<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div class="container font-size5 content-width3">
<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element" dir="ltr"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/censored-film-reveals-israel-projects-secret-facebook-campaign/25486">https://electronicintifada.net/content/censored-film-reveals-israel-projects-secret-facebook-campaign/25486</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Censored film reveals The Israel
Project's secret Facebook campaign</h1>
<div class="meta-data">
<div class="reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr"
style="text-align: left;">
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field"><span class="field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah">Ali
Abunimah</a> and </span><span class="field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/asa-winstanley">Asa
Winstanley</a></span></span> <span class="field
field-publisher">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-09-13T14:48:00+00:00">13 September 2018</span></span>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div class="moz-reader-content line-height4 reader-show-element"
dir="ltr">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<div>
<article>
<p>The Israel Project, a major advocacy group based in
Washington, is running a secret influence campaign on
Facebook.</p>
<p>This is revealed in <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/lobby-usa"><em>The
Lobby – USA</em></a>, an undercover Al Jazeera
documentary that has never been broadcast due to <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/national-security-cited-reason-al-jazeera-nixed-israel-lobby-film/24566">censorship
by Qatar</a> following pressure from pro-Israel
organizations.</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp88HJxKj-o">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp88HJxKj-o</a><br>
</p>
<p>The video above, exclusive to The Electronic
Intifada, shows the latest excerpts to leak from the
documentary.</p>
<p><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/censored-israel-lobby-film-starts-leaking">Earlier
leaked footage</a> published by The Electronic
Intifada <a
href="https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/09/05/censored-documentary-exposes-the-israeli-governments-attack-on-black-lives-matter/">and
the <em>Grayzone Project</em></a> has already
revealed underhanded tactics by anti-Palestinian
groups planned and executed in collusion with the
Israeli government.</p>
<p>In the newest clips, David Hazony, the managing
director of The Israel Project, is heard telling Al
Jazeera’s undercover reporter: “There are also things
that we do that are completely off the radar. We work
together with a lot of other organizations.”</p>
<p>“We produce content that they then publish with their
own name on it,” Hazony adds.</p>
<p>A major part of the operation is the creation of a
network of Facebook “communities” focused on history,
the environment, world affairs and feminism that
appear to have no connection to pro-Israel advocacy,
but are used by The Israel Project to spread
pro-Israel messaging.</p>
<h2>“Secretive thing”</h2>
<figure id="file-69306"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
<p>In a conversation also revealed in the leaked video
excerpts, Jordan Schachtel, who worked for The Israel
Project at the time, tells the undercover Al Jazeera
reporter about the logic and extent of the covert
Facebook operation.</p>
<p>The undercover reporter, known as “Tony,” was posing
as an intern at The Israel Project.</p>
<p>“We’re putting together a lot of pro-Israel media
through various social media channels that aren’t The
Israel Project’s channels,” Schachtel states. “So we
have a lot of side projects that we are trying to
influence the public debate with.”</p>
<p>“That’s why it’s a secretive thing,” Schachtel adds.
