Israel’s media campaign to woo the Mideast
The fun care-free image Israel is hoping to project to the Arab world.
Armed with social media Lorena Khateeb is from an Arabic language social media unit inside the Israeli foreign ministry.
Her team’s mission: using social media to convince Arabs to embrace the Jewish state.
"As you can see we are in Mahane Yehuda market. We travel to many places in Israel to show the real, simple life of the Israeli citizen and the coexistence between Arabs and Jews. This way we work as Israel's ambassadors in the virtual world and this is
how we build bridges between cultures and nations, away from all the politics."
The small team is spearheading a campaign via platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as part of a multi-pronged diplomatic effort to win over popular acceptance in the Middle East.
But overturning decades of hostility is no easy feat.
Despite Israel having recently secured landmark Washington-brokered deals with the governments of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
An October report by the Israeli government found that during August and September more than 90% of Arabic social media commentary regarding the "normalization" deals was negative.
Israeli officials recognize the challenges.
The region has widespread support for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation or as refugees across the Middle East.
Lecturer and Palestinian analyst Ghassan Khatib’s take on those attempts.
"Until now, not enough time has passed, and there aren't any studies that indicate a deep change in the public opinion in these Arab countries. I think that in the long run it (the change in public opinion) will not happen because of the reasons I mentioned; which are related to the selfish nature of Israel and the aggressive nature of Israel and how it violates human rights and international laws, and other laws which Arab residents in these countries respect."
That foreign ministry's ten-member Arabic-language team includes both Jews and Arabs.
Lorena went to Dubai recently and of course posted lots of pics on social media - saying she felt at home.
Her team hope to convince the millions of Arabic speakers across the region that they’ll feel the same in Israel.
