"Hasbara comes down to reactive clips"
Shtrit delivered a sharp critique of how the State of Israel conducts itself in the media and public-diplomacy arena: "We are a country whose hasbara comes down to ridiculous clips... and then we don't understand why the world doesn't like us." He added that Israel is entirely absent from the battlefield: "We're not even on the field. You see our efforts, everything is reactive."
While Israel leans primarily on private initiatives by content creators and influencers, Shtrit said, hostile states and actors are investing massive resources to damage its image: "There are tens of millions being invested by Qatar, Turkey and Russia. Our private sector is nice, but it doesn't change the picture."
We need to go on offense
Shtrit called on decision-makers to change their approach and stop settling for defensive hasbara: "We have to go on offense. We need to tell who the enemies are, what they're doing in their own countries, in the US and in Europe." He closed with the hope that the reality on the ground will wake up the system: "This is a big failure for us, and I hope that because of these events we'll wake up and understand this arena."
