Israel Hires Internet Soldiers to Penetrate American Forums, Chatrooms
Submitted by James_Madison_Lives on Wed, 07/20/2011 - 18:47by James_Madison_Lives aka Voodoo101
File under "cat out of the bag." "Israel hires Internet soldiers," Israeli students and demobilized soldiers get paid to pretend they are just regular folks and leave pro-Israel comments online. Israeli Foreign Ministry Deputy Elan Shturman is quoted from the Israeli Occupation Magazine saying:
Quote:
“Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the hasbara department of the Israeli foreign ministry and I want to tell you the following.’ Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis,” he said. “They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the foreign ministry developed.”
Counterpunch's Jonathan Cooke in "Israel's Internet Wars" describes:
Quote:
a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel. Internet-savvy Israeli youngsters, mainly recent graduates and demobilised soldiers with language skills, are being recruited to pose as ordinary surfers while they provide the government’s line on the Middle East conflict...About $150,000 has been set aside for the first stage of development, with increased funding expected next year.
"paid Internet talkbackers are being mobilized in the service of the State. The Foreign Ministry is in the process of setting up a team of students and demobilized soldiers who will work around the clock writing pro-Israeli responses on Internet websites all over the world,"
The team will fall under the authority of a large department already dealing with what Israelis term “hasbara”, officially translated as “public explanation” but more usually meaning propaganda. That includes not only government public relations work but more secretive dealings the ministry has with a battery of private organisations and initiatives that promote Israel’s image in print, on TV and online.
Quoting Deputy Foreign Minister Shturman, Counterpunch reported:
Quote:
“During Operation Cast Lead...We gave them background material and hasbara material, and we sent them to represent the Israeli point of view on news websites and in polls on the internet.”
Operation Cast Lead was the Israeli bombing attack on Gaza which killed 1400 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, and razed large parts of the Gaza to the ground. Israel maintains that the campaign was in response to an increase in home-made rocket attacks on Israel, which since 2001 have killed 26 Israelis. Gaza remains under blockade, with a enforced shortage of food, medicines, and basic supplies necessary for daily life. (Amnesty International Report: "Operation Cast Lead: 22 Days of Death and Destruction")
Cooke at Counterpunch also writes that "About 50,000 activists are reported to have downloaded a programme called Megaphone that sends an alert to their computers when an article critical of Israel is published. They are then supposed to bombard the site with comments supporting Israel."
Deputy Minister Shturman says in Israeli Occupation Magazine:
Quote:
Our objective is to penetrate into the world in which these discussions are taking place, where reports and videos are published – the blogs, the social networks, the news websites of all sizes. We will introduce a pro-Israeli voice into those places.
Michal Carmi, a blogger and associate general manager at the high-tech placement company Tripletec, was recruited to the online policy-explanation team. He told Occupation Magazine:
Quote:
“During Operation Cast Lead the Foreign Ministry wrote to me and other bloggers and asked us to make our opinions known on the international stage as well. They sent us pages with ‘taking points’ and a great many video clips. I focussed my energies on Facebook, and here and there I wrote responses on blogs where words like ‘Holocaust’ and ‘murder’ were used in connection with Israel’s Gaza action...Several times the Foreign Ministry also recommended that we access specific blogs and get involved in the discussions that were taking place there.”
A "blog" in this usage could be any kind of online forum.
Canadian author, columnist for the Vancouver Courier, and critic of Israeli government policies Greg Felton writes:
Quote:
"If you’ve come across a hasbarat, on-line or otherwise, you have learned that no amount of reasoned argument or intellectual maturity has any effect. That’s because hasbarats don’t care if they come across as ignorant, obnoxious, nasty or inane. All that matters for them is sabotaging criticism of Israel and support for Muslims. They're like anti-intellectual stink bombs: designed to cause maximum discomfort... "
The Israeli magazine writes:Quote:
The missions: “monitoring” and “fostering discussions”
The Foreign Ministry intends to recruit youths who speak at least one foreign language and who are studying communications, political science or law, or alternatively those whose military background is in units that deal with information analysis. “It is a youthful language”, explains Shturman. “Older people do not know how to write blogs, how to act there, what the accepted norms are. The basic conditions are a high capacity for expression in English – we also have French- and Swedish-speakers – and familiarity with the online milieu. We are looking for people who are already writing blogs and circulating in Facebook”.
