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Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

haaretz.com

231–240 of 807 posts

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Israel seems to only extend that sort of courtesy to a part of its citizenry, but when you remember that the "stable" countries in the region are all more-or-less absolute monarchies, it becomes obvious why the US is willing to at least work with Israel. More directly: apartheid "democracy" > monarchy?

According to the wisdom of US foreign policy, yes. For what it's worth, the US has also tried to work a two-state solution over the last 30 years with various degrees of vigor. That became much harder to accomplish when the Gaza Strip decided to elect Hamas to lead its government in 2006-07.

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Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Free speech sometimes applies to things you don’t like. ...and in the United States we've defined down "free speech" to include "monetary donations."

somebody needs to pay for the billboard, or rent a hall to give a speech, or printing the flyers for your lost cat. How is money not essential to speech? Your proposal is that to support a cause, one should only be allowed to go outside and yell, because that's purer than the corrupting influence of money?

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Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#233
If there are influence operations online is it ethical to counter them with your own? Obviously none would be preferable.

We need to better define what propaganda is. To me it's misleading or false information with the purpose of facilitating a political outcome. Or deceptive information not meant for selling a product.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#234
post #75
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems extremely unethical no matter who is doing it.

100% agree (hence my point about quitting) but the problem is it's a difficult position to be in when everything is narrative driven and misreporting and propaganda are rife. You can sit there and do nothing and wait for your enemy to paint you in a bad light and the next thing you know your usual political allies are throwing money and aid at your enemy. Or you protect your citizens as best as possible by entering t…

> Or you protect your citizens as best as possible by entering the game.

It doesn't seem reasonable to me to assume that the main objective of any government is to protect its citizens.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#235
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to shut down a conversation with "Antisemitism" does not help your case. Being critical of their actions does not equal antisemitism. I fully understand why they are doing what they are doing, they would be stupid not too. That doesn't mean its ok and we should accept it. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/17/pro-israel-m...

How do you propose we determine the fine line between the antisemitic "The Jews run the World" and "being critical of their actions"? What would e.g. be the piece of evidence that convinces you that we're dealing with antisemitism and not legitimate criticism? We shouldn't shut down conversations about Israel with antisemitism but we also shouldn't shut down conversations about antisemitism with "being critical of th…

Because the original post is about Israel using fake social media accounts to get US representatives to support genocide in Gaza. We’ve literally just passed some laws to _sanction the ICC_ for their daring to say anything negative about Bibi Netanyahu. Does the Arab lobby also have this kind of power? I mean, are you going to seriously argue that this is normal: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/03/aipac-israel-spendi... ?

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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Its not at all, even if you mean “social media age”, and not “information age”, it's just one of the first (there are other disputed candidates, e.g., in Ukraine) that are getting first world attention other than after-the-fact. The Rohingya genocide in Myanmar in which Facebook’s role was widely discussed (largely, in the first world, after the fact) was probably the first social media age genocide, if you don't res…

I’m thinking in terms of processes and propaganda. While other genocides use information technology for communication and propaganda, this one is unique in that information technology is used throughout, including in target selection and killings. The Rohingya Genocide does not e.g. use drones to carry out killings with targets selected by AI.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#239
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post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you find it concerning that no presidential candidate can even pass the primary without first kissing the ring of AIPAC? That Zionist lobby openly attacks insufficiently pro-Zionist candidates and then openly brags when they lose elections? With Zionist lobby trying to outlaw any criticism of Israel in direct violation of 1st amendment? Etc, etc. IDK about others, but I think this is insane.

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Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#240

I'm sure the story is true, but I doubt it was effective. I don't think most politicians are really looking at their social media given most of it is trolling junk. I'm sure Russia/Iran/Hamas adjacent countries were doing the same. I just don't think they have been that effective in getting politician support. Direct lobbying or phone/email is much more effective than an online troll farm to get the attention of a po…

OTOH i ve seen politicians care about social media much more than average joe does.
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