Overview:
In 2018, the Israeli Foreign Ministry created a Facebook page seeking to increase the organization’s engagement with the Iraqi population, branding it as a virtual Israeli embassy in Iraq.
Yonatan Gonen, Director of the Arabic Branch in the Department of Digital Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the branch responsible for the ministry’s social networking pages in Arabic, says the page was set up to lay the ground for the legitimization of the Zionist regime within Iraqis.
The page is effectively a major government-backed astroturfing misinformation campaign, creating an artificial environment of pro-Israel sentiment in Iraq. It regularly sets up solidarity campaigns with Israel, in one instance asking Iraqis to send pictures of their passports and a solidarity message for the Zionist Israeli ethnostate.
The account’s is managed in part by Linda Menuhin, who is a consultant of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s digital diplomatic division. Menuhin is also known for acting as an Israel advocacy agent focused on the Arab world, specifically Iraq.
