Hasbara

Hasbara is a Hebrew word that literally means "explanation", but encompasses the military concept of information operations, “public diplomacy,” “public affairs,” and “influence.”

It is conducted internationally; Aish International, an Orthodox outreach group based in the U.S., has a Hasbara speakers bureau in the U.S. (see Hasbara/Related Articles), and offers Hasbara fellowships in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which train in:

1. "Educating students on Israeli and Middle East history and politics with a specific focus on issues related to the Palestinian conflict. Lectures cover topics including History of the Land of Israel, History of the State of Israel, Media Bias, Palestinian incitement and Occupied or Disputed Territories.
2. "Training students to be effective campus activists by creating and implementing pro-active, pro-Israel campaigns. This track includes training students to communicate effectively, workshops in building pro-Israel programming on campus and sessions dealing with "Everyday Activism" topics such as working with campus media, promoting events and building coalitions.
3. Building students' Jewish identity and knowledge in order to be effective Jewish leaders."

The Guardian reports on the MFA initiatives to have hasbara on the Web. Israel is certainly not alone in putting favorable information; the U.S. Army has observed Hamas doing so.