Israel's propaganda machine endangers every Jew on the planet - including me Submitted by Antony Loewenstein on Fri, 12/19/2025 - 16:09 By framing the horrors of Bondi as justification for its genocidal actions, this government is flailing to restore its legitimacy Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, on 29 September 2025 (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP) On Within hours of the horrific, antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney this month, the Israeli government and its proxies started pushing false narratives, outright lies and racism to a grieving nation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli ministers blamed an Australian government that “normalised boycotts against Jews”, recognised the state of Palestine this year, and refused to shut down pro-Palestine marches. Former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Jews around the world live in fear because we are being hunted. October 7 inspired millions around the world and launched a global war against Jews.” There was no logic or sense to this verbal onslaught at a time when the dead bodies were still warm on Bondi Beach. At that point, and still now, there’s no clear picture of the motives of the father and son accused in the slaughter of mostly Jews who had gathered to mark the first night of Hanukkah, although a link to Islamic State has been explored. It was an outrageous intervention from a disgraced Israeli government accused of committing genocide in Gaza - and yet too many in the Australian and global media treated Netanyahu and his cronies as credible commentators, deferring to their supposed wisdom. Many journalists and editors, even those who might be sympathetic to a more sceptical view, are petrified of speaking out in the wake of the Bondi Beach slaughter, especially to criticise the Israeli government and pro-Israel lobby, lest they be accused of antisemitism . The result is silence and acquiescence. Demonising peaceful supporters of Palestine and spewing anti-Muslim hate has become par for the course for the Israeli government and many of its backers around the globe, at a time when they’re losing the propaganda war after more than two years of mass slaughter in Gaza . Fomenting fears A recent study commissioned by the Israeli foreign ministry found that the country’s image has tanked since 7 October 2023, and its PR consultant proposed to combat this by fomenting fears of radical Islam and “jihadism”. The Israeli response to the Bondi Beach massacre fits neatly into this agenda. What Israel and its defenders continue to wilfully ignore is that it’s hard to convince a global audience of the justness of your cause when the Israeli army is continuing to ethnically cleanse Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza . The problem isn’t faulty PR, but hateful policies and actions against Palestinians. Nonetheless, Israel is ramping up its propaganda, planning to spend 2.35 billion shekels ($730m) on advocacy campaigns in its 2026 budget. Tel Aviv's desire to demonise the Australian government is not about protecting Jews from antisemitism What will this achieve? The US evangelical community is being bombarded with pro-Zionist content. One thousand pastors from the US recently travelled to Israel, on a trip paid for by the Netanyahu government, to train as ambassadors for the country. Local Palestinian Christians were ignored . Israel is attempting to shore up its base of support within the massive US evangelical community, traditionally its biggest source of backing, because younger evangelicals are expressing far more scepticism towards Israel and its policies in Palestine. My sources in the evangelical community tell me that the genocide in Gaza has had a profound effect on the minds and views of many younger evangelicals. Concerns around injustice, in Palestine and beyond, are finally receiving legitimate airtime in these religious spaces, and Israel is worried, hence the spending of untold millions to propagandise troubled minds. Live-streamed genocide Israel faces a changing world, with Trump’s Maga movement increasingly split over its once-solid backing for Zionism. Liberal Jews in the US and beyond are largely lost. The far right, from Sweden to France , warmly embraces Israel and its ethno-nationalist agenda. This is what years of a live-streamed genocide does to a country’s reputation. Israel’s behaviour is directly endangering every Jew on the planet, including me. Antisemitism is real and growing, and this deeply worries me as a Jew. But Australia is not 1933 Berlin, where Jews were suddenly turned into second-class citizens. It’s hard to take seriously pro-Israel Jews who claim they feel unsafe when seeing a watermelon or hearing chants of "free Palestine". Bondi Beach attack: How western allies are enabling Netanyahu's grotesque logic Read More » None of this means that there aren’t real threats. The attack in Bondi Beach is a visceral example, underscoring the need for vigilance, education and adequate security. But Tel Aviv’s desire to demonise the Australian government is not about protecting Jews from antisemitism; it is a shameless attempt to manipulate a debate in which Israeli leaders have no role or relevance, as they flail to restore their legitimacy after years of daily footage of the carnage in Gaza. We need a media class willing to question Netanyahu’s motives. There’s a long history of Zionist propaganda, dating back long before Israel’s birth in 1948, that has aimed to explain and justify a colonising Jewish presence on the land. Today, the tools of propaganda are deployed on social media - and Israel is betting that it can win back lost supporters by framing itself as being on the frontline of the “war on terror” against Islamism. Count me as deeply sceptical. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. Antisemitism Opinion Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0