A 2016 guide to Israeli "hasbara" on the Palestinian conflict

The Media Education Foundation made a 2016 video called “The Occupation of the American Mind” focusing on the themes and technuques of Israeli hasbara (propaganda) directed at an American audience.

It remains a very helpful framing for understanding the kind of “public diplomacy” efforts that Israel is still making, more intensely than ever after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Viewers who have been following the news since that attack will find much of the rhetoric of the Israeli talking points drearily familiar. Surprisingly so, given how dramatically bad the situation has been since the October 7 attack.

Notes:

(1) The Occupation of the American Mind (45-minute version). The Occupation of the American Mind YouTube channel 05/30/2018. https://youtu.be/WmoYoiMgpWU?si=ToKpyvZCnch2j4ad (Accessed: 2025-30-05).