This news follows the revelation earlier this year that the software exists, being purchased by the US military, to create multiple "online personas" which can be operated by one person, to infiltrate blogs, forums, and social media.
"Air Force Seeks Fake Online Social Media Identities," Information Week:Quote:
According to Solicitation Number: RTB220610 , the armed services division sought a software program that could manage 10 personas per user, including background; history; supporting details, and cyber presences that are " technically, culturally and geographacilly [sic] consistent. Individual applications will enable an operator to exercise a number of different online persons from the same workstation and without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries. Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through conventional online services and social media platforms. The service includes a user friendly application environment to maximize the user's situational awareness by displaying real-time local information."
IMAGE: Header on recruitment letter from Israeli Consulate_General to Toronto.
(VIDEO): Fully armed Israeli soldiers beating on a Palestinian kid.
MAP: New York Times map of illegal West Bank Israeli settlements to date:. (All the balloons are in territory that is supposed to be Palestinian.)
so . . .
why do they need to do this?
Is this overkill? Are there that many people who are becoming cynical about foreign aid?
It's interesting that those 'in charge' of this particular program think it's necessary--
almost a sign of panic?
And if so, why?
I find this interesting. Annoying, too, but interesting--
someone below made a comment, "a person never knows with whom he/she is speaking on the internet; *we* all need to beware"--
unfortunately, that is true.
The internet sometimes feels like the front porch in a small town, but it isn't--
it's hard to be awake; it's easier to dream--
It's getting harder to keep up the fiction
"the only democracy in the Middle East" and the poor victimhood of the power with F-16s and tanks while Gaza boys are using rocks and slingshots.
The Egyptian Revolution means they don't have a friend left in the region, which means watch out America...bend over.
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
-- Muhammad Ali
They won't come on right away
I'm sure you'll see activity when you least expect - so keep this link handy. I'll bet you'll see more and more pro-Israel trolls show up as Sept 22 rolls around - the date when Palestinian statehood is to be debated in the UN General Assembly. That should get interesting.
they are already quite active @ theblaze
I see more Israeli flags as avatars than american flags, and most of the usernames are like 'doug supports israel', etc.
If they are so pro-israel, why don't they just move there and join the military? They have more passion and allegiance to Israel than they do America.
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Peace, Freedom and Prosperity. Not War, Welfare and Bankruptcy.
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Also the tenth anniversay of 911 and any debate over Dr. Alan...
Sabrosky's contention that renegade factions within both the CIA and Mossad had a hand in 911...(former Director of Studies at US Army War College)
http://911falseflagarchive.blogspot.com/2010/03/dr-alan-sabr...
Any debate will be shouted down with one-line taunts implying anti-Semitism: "sure the joos did it."
Even though criminal factions within governments have nothing to do with the people in whose name they act. It would be the same as blaming me for Iran-Contra because I'm an American.
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
-- Muhammad Ali
This reminds me of the debate
This reminds me of the debate with Tom Woods and Mark Levin. On Levin's facebook wall, people who supported Tom would post how Mark is wrong and some poster, ostenbily an American conservative, would repeat--I mean repeat--the same response about how we have to protect Israel. It was bizarre.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
you can almost sense how busy they are by whether or not
they bother to make up something original, or just repeat something like "there was no molten steel" or "it was not a peace boat they were carrying weapons to Gaza." Like they are thinking "they assigned me 10 threads today screw this job I'm overworked..."
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
-- Muhammad Ali
bump
bump
That's okay..
once Ron Paul is elected President he will cut off aid to Israel and they won't have the mad money to engage in such sophmoric and childish schemes. The last act of defiance for the NeoCons...thank God!
