Israeli election: This time, Arabs are the target – not the subject – of disinformation

Unlike previous Israeli elections that saw disinformation spread against Arabs in Hebrew, this time, Israel's Arabs are enjoying bespoke propaganda in Arabic and even Likud wants a slice

Omer Benjakob | Mar. 23, 2021

“Arab voters are heading to the polls in droves.” This infamous line pushed out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 2015 election was the paradigmatic Israeli disinformation campaign, inciting against Israel’s Arab population and demonizing its participation in the vote. In this election, however, Israeli Arabs are no longer the means, but rather the end of disinformation.

“This is the first election in which we are seeing disinformation efforts targeting the Arab community internally, in Arabic,” explains Inbal Orpaz, a researcher focused on disinformation at the Institute for National Security Studies.

“In the previous election rounds, the Arabs were united in one slate,” she explains. This time is different, she and activists note, as there is a battle for the Arab vote: The Joint Arab List, headed by Ayman Odeh, and Mansour Abbas’ United Arab List, which split off from it after forming an informal alliance with Netanyahu, are both vying for votes.

“Now the Arab vote is up for grabs, so no one is invested in suppressing the Arab vote through disinformation, even Netanyahu,” she explains. “Instead, we are seeing disinformation used to try to divide the Arab vote.”

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For full article: www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium-israeli-election-this-time-arabs-are- the-target-not-subject-of-disinformation-1.9646605