Israel ramps up global propaganda efforts with a $150M budget to justify its assault on Gaza, amid ongoing genocide charges.
Israel has allocated an additional $150 million to its 2025 budget in an effort to reshape global opinion over its ongoing genocidal assault in Gaza, the Middle East Monitor (MEMO) has reported, citing the Knesset.
The 20-fold funding increase aims to boost Tel Aviv’s propaganda (known in Hebrew as Hasbara) and justification of its military assault on the besieged enclave, the report noted.
Israel has allocated an additional $150 million to its 2025 propaganda budget in an effort to reshape global opinion over its genocide in Gaza, according to the Knesset.
Read: https://t.co/jF6TFzF3hD pic.twitter.com/Y0cKEPyU6y
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) January 2, 2025
While at the same time, portraying the Palestinian struggle as “anti-Semitic” and as a form of “Nazi” terrorism aimed at eliminating Jews, the MEMO report added.
Campuses and Social Media
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, commenting on the increase, said: “Israeli propaganda efforts and the war of consciousness have not received the critical and life-saving resources and tools they require for decades.”
“I am determined to make a change. Every shekel allocated to this cause is an investment, not an expense, and it will strengthen Israel and its standing in the world,” he reportedly added.
Israel to spend $150 million more on disinformation campaigns – paid for by US taxpayers, and aimed at them – to buy time to complete its genocide in Gaza. https://t.co/SAYPYTHy3v
— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) December 31, 2024
According to Drop Site News, the additional funds mark “a staggering 20-fold increase in funding for ‘consciousness warfare’ activities compared to previous years.”
It said the propaganda campaigns would target American college campuses, social media platforms and the foreign press and would be “with American Jewish organizations and the Diaspora Affairs Ministry.”
Ongoing Genocide
The ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, has led to a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale. As the death toll among besieged and starved Palestinian civilians continues to rise daily, Israel is currently facing charges of genocide against Palestinians before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: 11 displaced Palestinians were killed and others were injured, as a result of the Israeli occupation forces targeting their tents in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/UXo7nIN56R
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 2, 2025
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 45,553 Palestinians have been killed, and 108,379 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023. The toll is expected to rise further, with at least 11,000 people still unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes across Gaza.
The war, which Palestinians call “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” began after a military operation carried out by Hamas on Israeli territory. Israel reports that 1,200 of its soldiers and civilians were killed during the initial attack on October 7. However, Israeli media have raised concerns that a significant number of Israeli casualties were caused by ‘friendly fire’ during the assault.
Humanitarian Disaster
Human rights organizations, both Palestinian and international, have reported that the overwhelming majority of the casualties in Gaza are women and children. The ongoing violence has also exacerbated an acute famine, with thousands of children among the dead, highlighting the severity of the humanitarian disaster.
This displaced Palestinian man in Gaza is playing oud inside his tent drenched in rainwater. Heavy rains have flooded hundreds of makeshift shelters, adding further misery to forcibly displaced Palestinians as Israel continues its war on Gaza. pic.twitter.com/wbuacyXIm0
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 2, 2025
The war has displaced nearly two million people from their homes across Gaza, with the majority of the displaced forced into the already overcrowded southern region of the Strip. The population in Gaza remains trapped in the ongoing conflict, with little access to basic necessities such as food, water, and medical care.
(PC, MEMO)
There are no heroes in ” Israel “. If there were, someone would have killed him already.
$150 million?? Will accomplish nothing, except to accelerate the rage against “Israel”. How quickly the Hasbara went from “anti-Semitic” to as a form of “Nazi terrorism aimed at eliminating Jews” and how longer and more complicated are their lies. Sa’ar is mad; ie. a delusional Zionist.