Israel stands at the center of the world's media and political attention, and in an era in which the public not only votes but also believes it knows what is happening and for whom, it is clear that the intensified and negative focus on the Jewish state is a serious danger to our ability to do business, build partnerships and wage wars. Therefore, what is needed is not merely a functioning public diplomacy ministry, but a different doctrine: a shift from defensive hasbara efforts to a doctrine of offensive psychological warfare, of the kind used by Israel's enemies and the enemies of the US. What is needed is not enormous budgets, but proper strategic management.
To that end, three steps are required. First, we must understand reality: Anti-Israel consciousness is one of the axes on which international politics is based, and this is not an inherently organic process, even if it partly rests on long-standing antisemitic foundations.
Qatar, Iran, Russia and China are running a comprehensive anti-Israel and anti-Western operation through official institutions and substantial budgets. Its purpose is to make every citizen in the world think about Israel more than about his own troubles, to bring the world's wealthy and powerful people over to the anti-Israel side, and to infiltrate local and international institutions from within.
This is an operation that has been going on for decades. It is worth recalling that the Soviet Union, for example, officially funded propagandists whose goal was to create persuasive anti-Zionist narratives. That is how the libel was born that Zionism is occupation and that Israel has an apartheid regime.
After that, we must establish bodies of this kind ourselves, with a clear managing authority, budgetary investment and the recruitment of skilled and talented personnel for the mission. Such a body would not engage in passive public diplomacy, but would carry out an offensive campaign in the battle for consciousness, including the proactive creation of media events such as demonstrations or online content that appears to be organic grassroots material; campaigns that expose and embarrass the enemy; the use of advanced cyber capabilities for activity on social media and for creating information hubs for artificial intelligence models; and attacks on the enemy's cyber centers and propagandists.
Just as nuclear scientists are legitimate military targets, so too are generals in charge of consciousness warfare and soldiers who create bot armies. In addition, this body should create partnerships with parallel organizations working to immunize their societies against the influence of the Qataris, Iranians, Russians and Chinese, as well as with opposition elements in enemy states.
At the same time, for Israel to have personnel capable of succeeding in this mission, the State of Israel must train psychological warfare specialists who can interpret existing narratives and create new ones, understand what motivates individuals and societies, and influence the way people think and act.
Such training can take place in existing bodies within the Israel Defense Forces and in institutions of higher education, but it will also require the creation of new training frameworks that are not rooted in the outdated contexts of existing institutions. No less important is teaching Israeli children history, sociology, psychology, literature and cinema, and understanding that studies of this kind are part of the practical core curriculum on which the future of the State of Israel depends, no less than English and mathematics.
