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Strategic Affairs Ministry to form anti-BDS legal network

Correction: the ILF was not established in 2017 by the Israeli gov't. It was established in 2014, and in 2017 was contracted by the Israeli government to operate as a "network" and administer grants to pro-Israel groups on its behalf.

jpost.com

The ministry is planning to invest NIS 3.25 million on the project in its first two years.

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Instead of cooperating with the

@UN_HRC

Commission of Inquiry, Israel and its supporters have launched this pathetic smear campaign against its leadership and staff. I suppose this is exactly how an apartheid state would respond to a human rights investigation.

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The author of the report is the International Legal Forum, which was directly established and funded in 2017 by Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs. It is effectively a front group for the Israeli govt, supported by pro-Israel civil society. jpost.com/arab-israeli-c

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This is what the "report" looks like, the branding is not exactly subtle

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Israel's former app sent an email notice to users announcing a "tweet storm" to attack a UN probe into Israeli human rights violations, accusing it of being “staffed with terrorist supporters” and using the hashtag #PillayIsBiased.

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May 3, 2022

Israel's anti-BDS app may be gone, but Act IL is still sending emails to their list. Former users are asked to send an email to the president of #Harvard, urging him to denounce

@thecrimson

's endorsement of BDS. This is the link they are pushing: actionnetwork.org/letters/send-a

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Natasha Roth-Rowland

Apr 26, 2022

Farewell to the anti-BDS app whose launch party featured the slogan "party like it's 1948." I chatted with

, AKA

, about the brief life of Israel's "Iron Dome of truth" 972mag.com/israel-anti-bd

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Natasha Roth-Rowland

Apr 25, 2022

From marshaling support for the jailing of Palestinian teens to encouraging people to discuss Israelis in trucker hats, Israel's anti-BDS app was weird, persecutory - and a failure. I spoke about it to

Mission failed: How Israel’s anti-BDS app went belly-up

, who spent years tracking its 'missions'

972mag.com

Canadian academic and activist Michael Bueckert spent five years tracking an app used by Israel’s ‘troll army.’ He tells +972 about its activities — ranging from the sinister to the cringeworthy.

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+972 Magazine

@972mag

Apr 25, 2022

In 2017, Israel launched an anti-BDS app to much fanfare. Now, with the app having closed down,

- who monitored it for most of its lifespan - tells

Mission failed: How Israel’s anti-BDS app went belly-up

about its 'sinister' and 'cringey' missions

972mag.com

Canadian academic and activist Michael Bueckert spent five years tracking an app used by Israel’s ‘troll army.’ He tells +972 about its activities — ranging from the sinister to the cringeworthy.

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Michael Bueckert

Apr 25, 2022

For almost 5 years I monitored Israel’s anti-BDS app, documenting the creepier, weirder, and most offensive missions over at

. Thanks to

Mission failed: How Israel’s anti-BDS app went belly-up

and

@972mag

for the opportunity to chat at length about this bizarre experience.

972mag.com

Canadian academic and activist Michael Bueckert spent five years tracking an app used by Israel’s ‘troll army.’ He tells +972 about its activities — ranging from the sinister to the cringeworthy.

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Israel’s anti-BDS app has been deactivated

I told

that the quiet deactivation of Israel's anti-BDS app (which was rolled out by the Israeli government to significant fanfare in 2017) was a long time coming.

mondoweiss.net

It was supposed to be the “Iron Dome” to stop social media attacks on Israel, but the apartheid reports just kept coming and coming! Act.IL, the pro-Israel app at least partially funded by the...

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Israel’s anti-BDS app has been deactivated

Mar 14, 2022

Israel pulls the plug on its anti-BDS app — ‘a failure from the start’

@Mondoweiss

mondoweiss.net

It was supposed to be the “Iron Dome” to stop social media attacks on Israel, but the apartheid reports just kept coming and coming! Act.IL, the pro-Israel app at least partially funded by the...

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Israel is weaponizing social media in order to wage a propaganda war against BDS.

For background, I wrote about the app in

@jacobin

when it was first launched. Thanks also to

@intifada

,

@Mondoweiss

,

@MiddleEastEye

, & others for covering the app's more sinister activities over the years.

jacobin.com

Release the Trolls

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'Act IL' promises to continue to choreograph pro-Israel social media activity, but without an app. Instead, this will continue through WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and other channels. At the moment, its emails are directing users to CAMERA's 'Apartheid Week Exposed' website.

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Although most of its "missions" were amateurish, others were designed to intervene in public policy. Some missions crossed the line into the cyberbullying of students and other pro-Palestinian actors, even “doxing” or getting young people fired for their political views.

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The app was primarily developed, funded, and operated by pro-Israel civil society orgs, but the Israeli gov't also spent $570,000 US on building the app’s website in 2017, and had placed sponsored content in Israeli newspapers promoting it.

