Amid ongoing military operations and internal political strife, Israel’s reputation across the Arab world is under unprecedented strain. As the Iron Swords War continues, following the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre—the most deadly antisemitic attack since the Holocaust—Israel is compelled to navigate not only the battlefield but also a complex landscape of perception, propaganda, and public diplomacy.
Lede: Israel’s Troubled Image Amid Regional Turmoil
Across the Middle East, Israel’s ability to manage both domestic cohesion and external perceptions has become a strategic imperative. Recent events have intensified scrutiny of Israel’s actions and debates within its society, with hostile Arab media and regional adversaries highlighting every sign of political friction and civilian suffering.
The Evolving Narrative: Israel’s Image in the Arab World
Longstanding animosity toward Israel, deeply rooted in pan-Arab and Islamic nationalist ideologies, has been exacerbated by the events of October 7 and the ensuing military response against Hamas and other Iranian-backed terror groups. Today, Arab news outlets, including those in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Gulf, frequently amplify Israel’s internal divisions and the consequences of all-out war in Gaza.
While Israeli democracy allows for unprecedented transparency—protests, coalition crises, and regular public debate over security policy—hostile regimes and terror organizations spin these realities as evidence of decline. Iranian propaganda in particular, via the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, portrays Israel’s robust democracy as chaos and instability.
Iran’s Information War
Iran’s leadership seizes upon Israeli domestic strife to fuel its narrative of inevitable Israeli failure. This effort is coordinated through media outlets and satellite channels across the region, leveraging every image of civil unrest for maximum propaganda value. The regime’s objective is twofold: to demoralize Israel’s regional partners and embolden terror proxies that threaten Israel’s borders on multiple fronts.
Internal Debate, External Risks
Inside Israel, open debate over hostages, judicial reform, and the future of the government is a regular feature of national life. Critics argue that this transparency feeds into the hands of adversaries, but Israeli officials counter that it is the hallmark of a democracy fighting for its survival. Israel remains the only Middle Eastern country where leaders and generals are routinely and openly challenged.
However, these divisions, when played out on the global stage, are sometimes stripped of context in Arab media. Many regional audiences view Israel not as a nation grappling with existential threats, but solely through the lens of images and narratives that fuel existing hostility.
October 7th and the War’s Aftermath
The world saw the horror of the October 7th massacre: Hamas terrorists, armed and supported by Iran, crossed into southern Israel, slaughtering families, abducting civilians, and committing atrocities including mutilation and mass sexual violence. This attack, the most deadly antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust, was condemned internationally. Yet, many Arab news outlets and social media users shifted the narrative focus almost immediately to the plight of Gazan civilians, often ignoring or denying Hamas’s crimes.
Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza, and ongoing operations against Iran’s proxies in Lebanon and Syria, are regularly depicted in the Arab world not as acts of self-defense, but as regional aggression. This mischaracterization feeds a cycle of anti-Israel sentiment and emboldens terror groups that operate within civilian populations, intentionally placing innocents at risk for propaganda gain.
Distortion and Disinformation
Disinformation campaigns orchestrated by Hamas, Hezbollah, and the IRGC permeate Arabic-language media. Civilian casualties in Gaza—tragic and real, but overwhelmingly the result of Hamas’s deliberate strategies of human shielding—are presented without the critical context of Hamas’s war crimes or the IDF’s efforts to warn residents and minimize risk. The release of disinformation, along with doctored and staged images, shapes perception far more than verified battlefield facts.
Global NGOs and some United Nations agencies unintentionally contribute to this distortion, downplaying or failing to report on Hamas atrocities while magnifying every Israeli airstrike, regardless of the military necessity or the IDF’s stated warnings. The result is a widening gap between Israel’s documented reality and its image in the region.
Hostages and the Double Standard
The ongoing hostage crisis adds to the moral and diplomatic complexity. Over 120 hostages, ranging from infants to the elderly, remain in Hamas captivity—an international crime that stands in stark contrast to Israel’s release of convicted terrorists in exchange. Arab media seldom acknowledge this disparity, instead framing all detainees as part of an undifferentiated struggle, undermining the clear legal and ethical distinctions involved.
The Arab Street, State Policy, and the Abraham Accords
While anti-Israel sentiment on the streets of Cairo, Amman, and Riyadh has, in many cases, hardened, state-to-state relationships are more complex. Egypt and Jordan maintain peace with Israel and cooperate on intelligence and security to counter the threat from Iranian proxies. Signatories to the Abraham Accords, including the UAE and Bahrain, have continued quiet but critical engagement with Israel, driven by economic and security interests.
Saudi Arabia, caught between the need to maintain popular legitimacy and the strategic imperative of countering Iran, has slowed but not reversed its cautious normalization process with Israel. These dynamics show that while Israel’s public image in the Arab world is battered, policy driven by state interests remains fundamentally pragmatic.
The Hard Truth: Israel and the Region’s Reality
The essence of Israel’s challenge is to defend itself under the most difficult conditions—urban warfare against fighters embedded in civilian areas; an unrelenting campaign of disinformation; a region where anti-Israel incitement is state-sponsored. The moral and legal distinctions between Israel and its Iranian-backed adversaries are clear: Israel seeks to uphold international law and minimize harm to innocents, while terror groups operate outside all law and actively seek civilian casualties for propaganda.
Israel’s status as the region’s only democracy, committed—even under fire—to robust debate and legal accountability, stands in sharp contrast to its neighbors. This openness is frequently weaponized by hostile actors, but it is also the foundation of Israeli resilience and strength.
International Implications and the Road Ahead
The stakes in this infowar are high. To counter hostile narratives, Israeli diplomats, journalists, and civil society engage in an ongoing campaign to clarify facts and context for regional and global audiences. Initiatives such as Arabic-language advocacy, technology and trade forums, and humanitarian outreach offer quiet but real evidence of Israel’s intentions and values.
Yet, transforming public attitudes in the Arab world is a generational challenge. The persistence of anti-Israel narratives in education, state media, and religious discourse means that progress is likely to be incremental. For now, Israel faces the dual challenge of defending its borders and rebuilding its reputation in a region where truth, perception, and power are in constant contest.
In the end, Israel’s success will be measured not only in battlefield victories but in its ability to withstand—and ultimately reshape—the perceptions that have defined it for decades.
