In 2022, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Farsi-language Instagram account gained 700,000 new followers to reach a total of 1.1 million—over 90 percent of whom appear to be located in Iran itself. The account is part of Jerusalem’s vast digital-diplomacy initiative, which runs social-media accounts in 50 different languages to tell ordinary people around the world about the Jewish state. David Saranga describes these efforts:

Farsi has become the most popular language of all—even more than Hebrew and English combined. How did this happen? For one thing, unlike in other, more digitally cautious nations, Israeli diplomats can post both personal and professional content with relatively few restrictions. This openness suits a country [whose] technology and innovation are [its] greatest competitive edges. And the digital sphere is no exception—particularly when it comes to dealing with [people living under hostile regimes].

The woman behind [the] Israel-in-Persian accounts on Twitter and Instagram escaped Iran as a teenager and moved to Israel where she lives today. Persian food, holidays and Farsi are not just hobbies for her, they’re core components of her identity. . . . Both [the Arabic and Farsi accounts] create content that focuses on shared culture, music, food, and values. For Iran, this has meant postings celebrating Persian holidays like Norwuz alongside, more recently, content that publicly supports the thousands of Iranians protesting for their basic freedoms.

This approach appears to be working: in October 2022, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs managed to conduct a poll inside Iran which revealed that over 70 percent of Iranian respondents expressed positive sentiments towards the Jewish State.

Before the latest protests, Israel in Persian covered everything from Israeli technology to Persian Jewish history to ongoing human-rights abuses of the Iranian regime. However, since the beginning of the demonstrations in September, the account has evolved into an unlikely voice for the Iranian people whose media options have never been more limited. Content today now focuses on the horrific beatings, executions, and violations perpetrated by the regime.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.