Yes, there really is a Mr. Hasbara. A guy who earns his living traveling the world telling people how to be good shills for Israel. And no, it’s not Frank Luntz. Luntz earns even more than Mr. Hasbara, but he has other clients on other issues, so he doesn’t qualify.
Hasbara Guy is Neil Lazarus, originally from the UK, who made aliyah and determined he was so good at pro-Israel spiels he’d make a living out of it. In this, he’s not that different than Walid Shoebat, Tawfiq Hamid, Muntasir (“Mark”) Halawa, or Czanad Szegedi (Hungarian guy), who had an epiphany on the road to Damascus. Except their epiphany wasn’t spiritual in nature. It was political and remunerative in nature. In purely crass terms, they saw an empty niche in the market and decided to fill the need. They determined that there are enough wealthy pro-Israel Jews willing to pay top-dollar for someone to come along and reaffirm their illusions and ignorance about Israel.
Such speakers can easily earn $20,000 a pop for such appearances. If you string a few of them together every year it becomes a nice gravy train.
From Hungarian Fascist to Israeli Fascist
What tickles me especially about Szegedi is that he once was a Hungarian fascist and MP. But after finding out his supposed Jewish roots, he’s determined to make aliyah, so that he can begin spreading the Good Word about Zion:
I am acting in the arena that I am familiar with, Hungary and Europe, in order to raise awareness on the issue of antisemitism and to work for the betterment of Israel, as a sort of compensation for the past. However, I have a lot of years of experience in politics and I would be happy to contribute my experience to Zionist organizations in Israel as well.”
…”Professionally, I will immediately look for bodies and organizations with which I can coordinate in the fight against antisemitism, and I will of course seek to join the World Zionist Organization’s extensive activities in Israel and abroad. Personally, I will visit Jerusalem and the Western Wall, and of course, I will go out to eat real Israeli food, falafel and hummus.”
Oh yeah, he’ll be on the Jewish Agency payroll in no time flat. He’ll be on the Israel lobby lecture circuit along with Lazarus and others, spreading the Gospel about “Israeli food,” which is really Arab food absorbed into the Israeli culinary tradition.
So Szegedi goes from being a Hungarian fascist to being an Israeli fascist. The transformation isn’t as hard as you might think.
Mr. Hasbara Takes Seattle
I’m profiling Lazarus because we have the immense good fortune of hosting him here in Seattle next month for an “Israel Advocacy Training Program.” Standwithus, that stalwart group which always lays it on the line for Israel, has engaged Mr. Hasbara to protect our precious children from the anti-Semitism they will face in their public schools and colleges. Since our children are so vulnerable to the mind-control techniques of the pro-Palestine Lobby and their fellow de-legitimizers, it’s essential that stand-up Zio-guys like Neil gird our kids’ loins with the good stuff, pro-Israel chicken soup, better known in some circles as “Jewish penicillin.”
Neil is a cracker-jack performer who favors Monty Python skits in his talks. Among his more memorable pro-Israel memes is that he seeks to do for Israel “what McDonald’s did for hamburgers.” As for that as a marketing slogan for Lazarus’s seminars, all I can say is “I’m lovin’ it!” Regarding the burgers, I suppose he means making them ubiquitous, rather than making a notorious fast food item that’s turned America into a nation of obese fast-food guzzlers suffering from hypertension, heart disease and assorted other ailments.
If you are a parent or student who doesn’t see the sky falling on Israel or Jews, as Neil and SWU does, I suggest your kid take a good course on the subject in college. Read everything you can on the subject. Take a trip to Israel sponsored by an NGO that isn’t partisan pro-Israel. Then, as Hillel said: go and learn.
You don’t need protection. You don’t need to fear anything or anyone. They’re not coming to get you on campus. Go out and meet the world. Grapple with it. Ask questions about it. Draw your own informed conclusions. Don’t let anyone spoon-feed you anything about Israel or anything else. Tell people like Neil Lazarus to go take a hike; and that you can think for yourself, thank you.
Oh, and I exaggerated for dramatic effect above. The Times of Israel actually called Lazarus “Mr. Israel Advocacy.” But I think Mr. Hasbara is definitely catchier. So Mr. Hasbara it is.
So, while the topic is nick names, if he is Mr. Hasbara, what does it makes you?
Mr. anti-Hasbara, anti-Mr. Hasbara, Mr. anti-ISrael advocacy. I guess you might prefer Mr. exposure.
What does “I consider myself a supporter of Israel” means when you focus on bringing up (and mostly speculating) about what wrong with Israel? And how doing so in such nonconstructive way (mainly lingual) support anything?
@ Sivan: Tzinor Layla once called me Israel’s Wikileaks.
We’ve been over this question hundreds of times before here. Please don’t make me groan when you ask this after it’s been asked & answered repetitively before here. You have a twisted understanding of what “supporting Israel means.” It means treating Israel like a responsible adult & not a feeble child which deserves coddling & fawning attention.
