Demystifying Israel and Correcting 'Complete Lies' on the Digital Stage
Demystifying Israel and Correcting 'Complete Lies' on the Digital Stage
As part of our "Creator of the Week" series, get to know the poignant and provocative Hananya Naftali.
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Hananya Naftali describes himself as “that Israeli who talks to the camera about peace in the Middle East.”
He’s become a mainstay across social media platforms, speaking out against antisemitism, BDS, terrorism against Israel, and other threats the Jewish People face.
While Hananya was born in Israel, his parents were Soviet refugees who immigrated to the Jewish state in the early 1990s, immediately after the Soviet Union collapsed.
Hananya’s rise began in 2014 during his Israel Defense Forces service, which included Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza.
“Before we entered the Gaza Strip, we gathered late at night and our commanders told us very strictly that our mission was to defend Israel, and we were forbidden to harm Palestinian civilians, as our sole mission was to hit terrorists,” Hananya said. “I believe we successfully did it.”1
During this operation, the “complete lies” that IDF soldiers “target civilians” motivated him to start leveraging social media to show Israel in a different light and defend the country when appropriate.
“At the time, my English wasn’t good and I didn’t know how social media worked or how to edit videos,” he said. “But I wanted to tell the story of my country.”2
Hananya has become a digital activism powerhouse, with literally hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms.
As our Creator of the Week, we’re excited to share with you some of his top videos, including:
The Artificial Intelligence War in the Middle East
Why Jerusalem Can’t Be the Capital of Palestine
The Arab Muslim in the Israel Defense Forces
How Indian Soldiers Saved Haifa in World War I
Did lions exist in Israel? The Bible’s Greatest Mystery