Narratives Under Siege: Part VII
Why It Matters Beyond Israel/Palestine
Cold Open
When Saudi Arabia bought Newcastle United Football Club in 2021, fans waved new flags and sang new chants. But human rights groups saw something else: a regime accused of war crimes in Yemen and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi polishing its image through “sportswashing.”
The playbook felt familiar. Influence operations, curated media narratives, suppression of critics – strategies pioneered and perfected in the Israel/Palestine context are now part of a global toolkit.
Copying the Playbook: Three Examples
Saudi Arabia – Sports and Prestige
Billions invested in football clubs, boxing matches, and golf tournaments.
Purpose: redirect global attention from human rights abuses to glitzy events.
Parallel: like Israel’s junkets for politicians, Saudi sportswashing reframes the narrative – from war crimes in Yemen to modern, cosmopolitan reform.
China – Media Buy-Ins and Academic Leverage
Confucius Institutes worldwide promote Chinese state narratives, often at the cost of free debate.
State-linked firms buy advertising and inserts in Western newspapers to push positive coverage.
Parallel: like NGO Monitor or CAMERA, China pressures universities and media houses to avoid “sensitive” topics (Xinjiang, Tibet, Taiwan).
Russia – Disinformation Networks
RT (Russia Today) and coordinated online troll farms push narratives to destabilise democracies.
During the Ukraine war, Russian disinformation framed invasions as “liberations.”
Parallel: similar to Israeli-linked disinformation firms like Archimedes or Team Jorge, Russia deploys covert online networks to shape perceptions.
What Israel’s Case Shows
Israel was not the only innovator, but it was early and effective in combining:
Public diplomacy (junkets, lobbying).
Legal strategies (anti-BDS laws).
Digital influence (platform pressure, apps).
Covert ops (spyware, disinformation exports).
This integrated approach set a precedent: influence is not just about persuasion, but about systematically tilting the playing field.
Why Democracies Are at Risk
When governments – democratic or authoritarian – deploy these tools, three dangers emerge:
- Chilling effect on free speech: Whether through anti-BDS laws, Saudi lawsuits, or Chinese campus pressures, critics risk silence.
- Corruption of public debate: Covert bots, blacklists, and algorithm manipulation make authentic democratic discussion nearly impossible.
- Normalisation of propaganda exports: Pegasus in Mexico, Huawei in Africa, RT in Europe – tools designed for one conflict become global weapons.
The Human Rights Compass
The struggle is no longer “pro-Israel vs. pro-Palestinian.” It is pro-human rights vs. propaganda systems worldwide.
If Israel’s influence tactics can silence Palestinians, they can silence Uyghurs, Saudis, or Russians.
If spyware can target Palestinian activists, it can target Mexican journalists, Hungarian dissidents, or French politicians.
If boycotts against Israel can be outlawed, then boycotts against fossil fuels or authoritarian regimes can be too.
Conclusion
Israel’s influence strategies matter not just because of Palestine, but because they are now templates for global authoritarianism.
The lesson is urgent: defending human rights in Palestine is inseparable from defending them everywhere. To resist propaganda in one place is to resist it in all.
In Part VIII – the final section – we will turn to the path forward: how to reclaim a universal human-rights narrative that protects Jews, Palestinians, and all people from violence, censorship, and repression.
Further Reading
Amnesty International – Saudi Arabia and Sportswashing
Human Rights Watch – China: Confucius Institutes and Academic Freedom
Bellingcat – Russian Troll Farms and Influence Operations
The Guardian – Saudi Sportswashing Debate
Narratives Under Siege: Part VIII
The Path Forward – Reclaiming Human Rights Narratives
Cold Open
In January 1949, as the ashes of World War II still smoldered, Eleanor Roosevelt stood before the United Nations General Assembly with the newly adopted Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “This is the first international bill of rights,” she said, “for all people everywhere.”
Seventy-five years later, the principles she invoked – dignity, freedom, accountability – remain the clearest guide for navigating the conflicts of today. If propaganda systems have distorted the Israel/Palestine story, the way forward is not to choose sides in a propaganda war. It is to return to those universal values.
What We’ve Learned
Across this series we’ve seen how Israel and its allies built and defended narrative power:
- Historical sympathy: From Zionism’s settler-colonial origins through Holocaust trauma and Cold War alignments (Part I).
- Influence machine: Junkets, lobbying, watchdogs, and blacklists (Part II).
- Words as weapons: Contested definitions of antisemitism (Part III).
- Digital battleground: Algorithms, access restrictions, and shadow bans (Part IV).
- Shadow war: Spyware exports, covert disinformation campaigns (Part V).
- Lawfare front: Anti-BDS laws vs. ICC/ICJ accountability (Part VI).
- Global diffusion: Authoritarian states worldwide copying the playbook (Part VII).
The thread running through it all is power: the ability to tilt narratives, suppress criticism, and frame reality.
Why Human Rights Must Be the Compass
Protect Jews from real antisemitism: attacks on synagogues, hate speech, discrimination must be fought vigorously.
Protect Palestinians from occupation and apartheid: rights to life, freedom, and dignity cannot be exceptions.
Protect free expression globally: boycotts, criticism, and academic debate are not crimes.
Protect democratic space: journalists, activists, and voters must be free from spyware, bots, and intimidation.
When governments conflate criticism with hate, or when platforms erase evidence of abuses, it is human rights that suffer.
Steps Forward
Transparency in Influence
Mandatory disclosure of junket sponsors, lobbying expenditures, and foreign influence operations.
Clear reporting when journalists or politicians accept sponsored travel.
Protecting Free Expression
Adopt speech-protective definitions of antisemitism (JDA, Nexus) alongside IHRA, ensuring criticism of states is not conflated with hatred of people.
Repeal or amend anti-BDS laws that restrict constitutional rights to protest.
Platform Accountability
Independent audits of moderation practices.
Equal treatment of Palestinian content, with transparent appeals and evidence preservation.
Protect citizen journalism and OSINT as essential to documenting rights abuses.
International Law and Accountability
Support ICC and ICJ processes without exceptionalism.
Apply the same standards of war crimes, apartheid, and genocide investigations to all states.
Human Rights Universality
Resist exceptionalism. The principle of never again applies not just to Jews, not just to Palestinians, but to everyone.
Conclusion
Propaganda systems are powerful. But human rights are more powerful still – if we choose to defend them consistently.
Supporting Palestinian rights does not diminish Jewish safety. Condemning antisemitism does not excuse occupation. Protecting free expression does not mean tolerating hate.
The path forward is neither silence nor smear. It is to stand on the firm ground of universal rights, where truth can survive influence, and dignity belongs to all.
Further Reading
United Nations – Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism
Nexus Document
Amnesty International – Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians
Committee to Protect Journalists – Gaza and Press Freedom
Link to Part 3:
Narratives Under Siege: Israel, Media Power, and the Struggle for Human Rights (Part 3)
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Did I miss it? Was there any reference to the power of the press and propaganda influence from USA and UK that permeates Australia’s sense of sovereignty and independence? I clearly remember the halcyon days of contested journalism in Melbourne with afternoon editions of The Herald, The Argus and The Sun being sold by paper boys on the steps of the Flinders Street railway station. Back then (1950’s) there was a diversity of journalistic opinion that was not repeated ad nauseum from every mast head.