Students wage social media war over Israel’s image

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Australia’s Sydney Harbor is up in flames. Large letters superimposed on the scene ask, “How would they react?”

That image and many others like it have been distributed by an Israeli student initiative called “Israel Under Fire,” which now boasts more than 57,000 followers on its Facebook page.

While rocket attacks continue from Gaza after Palestinian terrorists’ rejection of a cease-fire brokered by Egypt and accepted by Israel, more than 400 student volunteers are working together from a computer room at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) college and graduate school to present the world with Israel’s position on the ongoing conflict with Hamas.

“We really believe that today the real war takes place on the Internet,” Israel Zari, the student union spokesman at IDC, told JNS.org.

The first Israel Under Fire student operation at IDC was held during Israel’s November 2012 conflict with Hamas, which saw the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conduct Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza. The student initiative was reopened as soon as the IDF launched its current operation, Protective Edge. This time the campaign has its own website, Israelunderfire.com, where the students accumulate all of their information via text, videos, and memes.

Despite their initiative being a private one, Israel Under Fire’s students work in conjunction with guidelines and rules from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

“This is the largest private [media] operations room in Israel,” Zari said. “Our goal is… to present a unified front.”

The students work around the clock in groups. Each group is dedicated to a different skill, such as graphic design and research. There are also many international students who translate the content into various languages.

Given the current situation, the students are currently focusing on promoting the message that Israel “would welcome a cease-fire” and would like “to finish the military operation,” Zari said.

They also want to show that Israel froze its weapons and strikes, “but on the side of Hamas this did not happen, despite all the mediation efforts,” he said.

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