Israel’s contestant at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, also received a barrage of anti-Israel messages. 

“We avoided dealing with this matter, but I feel the time has come to address it in some fashion,” explains Tali Eshkoli, the head producer of Israel’s Eurovision events. “I saw that Eden received many anti-Israel talkbacks on her official YouTube channel, as well as a call for people to react strongly against Israel on the official Eurovision YouTube channel. For now, though, we’re focusing only on the competition and not on the background noise.”

“Today, anything you post on Instagram is considered as if you said those things in an interview with a journalist,” says Devori Krazner, a VP at Minkovsky Communications, which handles public relations for artists around the world. “We already noticed this shift of warfare taking place on social networks during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. On the one hand, we have to deal with actual fighting on the ground, and then on the other hand, retaliate against all the fake news being disseminated on social media. These days, we are seeing more and more social media influencers with millions of followers posting anti-Israel graphics and extremely one-sided and completely irrelevant information.”

“Israeli celebs have found themselves in a very tricky situation,” continues Krazner. “The Israeli public is watching as celebs around the world upload terrible content, and they have great expectations that their beloved celebs here back home will make good use of their influence and post pro-Israel content – even if it comes at the expense of losing followers and harming their international career. Although these women and men are not official representatives of the State of Israel, in some cases they have an even greater influence and exposure to audiences around the world than our official ambassadors and politicians have. 

“For many young people, Instagram and TikTok are their main source of information. In the last couple of weeks, it’s become even more clear how Israeli propaganda abroad is failing us, and how quickly our enemies are posting misinformation about what’s happening here. Israeli decision-makers must make good use of these, and request support from Israeli celebs to help get the truth out there about what’s really going on here in Israel. Each message that a famous Israeli person posts with facts that undermine the horrible things other people are posting is of great significance.”

“The events of the last few days speak for themselves. Celebs who delayed taking a clear position about the situation suffered a blitz of messages from followers and were featured in gossip columns. But even celebs who did post messages of support on their accounts in a timely manner were attacked by fans, especially those who are overseas.”

What should celebs do with all these awful talkbacks? Should they erase them?

“In my opinion, once a celeb has decided to go public with their stance, they understand the ramifications. Therefore, there’s no need to erase responses inconsistent with your position. If you believe in what you posted, you are strong enough to accept the fact that people are going to disagree with you. In fact, in some cases, these responses often encourage loyal followers to express even stronger support.”

Sarel Omer, CEO of Affogata, which analyzes discourse on social media and determines whether it is organic or created by a bot, claims that the uptick in antisemitic content began a few weeks ago after the fire broke out on the Temple Mount, apparently due to fireworks set off during the riots. 

“This is what incited the latest rage on social media,” Omer says. “The hashtag that calls for the liberation of Palestine, which is being retweeted in talkbacks on Israeli and international celebs’ accounts has garnered billions of views. On the other hand, the pro-IDF hashtag has garnered only a few million views. A number of pro-Palestinian WhatsApp groups have called for followers to flood social media with these messages, and this in turn influences international celebs to publish pro-Palestinian messages on their accounts.”

“This is a great platform to reach young people who don’t watch TV at all, but they are on Instagram all day long and follow celebs,” adds Affogata chief product VP Itamar Rogel. “It’s well-known that if they post talkbacks on an Israeli or international celeb’s account, they will reach a much wider audience than if they were to publish an article on a news platform, for example.”

Dr. Harel Menashri, head of cyber at Holon Institute of Technology, claims that the escalation of anti-Israel reactions on celebs’ accounts stems from the media buzz following the recent violence in Israel. 

“When you see the Arabs rioting and the lack of governance in Israel, it gives people writing talkbacks incentive to write comments that exacerbate the tensions, especially since Facebook and Instagram are known to be relatively lenient about such types of comments, claiming they are within the realm of freedom of speech,” notes Menashri. “A number of organizations that are working hand-in-hand with terrorist groups are working very hard in this area. Iranian groups, for example, are posting anti-Israel messages around the clock.”

“Social networks function as an amplifier of the violence that’s actually taking place on the ground,” concludes Tal Pavel, head of Israel’s Institute for Cyber Policy Studies at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo. “There’s a tendency to incorporate more and more comments and pictures on celebs’ accounts since that’s where they’ll have the strongest effect. It’s important to remember that the actual protest is taking place for real out on the streets, and not just in the virtual sphere. However, it’s also possible that someone who reads a post on a celeb’s account will be affected and as a result will grab a knife and go out onto the streets with it. 

“Both of these phenomena feed into each other and exacerbate tensions.”