The Israeli Occupation's Employment of Propaganda Techniques and Media Frames Through the "Israel Speaks Arabic" Page on Facebook to Influence Audience's Perceptions

Abstract

This study aimed to find out the extent to which the Israel Speaks Arabic Facebook page employed media frameworks and advertising techniques during 2023 to influence public perceptions. To achieve this goal, the study relied on the descriptive approach and content analysis tool to analyze its posts shared on its Facebook page during the period from January 1, 2023 to April 30, 2023. The content analysis form was designed according to the theoretical framework that relies on the framing theory and the seven advertising techniques identified by the Propaganda Analysis Institute in the United States of America. According to the results of the study only, the strategic framework ranked first with a percentage of 20.2% of the total frames used by the page to influence public perceptions, and the ethical principles framework ranked second with a percentage of 18.7% of the total media frames used in the research sample, while the economic results framework received the lowest percentage of 9.3%. The results showed that the communication strategy of the Israel Speaks Arabic page on Facebook during the study period was in line with the seven propaganda techniques identified by the Propaganda Analysis Institute. The flashy generalities technique was the highest, repeated at 17.9% of the total techniques used in the study sample, while the recommendation technique was the least used technique at a rate of 10.3%. In light of the study results, the researcher recommends the importance of creating political pages that show the military, security and economic failure of the occupying state on all social media sites, and working to compete with the Israeli pages affiliated with the occupying state on social media sites, by forming a specialized media team that is fluent in the various basic languages, English and French, in addition to working to highlight Palestinian media material to refute the lies of the occupying state and their justifications for the excessive use of force against the Palestinian people, and highlighting documents and statistics conducted by international organizations in order to expose the crimes of the Israeli occupation and its targeting of Palestinian civilians.