If you want to read authors who really railed against what’s wrong with Israel, reread your prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos.
Oh, again to that weird dictionary of yours.
That again? Tzinor Laila never called you “the Israeli wikileaks” – they said, seen very clearly in the video on youtube btw – that YOU call YOURSELF the Asange, the Israeli wikileaks.
@ I NEVER called myself that until they said it. So either you’re lying or they are, or both.
The proof is in the pudding: 0:30 at https://youtu.be/gTWC80pH7Fo
The false statement I am referring to here is yours, since they clearly did NOT call you “Israel’s Wikileaks”.
@OneIsraeli: Readers take note: this is a meme started by Aussie David Lange going back 3 yrs. First he started it then his acolytes tried to peddle it here. OneIsraeli seems to be yet another in a long line of Lange-liars. It was a lie when he started it & it’s a lie now. Anyone henceforth who brings up or repeats this lie will be automatically banned. I resent the hell out of having to spend 30 minutes of my life researching this nonsense to establish that you are what you are and that I am honest & accurate.
I’m afraid that not only is the proof not in the pudding. But you’ve made a total hash of the pudding. You are not only a liar, but an ignorant one at that. And David Lange, who you mistakenly rely on to purvey truth is even worse.
In this January 17, 2011 blog post, I embedded a video of a Tzinor Layla segment in which reporter Nitay Elboym called me the “Wikileaks of Israel.” He did not say that I called myself that. This was his own statement which he originated. Now it may be that in subsequent video segments Guy Lerer said that I claimed I was the Wikileaks of Israel. But Guy Lerer is an self-important, Establishment-boot-licking, clever asshole and it wouldn’t surprise me that he did. Note that I haven’t appeared on that show for years & I told Nitay why I wouldn’t. But the first reference to Wikileaks came from Nitay, who I continue to respect. Anything Guy Lerer said on the subject followed what Nitay said.
I’m not going to give you a chance to apologize. I’m banning you outright because you lied & you relied on the word of an inveterate scumbag liar, David Lange.
Looking at the timeline, Richard seems to be right.
But what they emphasize is that while Wikileak brings to light information that was unknown, Richard mostly breaks stories that are known to the reporters but they are not allowed to write about.
Now of course Richard will discount the importance of that fact but any intelligent person can see the difference.
@ Sivan: Lerer’s claim is wrong. We’ve been over this ground before. What another reporter may know but not publish doesn’t count. If I have the Great American Novel in my head but don’t publish it, is the guy who does publish the real Great American Novel, not deserving of full credit? Or does he deserve less credit because another guy had that novel first in his head?
If two writers each know a true story but one of them doesn’t publish anything about it & the other writes a best selling non-fiction book about it, does the published author deserve less credit?
All that counts in journalism is what appears on the printed page. Not what some guy hears or knows but won’t or can’t print. Now, if you want to end Israeli censorship so all Israeli journalists can publish what they want, when they want, I may have less scoops. That’s an eventuallity I would welcome.
Thanks for your honesty in admitting I am right. Now tell that OneIsraeli asshole he was wrong too.
Scoops/news are not novels. Your example is terrible!
If you published first a story you deserve credit for what? If you are not the source of the story, you deserve ZILTCH.
Assange and wikileak are sources, not you.
And… not much of what you write “appears on the printed page”
@ Sivan: I used the example of a true story. YOu neglected that I’m afraid. If you & I were both journalists & I published a book based on a true story which you also knew about, would that diminish my achievement merely because you knew about the story & could’ve published your own book but didn’t? NO it wouldn’t.
Assange was not a source, Chelsea Manning was. You’d make a terrible journalist. I suggest you never try it.
You’re done in this thread.
[comment deleted: you are banned. I clearly stated that anyone raising this non-issue again would be banned, which you now are.]
So what can we do to protest this persons obvious propaganda aimed at children? The SWUNW website doesnt make it clear where these evens are taking placing, which colleges and highschools are involved, and which local agencies/communities are sponsoring them.
@ Joe Benoliel: I don’t know locations. SWU’s site says further details TBA. I will update here if I know more.
Are you related to Joel Benoliel?
I’m his son
Joe: Cool! I hope he’s enjoying retirement.
Two things, Richard.
1) I got three copies of this email. Can you straighten that out?
2) Why do you indulge these trolls? Cut them off after one or two exchanges. As Rodney Dangerfield would have said, “Take my troll. PLEASE!”
@ Mary Wilson: You were subscribed to the Daily Digest & Weekly e mail notifications, which is why you were getting 2 sets of notifications. I’ve unsubscribed you from the Weekly notice so you will receive a notice every day on which I publish a new post.
[comment deleted: You have achieved a fate you so richly deserve. You are banned.]