Connie Hackbarth for the Alternative Information Center (AIC)
The Israeli government hopes to draw attention away from its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and ongoing human rights abuses by recruiting minorities and members of the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual (LGBT) community to conduct “public diplomacy” and to “sell Israel as a democracy”
A demonstrator holds a sign that protests Israel’s efforts to pinkwash the occupation. Israel’s propaganda attempts are sometimes called hasbara. The Israeli government often relies on volunteers to conduct “public diplomacy” by advocating for Israel to acquaintances and on the internet (Photo: flickr/Nerdeeeeen)
Israel’s Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs has published a call for applications to voluntary positions in Israeli public diplomacy, targeting, in particular, “minority members, representatives of the gay community and people representing the variety of opinions and world-views in Israeli society.”
According to the call, the Ministry seeks to expand its base of Israeli volunteers interested in conducting international “public diplomacy” on the country’s behalf. The Ministry is now “primarily interested in receiving applications from people representing the diverse faces of Israeli society,” and gives the specific examples listed above.
This is the latest move in an articulated and comprehensive strategy by the Israeli government to attempt to draw international attention away from its occupation of Palestinian territory, the ongoing dispossession of the Palestinian people, and its denial of Palestinians’ internationally recognised national and human rights.
Oran Helman, Director of Israel’s Government Press Office,said he plans “to sell Israel as a democracy” and that he hopes government-supplied information about “interesting stories will result in positive coverage of Israel.”
In February, this same Ministry sponsored a public relations campaign on university campuses in North America. Yuli Edelstein, Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs and the initiator of the program, entitled “Faces of Israel”, remarked, “We believe this is the appropriate answer to the campaign of delegitimisation occurring against Israelthroughout the world.”
According to Israel’s Arutz 7 news outlet, these delegation members were “carefully selected with the goal of representing Israeli society as a colourful and diverse society which protects equality and human rights, and thus refute attempts to present Israel as an apartheid state.”
Palestinian and solidarity activists have also highlighted Israel’s attempts to “pinkwash” its colonization of the Palestinian territories by exploiting Israel society’s supposedly accepting attitude toward the Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Bisexual community (LGTB), thus portraying itself as a bastion of liberal democracy.
