HASBARA

The Israelites have almost completed their forty year journey in the wilderness. They are close to the borders of the land of Canaan. In their path, stand a number of fearsome warrior nations, including Moab and the Emorites. The first such nation they encounter is Edom, the descendants of Esau. The territory of Edom is to the southeast of Canaan and provides the shortest route to the Promised Land from Kadesh, the city close to where the Children of Israel are camped. In what will become the first act of diplomacy by a Jewish leader since the Exodus, Moshe dispatches messengers to negotiate safe passage for the nation through Edom.

“Moshe sent messengers from Kadesh to the King of Edom: So said your brother Israel: You know all of the travail that we have encountered. Our ancestors descended to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt many years; the Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors. We cried out to the Lord and He heard our voice, and sent an angel and he took us out of Egypt; behold we are in Kadesh, a city at the edge of your border. Please, let us pass through your land; we will not pass in a field or in a vineyard; and we will not drink well water; we will go on the king’s way [the public thoroughfare]. We will not turn right or left until we pass your border.” (Bamidbar 20:14-17). The King’s response was swift and harsh (ibid verse 18), “Edom said to him: You shall not pass through me, lest I come toward you with the sword.”

Moshe’s message to Edom was not simply a request for passage through his land. It was a fine example of what has become known in Israeli jargon as hasbara. Hasbara can be translated as explaining or interpreting. In the political sense, it means information, publicity or propaganda. When something important or controversial happens in the State of Israel, be it a military operation, the building of a new settlement or the removal of a minister from the Knesset, a representative of the government will provide hasbara. The point of such public communication is manifold: to give context to the event, to justify it or to clarify uncertainties. Cynics would say that hasbara is essentially spin control. This is a slang term that means “an attempt to give a bias to news coverage, especially of a political candidate or event.” 

In the months since 7 October 2023, there have been countless examples of hasbara from official and unofficial spokespeople. IDF Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Jonathan Conricus has spent the past nine months since October 7 conducting countless interviews, shuttling from continent to continent advocating for Israel in English-language diplomatic forums, and calmly thrashing it out with media officials biased against the Jewish state. In a recent interview with journalists from the Jerusalem Post (8th July), Conricus said, “I don’t like the word ‘hasbara.’ I don’t think the State of Israel should have a special, unique word for public diplomacy or public relations. I don’t think we have to explain any more than any other country. We do public affairs, public diplomacy, and we don’t need to justify it.” Another well-known hasbara official is Eylon Levy, British-born and Oxford-educated, who served as official Israeli government spokesman from the start of the current Israel–Hamas war to March 2024 when he was suspended. Perhaps the most eloquent of all the current hasbara experts is neither an Israeli nor even a Jew – veteran journalist and political author and commentator, Douglas Murray. Murray has emerged as a fearless advocate for Israel who is not afraid to call out the hypocrisy and blatant anti-Semitism that is present in the universities and parliaments of the West.

Unlike Conricus, I do believe that hasbara is different to other forms of public diplomacy or public relations.  Hasbara usually contains an element of Jewish history. It seeks to explain why Israel has a right to exist, defend itself and take up its rightful place amongst the nations of the world. Consider Moshe’s message to Edom. He makes several historical references: “So said your brother Israel”; “You know the travail we encountered”; “The Egyptians mistreated us.” Rashi explains that Moshe’s intention was to remind the Edomites that the fate of Israel could have been their fate. They were brothers, grandsons of Avraham, to whom God had promised (Bereishit 15:13) “your seed will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs.”  Yaakov’s heirs had been the recipients of that prophecy, one that came with centuries of slavery and suffering. But it could just as easily have been Esau. Moshe was thus subtly indicating to the King of Edom that his nation should treat the Israelites with compassion because they had borne the full brunt of the ancient covenant made with Abraham. Moshe’s hasbara also contained a veiled threat: “We may have been victims in the past, but we are a formidable force now”. Thus he told Edom that “we cried out to the Lord and He heard our voice, and sent an angel and he took us out of Egypt.” The angel was none other than Moshe himself (see Rashi). “Think very carefully before your respond”, Moshe was saying, “Hashem saved us from the Egyptians with signs and wonders. He decimated them and drowned them in the sea. He can do the same to you.”

The haphtarah also contains a remarkable example of Biblical hasbara. The judge Yiftach, a powerful warrior, is approached by the elders of Gilad to assist them in their fight against the nation of Amon. Before going to war, Yiftach sends a message to the King of Amon asking why his nation is attacking Israel. The king replies (Judges 11:13), “Because Israel took my land when it came up from Egypt, from Arnon to the Yabok, to the Jordan, now restore it peacefully.” Yiftach responds with a long message in which he corrects the king’s version of history. He reminds him of the events in our parasha – how the Children of Israel took that particular territory not from Amon but from Sichon, king of the Emorites, who came out to make war with them after they requested passage through his land. True, the land had once belonged to Amon, but when Moshe’s army conquered it, it was the property of Sichon.

In both the parasha and the haphtarah, the enemy kings are not moved by the hasbara – both come out to wage war with Israel. One wonders then, why it was necessary at all for Moshe and Yiftach to have sent their messages. The truth, however, is that it was necessary. It is vital that the Jewish people tell the world their story. It may not have an impact on our enemies, but it has an impact on those who are “on the fence”. It may not have an immediate impact, but eventually it will have an effect. “Truth stands”, says the Talmud (Shabbat 104a), “falsehood does not stand”. Lies can only exist for so long. Eventually they are exposed and the truth shines through. We must never tire of sharing our story and we must never forget our history.

Lee, Chani Merryl and Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom!    

Rabbi Liebenberg

Link to Rabbi’s YouTube message for Shabbat:https://youtu.be/3k60mNfT50k?si=r61mmLZoxugnVrwF