Back in 2010, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign affairs purchased the Twitter handle “@Israel” from Israel Meléndez of Miami, Florida which lay relatively dormant ever since registering it in 2007 for a reportedly 5-figure sum, making Meléndez the only living person to ever actually financially benefit from Hasbara on social media. He was also happy to part with the handle because even with no activity, he was a target of non-stop abuse from Israel haters.
Anything with the word “Israel” in it in social media usually has to put up with a lot of, well… riff-raff. Heck, once I even saw a story about Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole attract a “Free Palestine” or two.
So even though the Twitter account largely dedicates its timeline to innovation, technology, culture, arts, history and helping the world in times of need, you can expect @Israel to garner some interesting replies. But it’s not the replies itself that are interesting. It’s the way they try to change the topic from something so innocent like gazelles to the neverending downward spiral of the Israel-Arab conflict. As if there is a shortage of places to hold a discussion of the conflict and stay on topic, these folks make it a point to hijack anything and everything. Because Zionists.
Behold the most surreal responses. Warning to the faint of heart, these tweets are uncensored.
1. Gazelles and Pigs
https://twitter.com/BooAzizi/status/587139461776932864
2. Water Saving Technology and 9/11
3. Shhh… don’t tell Raqueem who made the land fertile
4. I long for a day when @Israel Tweets about curing cancer, it attracts people from the medical profession instead of…
https://twitter.com/MostafaMasjedi/status/585324037666119680
5. I may be going out on a limb here but research grants aren’t usually given to idiots
6. Imagine being able to roll up your telev… wait didn’t the first frame in that cartoon result in multiple murder? Wait… what does that cartoon have to do with anything? Why am I still talking about this?
7. You have a weird dead baby fetish, I’m afraid Tel Aviv can’t help you there.
8. Here’s a completely reasonable response to “Have a peaceful Saturday”
9. This guy’s brain is a real labyrinth.
10. OK, Leigh. How would you like them to phrase that tweet so it’s MORE inclusive?
11. This story is about the discovery of 2300 year old artifacts from the early Hellenistic period after Alexander the Great conquered the Land of Israel. This predates any mention of “Palestine” in any form. But that doesn’t bother Nimati.
12. Are you referring to the 8th/3rd most obese region in the world among men/women? Or the one Israel is saving from their own civil war?
https://twitter.com/mit_sub/status/575606092161552384
So yeah. You can waste a good evening just perusing the responses. You could respond to their tweets but why? @Israel is concentrating on positive stories that help humanity. Why screw it up?