“Because we don’t want people to know that these side
projects are associated with The Israel Project.”</p>
<p>Tony asks if the idea of “all the rest of the
non-Israel stuff is to allow the Israel stuff to pass
better.”</p>
<p>“It’s just that we want to like blend in everything,”
Schachtel explains.</p>
<p>One of these Facebook pages, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/">Cup
of Jane</a>, has almost half a million followers.</p>
<p>Cup of Jane’s “<a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/DailyCupOfJane/about">About</a>”
page describes it as being about “Sugar, spice and
everything nice.”</p>
<p>But there is no disclosure that this is a page run
for the purpose of promoting Israel.</p>
<p>The “About” page does identify Cup of Jane as being
“a community launched by TIP’s Future Media Project in
DC.”</p>
<p>There is however no direct and explicit mention of
Israel or indication that “TIP” stands for The Israel
Project.</p>
<p>The Electronic Intifada understands that even this
vague acknowledgment of who is behind the page was
only added after The Israel Project learned about the
existence of the Al Jazeera undercover documentary and
presumably anticipated being exposed.</p>
<p>The Israel Project also <a
href="https://www.theisraelproject.org/socialmedia">added
an acknowledgment</a> on its own website that it
runs the Facebook pages. However its website is not
linked from the Facebook pages themselves.</p>
<p>There is <a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170501000000*/https://www.theisraelproject.org/socialmedia">no
evidence in the Internet Archive</a> of the page
existing before May 2017 – months after “Tony’s” cover
was blown.</p>
<p>According to Schachtel, The Israel Project is putting
considerable resources into producing Cup of Jane and
a network of similar pages.</p>
<p>“We have a team of like 13 people. We are working on
a lot of videos, explainers,” he tells Tony in Al
Jazeera’s documentary. “A lot of it is just random
topics and then maybe like 25 percent of it would be
like Israel or Jewish-based.”</p>
<p>Al Jazeera states in the documentary that it
“approached all those featured in this program. None
of the pro-Israel advocacy organizations or
individuals working for them responded to our
allegations.”</p>
<h2>Fake progressives</h2>
<p>Cup of Jane tries to establish progressive
credibility by posting pictures and quotations from
such Black female icons as <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/1088155591340066/">Maya
Angelou</a> and <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/1088015968020695/">Ida
B. Wells</a>, whom the page honored on her birthday
as a “revolutionary thinker, writer and activist.”</p>
<p>There are also posts about groundbreaking
environmentalist <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/1022026174619675/">Rachel
Carson</a> and <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/1006168636205429/?type=3&theater">Emma
Gonzalez</a>, who along with classmates launched a
national campaign for gun control after surviving the
February 2018 high school massacre in Parkland,
Florida.</p>
<p>Woven into the stream of progressive-flavored fluff
are <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/856747347814226/?type=3&theater">attacks</a>
on actual progressive movements, such as Chicago’s
Dyke March, whose organizers faced an <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/chicago-dyke-march-accuser-wider-bridge-has-record-fabrications">Israel
lobby smear campaign</a> after asking pro-Israel
provocateurs to leave their march in 2017.</p>
<figure id="file-69266"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
<p>And a <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/708493095972986/?type=3&theater">posting
in October 2016</a>, soon after the Cup of Jane page
was launched, attempted to portray Israeli militarism
as cute and empowering for women.</p>
<p>“The Israeli Airforce has painted fighters pink in
aid of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. How cool is
that?” the post states, accompanied by a photo of an
Israeli fighter jet. “This is fierce. Women, by the
way, need an air force all their own,” Cup of Jane
adds, along with a smiley face.</p>
<p>Other pages identified by the censored Al Jazeera
documentary as run by The Israel Project include <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/SoulMamaCares/">Soul
Mama</a>, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/HistoryBites/">History
Bites</a>, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/WeOnlyHaveOneEarth">We
Have Only One Earth</a> and <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/ThisExplainsThat/">This
Explains That</a>.</p>
<p>Some have hundreds of thousands of followers.</p>
<p>History Bites does not reveal its affiliation with
The Israel Project, not even with the vague formula
used by Cup of Jane and the other pages.</p>
<p>History Bites simply <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/HistoryBites/about/">describes</a>
itself as conveying “The awesome of History in
bite-sized chewable pieces!”</p>
<p>That page re-posted Cup of Jane posts presenting
Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister who implemented
