Israeli students paid to counter online boycott calls

Israel is to pay university students to post supportive messages on social media networks without identifying their government backing.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said students on Israeli university campuses would receive full or partial scholarships to combat anti-Semitism and calls to boycott Israel online. It said students’ messages would parallel statements by government officials.

“This is a groundbreaking project aimed at strengthening Israeli national diplomacy and adapting it to changes in information consumption,” it said.

“Everyone who believes in the cause, and wants to join, can join,” one Israeli official said. He said the office was looking to budget $778,000 for the project, and that the national Israeli student association would select participants from a pool of applicants.

The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz identified the official heading the project as Danny Seaman who has written posts on his personal Facebook page which the paper described as being incendiary and anti-Muslim.

Haaretz posted what it said were four screen shots of his recent posts. In one of them, Seaman wrote: “Does the commencement of the fast of the Ramadan mean that Muslims will stop eating each other during the daytime?” In another, he uses profanity in a comment about the chief Palestinian peace negotiator.

The Israeli official said the posts were “unacceptable and do not reflect the position of the Israeli government.” He said the national communications directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office had instructed Seaman to “immediately cease from making such pronouncements.”

Israel is not the only country to set up such a system. In China, members of the so-called “fifty cent army” sprinkle positive, pro-government messages across the web and social media.