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Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر

Feb 17, 2022

Israel's app is recruiting signatories to this letter to the UN Inquiry Committee. #TheCitizensLetter

Quote Tweet

@emilykschrader

Feb 10, 2022

I am proud to be a signatory of the citizens letter to the UN Inquiry Committee on the IDF’s Operation Guardians of the Wall. Israelis, free to read and sign as well. #TheCitizensLetter thecitizensletter.com

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Replying to

and

Can confirm

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We

have raised this ad issue, as well as the warning placed on our Israel apartheid video on

@YouTube

, with

@Google

. We await their response.

Quote Tweet

Rohan Talbot

@rohantalbot

Feb 4, 2022

Hi @Google, is it within your ad policies to allow states to target and smear human rights defenders through your Ads platform?

Show this thread

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Feb 4, 2022

*Foreign Affairs

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Feb 4, 2022

Searching for "Amnesty International" on Google? Some users are finding this sponsored ad result, which takes you to a webpage for Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs. 🧐

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"COMMENT on this tweet and let the readers of the New York Post and the world know that #AmnestyLIES."

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"COMMENT on Amnesty's video and call them out for their lies and misinformation. #AmnestyLies This one targets

directly.

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"COMMENT on this tweet and let the readers of CNN and the world know that #AmnestyLIES."

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"RETWEET the post of Aviva Klompas to let others know too that #AmnestyLIES."

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"RETWEET the post of the Hillel Neuer to let others know too that #AmnestyLIES." (This one also seems to be critical of Amnesty for supporting BLM?)

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"RETWEET the post of the Imam of Peace to let others know too that #AmnestyLIES."

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"SHARE the post of the European Jewish Association to let others know too that #AmnestyLIES."

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Israel's app isn't happy about

's report on Israeli apartheid. Below are some of the many 'missions' the app has launched on social media seeking to discredit and slander Amnesty, with the hashtag #AmnestyLies:

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Expect a lot more of these in the coming days. A mission from Israel's propaganda app calling

a "beacon of hate" (based on a report that hasn't been published yet)

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Jan 25, 2022

Israel's propaganda app is targeting this article & tweet on 'Sportswashing' by

@jonathanliew

in the

@guardian

, directing users to "tackle and rebut the Guardian's numerous misinformed and uninformed statements."

Quote Tweet

The Guardian

@guardian

Jan 24, 2022

Sportswashing is associated with certain countries – why not Israel? | Jonathan Liew theguardian.com/sport/blog/202

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Jan 12, 2022

Israel's app is encouraging users to comment below this tweet, in support of the 'Abraham Accords in Congress'

Quote Tweet

Marc Rod

@marcrod97

Jan 10, 2022

EXCLUSIVE: Eight members of the House and Senate are launching a bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus, with the goal of supporting and promoting normalization between Israel and Arab states. More details from my interviews with the co-chairs: jewishinsider.com/2022/01/congre

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Jan 6, 2022

Israel's app is supporting Israel following a 141-day hunger strike by a Palestinian prisoner, who had been in Israeli administrative detention for more than a year without being charged with a crime: "Israel continues to show morality and mercy in the face of terrorism"

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Jan 6, 2022

Here are more missions from Israel's propaganda app seeking to "enlighten Emma Watson on Israel's reality," and accusing her of supporting Hamas, all because she shared a simple message of solidarity with Palestinians. #EmmaWatson

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Jan 5, 2022

Israel's propaganda app: "COMMENT on Twitter to enlighten Emma Watson on Israel's reality and let her and the world know that Hamas, a terrorist organization, is the true enemy, both for Palestinians and for Israelis."

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Jan 5, 2022

Israel's propaganda app: "COMMENT on Twitter to enlighten Emma Watson on Israel's reality and let her and the world know that Hamas, a terrorist organization, is the true enemy, both for Palestinians and for Israelis."

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Jewish Voice for Peace

@jvplive

When you're losing the culture war and have to artificially engineer public support for your apartheid state with your government-funded app 🥴

Quote Tweet

Israel's propaganda app is encouraging users to criticize @EmmaWatson on social media for sharing a simple graphic about solidarity with Palestinians. The app's messaging is trying to argue that expressing solidarity is equivalent to supporting Hamas.

Show this thread

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Mohammed El-Kurd

@m7mdkurd

❄️❄️❄️

Quote Tweet

Israel's propaganda app is encouraging users to criticize @EmmaWatson on social media for sharing a simple graphic about solidarity with Palestinians. The app's messaging is trying to argue that expressing solidarity is equivalent to supporting Hamas.

Show this thread

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Israel's propaganda app is encouraging users to criticize

@EmmaWatson

on social media for sharing a simple graphic about solidarity with Palestinians. The app's messaging is trying to argue that expressing solidarity is equivalent to supporting Hamas.

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