racist and violent policies against indigenous
Palestinians, and viewed Palestinian women giving
birth as an existential threat, as a <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/1030670153755277/">feminist</a>
<a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/1054790384676587/">hero</a>.</p>
<p>A 2016 This Explains That <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/ThisExplainsThat/videos/1124424717672564/">video</a>
spreads <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israels-false-spin-unesco-jerusalem-vote">false</a>
<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/unesco-vote-jerusalem-enrages-occupying-power">Israeli</a>
<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israel-furious-unesco-rebuffs-its-claim-hebron">claims</a>
that the UN cultural agency UNESCO “erased” Jewish and
Christian reverence for holy sites in Jerusalem.</p>
<p>History Bites <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/HistoryBites/posts/1851080841819295">reposted
the video</a> last December stating that it “seems
to support President Trump’s declaration today that
Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish state of
Israel.”</p>
<p>The video has received almost five million views.</p>
<p>Another <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/HistoryBites/videos/1768892476704799/">video
posted by History Bites</a> attempts to justify
Israel’s June 1967 surprise attack on Egypt, launching
the war in which Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza
Strip, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria’s Golan
Heights.</p>
<p>The video describes Israel’s military occupation of
East Jerusalem as the city being “reunified” and
“liberated.”</p>
<h2>Israel’s toxic brand</h2>
<p>The Israel Project’s resort to a <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/photos/a.604864966335800/899033766918917/?type=3&theater">spoonful
of proverbial sugar</a> to try to make pro-Israel
messages go down more easily is an acknowledgment of
what a tough sell an <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/landmark-un-report-backs-israel-boycott">apartheid
state</a> can be.</p>
<p>As Ali Abunimah, one of the authors of this article,
states in the Al Jazeera documentary, “The Israel
brand is increasingly toxic, so you can’t sell Israel
directly. You have to have other hip stuff that’s just
very innocuous, fun and then from time to time you’re
going to slip something about Israel in.”</p>
<p>The Israel Project’s attempts to co-opt progressive
sensibilities in the service of Israel, even though
its own policies are on the hard right, fit <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/leaked-report-highlights-israel-lobbys-failures">into
a wider</a> Israeli <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/how-israel-lobby-using-owen-jones">strategy</a>,
which seeks to divide the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/bds-winning-admits-top-israeli-sabotage-strategist">left</a>
and weaken Palestine solidarity.</p>
<p>Run by Josh Block, a former Clinton administration
official and former senior strategist at the Israel
lobby powerhouse <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/aipac">AIPAC</a>,
one of The Israel Project’s top goals was to scupper
the international nuclear deal with Iran.</p>
<p>The Israel Project’s covert Facebook campaign is
manipulative on its face, but is even more cynical
given that its mastermind is Gary Rosen.</p>
<p>For years Rosen ran a virulently homophobic and
Islamophobic Twitter account called @ArikSharon – the
nickname of the late Israeli prime minister <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/ariel-sharon">Ariel
Sharon</a>, who was responsible for Israel’s 1982
invasion of Lebanon and the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/sabra-and-shatila-massacre">massacres</a>
at the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila
that same year.</p>
<div id="file-69286">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Homophobic bigot and racist
<a
href="https://twitter.com/ArikSharon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ArikSharon</a>
is really top @SaatchiLA exec <a
href="https://twitter.com/TheGaryRosen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thegaryrosen</a>.</p>
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) <a
href="https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/338384089436540930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
25, 2013</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>In transcripts of a recording made by Al Jazeera’s
undercover reporter seen by The Electronic Intifada,
Rosen acknowledges operating @ArikSharon as a “secret
account.”</p>
<p>Rosen was employed at the global advertising firm
Saatchi & Saatchi, but in November 2013 joined The
Israel Project, where he is responsible for digital
strategy.</p>
<p>Rosen deleted many of the most offensive tweets from
the @ArikSharon Twitter feed after he was <a
href="https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/338384089436540930">exposed</a>
in 2013 by one of the authors of this article as the
person running the account.</p>
