Students offered grants if they tweet pro-Israeli propaganda

[Patriots]

In a campaign to improve its image abroad, the Israeli government plans to provide scholarships to hundreds of students at its seven universities in exchange for their making pro-Israel Facebook posts and tweets to foreign audiences.

The students making the posts will not reveal online that they are funded by the Israeli government, according to correspondence about the plan revealed in theHaaretznewspaper.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which will oversee the programme, confirmed its launch and wrote that its aim was to “strengthen Israeli public diplomacy and make it fit the changes in the means of information consumption”.

The government’s hand is to be invisible to the foreign audiences. Daniel Seaman, the official who has been planning the effort, wrote in a letter on 5 August to a body authorising government projects that “the idea requires not making the role of the state stand out and therefore it is necessary to adhere to great involvement of the students themselves, without political linkage or affiliation”.

According to the plan, students are to be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”.

Mr Netanyahu’s aides said the main topics the units would address related to political and security issues, combating calls to boycott Israel and combating efforts to question Israel’s legitimacy. The officials said the students would stress Israeli democratic values, freedom of religion and pluralism.

But Alon Liel, the doveish former director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry, criticised the plan as “quite disgusting”. “University students should be educated to think freely. When you buy the mind of a student, he becomes a puppet of the Israeli government grant,” he said. “You can give a grant to do social work or teach but not to do propaganda on controversial issues for the government.”

Students offered grants if they tweet pro-Israeli propaganda - Middle East - World - The Independent

 

[Koroke San]

Nice way to get a scholarship. Now i want a scholarship too

 

[Dubious]

Damn! Para likhay jahil! Talk about education making you more civilized!!

 

[MOHSENAM]

Filthy Zions !

 

[Voltaire]

Any plans for goys?

 

[Tshering22]

Why would they need to provide incentives to promote the image of their own country? Why can't these kids do it for their land?

If Hamas can use dead kids as propaganda machines, then this is also valid.

 

[Echo_419]

In a campaign to improve its image abroad, the Israeli government plans to provide scholarships to hundreds of students at its seven universities in exchange for their making pro-Israel Facebook posts and tweets to foreign audiences.

The students making the posts will not reveal online that they are funded by the Israeli government, according to correspondence about the plan revealed in theHaaretznewspaper.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which will oversee the programme, confirmed its launch and wrote that its aim was to “strengthen Israeli public diplomacy and make it fit the changes in the means of information consumption”.

The government’s hand is to be invisible to the foreign audiences. Daniel Seaman, the official who has been planning the effort, wrote in a letter on 5 August to a body authorising government projects that “the idea requires not making the role of the state stand out and therefore it is necessary to adhere to great involvement of the students themselves, without political linkage or affiliation”.

According to the plan, students are to be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”.

Mr Netanyahu’s aides said the main topics the units would address related to political and security issues, combating calls to boycott Israel and combating efforts to question Israel’s legitimacy. The officials said the students would stress Israeli democratic values, freedom of religion and pluralism.

But Alon Liel, the doveish former director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry, criticised the plan as “quite disgusting”. “University students should be educated to think freely. When you buy the mind of a student, he becomes a puppet of the Israeli government grant,” he said. “You can give a grant to do social work or teach but not to do propaganda on controversial issues for the government.”

Students offered grants if they tweet pro-Israeli propaganda - Middle East - World - The Independent

Do you know if Foreign Citizens can apply for this scheme

Why would they need to provide incentives to promote the image of their own country? Why can't these kids do it for their land?

If Hamas can use dead kids as propaganda machines, then this is also valid.

Damn right,Hamas uses Dead kids & the Israelis will use Nerds for Propaganda.

 

[bdslph]

ewww hahaha but nice plan

 

[idune]

Israel is making new generation of genocidal terror animal with lure of money.

 

[Valkyrie]

Why would they need to provide incentives to promote the image of their own country? Why can't these kids do it for their land?

If Hamas can use dead kids as propaganda machines, then this is also valid.

They need to be paid because normally human conscience doesn't exactly endorse condoning barbaric acts such as killing babies & civilians, imprisonment, torture and blockade even if its done by the very country they belong to. There's a limit to "patriotism", and even the most ardent of nationalists sometime need incentives to brush aside their moral judgment.

 

[Tshering22]

They need to be paid because normally human conscience doesn't exactly endorse condoning barbaric acts such as killing babies & civilians, imprisonment, torture and blockade even if its done by the very country they belong to. There's a limit to "patriotism", and even the most ardent of nationalists sometime need incentives to brush aside their moral judgment.

I am sure no one knows more barbarism than the jihadis who are rampantly killing even yezidis in Iraq who did nothing against them for centuries.

What Israel is doing is protecting its country.
If Hamas can draw our weapons and do inhuman stuff, Israel shouldn't back off either.

 

[Valkyrie]

I am sure no one knows more barbarism than the jihadis who are rampantly killing even yezidis in Iraq who did nothing against them for centuries.

What Israel is doing is protecting its country.
If Hamas can draw our weapons and do inhuman stuff, Israel shouldn't back off either.

Firstly, ISIS, both ideologically and in its practices, is as far from Islam as these Zionists, infact what they are doing directly goes against the fundamental teachings of Islam. So to call them jihadis is not only inappropriate but also demeaning to people who are actually "struggling or striving for a greater cause then themselves" aka "jihadis".

Secondly, i fail to understand how conflict of Iraq/Syria is related to Palestinian conflict. The actions of ISIS are condemn-able and abhorrent, just as those of Israeli Zionists. Realistically speaking there isn't much of the difference between the two, since both of them are religious fanatics, claim they have a God-given right to occupy land / rule, have displayed discriminatory behavior towards the minorities and unleashed unprecedented brutality upon non-combatants throughout the history of conflict. But lets just overlook these similarities and believe Israelis are democratic because these wear fancy suits and appear cultured.

Thirdly, there's a vast difference between Hamas' rockets and nondiscriminatory, large scale bombings done by Israel. Former is form of retaliation, against Israeli embargo of a million of Gaza citizens (denying them food, medicine and travel, periodic kidnappings, abductions and their cold-blooded murder) carried out by an organization which is democratically elected by its people to preserve their interests. Seriously, what else does Israel, after doing all of this for such a long time, expect back? Flowers?