I *welcome* these paid Israeli trolls, . . .
as their ludicrous positions can easily be refuted with facts/reason (thus educating the readers on the evils of zionism).
they are good for that
the problem is they act as if they hadn't been refuted, like good bots, and they just keep saying the same shit. But now the public knows to discount their numbers because it's all bought and paid for. With US taxpayer money. We are paying them our money to manipulate us. Cut off US military aid to Israel, anyone?
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
-- Muhammad Ali
yes...
i'm good with that!
its 'cos I owe ya, my young friend...
Rockin' the FREE world in Tennessee since 1957!
How to get Israeli spambots and US Army spambots into a fight?
Oh, them too, eh? Here's my question:
How can we get Israeli spambots and US Army spambots into a fight? That'd be sweet!
"Cowards & idiots can come along for the ride but they gotta sit in the back seat!"
They won't fight each other
They will join forces and do internet propaganda maneuvers together...for the good of Israel.
Bring back the Dead Tree Press!
Wow.. Orwell wasn’t close, he was right on.
Bump for sharing
The role of a farmer, in Fukuoka's mind, is an observer, not an intervener, of the natural order in his/her particular landscape. How is that any different than Hayek in regards to Economics?
Not
Only do they get paid, Americans fund these programs with their tax dollars. 30 million a day. Every working American should get an annual bill charging them for their portion of the "aid".
"If this mischievous financial policy [greenbacks], which has its origin in North America, should become endurated down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off its debts and be without debts. It will hav
This is why you
need to use your brain. Anyone can be on the net, that includes you and me.
I loved this passage from Felton
Greg Felton:
"If you’ve come across a hasbarat, on-line or otherwise, you have learned that no amount of reasoned argument or intellectual maturity has any effect. That’s because hasbarats don’t care if they come across as ignorant, obnoxious, nasty or inane. All that matters for them is sabotaging criticism of Israel and support for Muslims. They're like anti-intellectual stink bombs: designed to cause maximum discomfort... "
man is that dead-on. Like someone who keeps repeating: "no, there was no thermite" no matter what you show them. Now I get it. It's a bot.
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
-- Muhammad Ali
So they engage in a policy of ethnic cleansing, and they now
employ a Ministry of Propaganda to "explain" this ethnic cleansing.
This sounds a lot like a certain central European government from the 30's and 40's and another eastern European government from the 40's and 50's.
Nothing new under the sun.
The WHOLE internet
is someone's propoganda tool , even your's and mine.
Ummm
Where's Alex Jones on this?
(crickets)
Oh. Yeah.
"If this mischievous financial policy [greenbacks], which has its origin in North America, should become endurated down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off its debts and be without debts. It will hav
Call your pest control service
http://www.infowars.com/that-commenter-on-your-blog-may-actu...
Not defending AJ, but I remember this from the site. Note the date.
no
comments. pfft.
"If this mischievous financial policy [greenbacks], which has its origin in North America, should become endurated down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off its debts and be without debts. It will hav
Exactly why I take everything
Exactly why I take everything the man says with a grain of salt. Hopefully others do the same.
A signature used to be here!
he's good for breaking important news
but I always then try to link it from a different source. The minute mainstream sees AJ it is discounted 50%.
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
-- Muhammad Ali
exactly
it's like he exists only to discredit news.
"If this mischievous financial policy [greenbacks], which has its origin in North America, should become endurated down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off its debts and be without debts. It will hav
The Mossad motto;
"By deception, you shall make war".
Just for a little amusement, who is known as "The Deceiver" in the Bible?
Well, it's Satan, of course!
These people give themselves away so easily, but so few people catch them in their game.
new anti-mossad motto...
by the truth, we will bury you!
its 'cos I owe ya, my young friend...
Rockin' the FREE world in Tennessee since 1957!
I like it!
//
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
-- Muhammad Ali
What If...
We tried to penetrate Israel?
Would we be called names?
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Regarding Palin: I believe we are watching in real time the rise of the third party, which will be controlled by the powers that be from its' inception.
Next Scam: "Cash For Cash"
http://www.RonPaul2012.com