<p>But while operating covert Facebook pages attempting
to normalize support for Israel among progressive
audiences, Rosen continues to use the @ArikSharon
Twitter account to spread right-wing, pro-Israel
messaging.</p>
<h2>Anonymous ads exposed</h2>
<p>This is not the only covert effort by the Israel
lobby to use Facebook to achieve its goals.</p>
<p>A joint report by <em>The Forward</em> and <em>ProPublica</em>
<a
href="https://www.propublica.org/article/dc-pro-israel-group-ran-facebook-ads-to-target-pro-palestinian-activist">reveals</a>
that the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/israel-campus-coalition">Israel
on Campus Coalition</a> ran anonymous Facebook ads
smearing <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/remi-kanazi">Remi
Kanazi</a>, a Palestinian American poet, in advance
of his appearances on US campuses.</p>
<div id="file-69291">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Israel on Campus Coalition,
a DC group funded largely by right-wing mega
donors, anonymously set up Facebook pages to
attack my events in 2016. <a
href="https://t.co/motLHIbPni">https://t.co/motLHIbPni</a></p>
— Remi Kanazi (@Remroum) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Remroum/status/1039901395170848768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
12, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>The Electronic Intifada was the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/censored-film-names-adam-milstein-canary-mission-funder/25356">first
to report</a> the Al Jazeera film’s revelations
about how the Israel on Campus Coalition’s efforts to
smear and harass Palestine solidarity activists are
covertly coordinated with the Israeli government.</p>
<p>A Facebook spokesperson told <em>The Forward</em>
and <em>ProPublica</em> that the Israel on Campus
Coalition ads targeting Kanazi “violate our policies
against misrepresentation and they have been removed.”</p>
<p>In 2012, The Electronic Intifada <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-students-get-2000-spread-state-propaganda-facebook">exposed</a>
a scheme by Israel’s <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israels-pretty-face-how-national-union-israeli-students-does-governments">government-backed
national student union</a> to pay students to spread
pro-Israel propaganda on Facebook. However the current
covert effort run by The Israel Project appears to be
far more sophisticated.</p>
<p>Since the 2016 US presidential election, Facebook has
been accused of allowing its platform to be used for
manipulative Russian-sponsored propaganda aimed at
influencing politics and public opinion.</p>
<p>Despite the hype, these allegations have been <a
href="https://www.thenation.com/article/hyping-the-mueller-indictment/">grossly
overblown or unsubstantiated</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Facebook has <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-did-facebook-ban-electronic-intifadas-ad-killing-gaza">partnered
with the Atlantic Council</a> in an effort to
ostensibly <a
href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/announcing-new-election-partnership-with-the-atlantic-council/">crack
down</a> on “fake accounts” and “disinformation.”</p>
<p>The Atlantic Council is a Washington think tank that
has been <a
href="http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/support/supporters">funded</a>
by NATO, the US military, the brutally repressive <a
href="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/LetterChuckHagelfromFredKempe02082013.pdf">governments</a>
of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain,
European Union governments, and a who’s who of
investment firms, oil companies, arms makers and other
war profiteers.</p>
<p>As the apparent result of this partnership, a number
of <a
href="https://soundcloud.com/moderaterebels/big-tech-social-media-facebook-abby-martin-episode-23">completely
innocuous social media accounts</a> with few or no
followers were recently taken down.</p>
<p>More worryingly, pages run by <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFXQFI8KiWA">leftist
news outlets</a> focusing on countries targeted by
the US government, such as <a
href="https://sputniknews.com/latam/201808091067084000-Venezuelan-News-Facebook-Censorship/"><em>Venezuela
Analysis</em></a> and <a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Why-Did-Facebook-Delete-teleSUR-English-20180816-0010.html">teleSUR</a>,
were suspended, though <a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Facebook-Page-of-Venezuelanalysis-Back-Up-After-brief-Suspension-20180809-0018.html">later</a>
<a
href="https://www.rt.com/news/436057-telesur-restored-facebook-block/">restored</a>.</p>
<p>Now with solid evidence of The Israel Project’s
well-resourced and extensive influence campaign on
Facebook, it remains to be seen if the social media
giant will act to ensure that unwitting users are
aware that what they are being exposed to is
propaganda designed to boost and whitewash the Israeli
state.</p>
<p>In response to a request for comment, a Facebook
spokesperson told The Electronic Intifada the company
would look into the matter.</p>
<br>
</article>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>