Inside Israel's multi-million dollar propaganda effort in America: What is Hasbara?

Report by Ahmad Abdallah, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

Israel is spending millions of dollars to influence public opinion through media manipulation. 

Tel Aviv cannot afford for the West to know its true nature, and what keeps the West sympathetic is the success of Israel's international media and propaganda machinery, known as Hasbara, which enhances Israel's image and justifies its policies and military operations worldwide.

The latest mission of this machinery cost $9 million of Israeli government funds, spent on a meticulously executed secret diplomatic campaign within the United States, the Congress, and US universities.  

This campaign, revealed by the British newspaper The Guardian, involved funding programs and initiatives to support Israeli causes and shift the public discourse about the Middle East.

The roots of this campaign trace back to the "Concert" program, rebranded as "Voices of Israel" in the United States and Europe, aimed at achieving its goals with the help of non-profit organizations and government-affiliated lobby groups. 

Reports also exposed the involvement of the "Institute for the Study of Global anti-semitism and Policy," a pro-Israel American lobby group, in organizing campaigns to distort political criticism against Israel and redefine "anti-semitism" to fit their agenda.

These campaigns alter the narrative about events in the Middle East and have convinced many Americans, some of whom have committed hate crimes, like the woman in Texas who attempted to drown a 3-year-old girl just because she was of Palestinian descent.

As the debate over the impact of this campaign on American political discourse intensifies, anti-Israel voices are calling for investigations into how these efforts affect American democracy and freedom of speech. 

A significant example of the success of the pro-Israel lobby in the US is the loss of Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman from New York in the Democratic primary elections to his opponent George Latimer, supported by the pro-Israel group AIPAC with nearly $15 million, particularly since Bowman's rhetoric has always been supportive of Palestinians.

All this comes as attention is drawn to the strained relationship between Washington and Tel Aviv ahead of the upcoming tough elections in November. 

Will the impact of Hasbara continue to influence the ballot boxes for the next US president? 

Until then, Israel is betting on its campaigns to secure more billions in American support and to garner lost sympathy around it.