On Sunday, 21 Iyar, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a new Facebook page, specifically dedicated to engaging and creating a dialogue with the Iraqi public. The page, called “Israel in Iraqi-Arabic”, will serve as a digital bridge between the two peoples. The new page focuses on content of interest to Iraqi audiences, such as touching stories about the large Jewish-Iraqi community that previously lived in Iraq and today lives in Israel, as well as similarities between the Israeli and Iraqi cultures. The Facebook page will also introduce the diversity and achievements of Israel to the Iraqi audience.

Yuval Rotem, Foreign Ministry Director-General, noted, “The Facebook page is intended to address the growing interest of the Arab world in Israel. Social networks allow us to reach this audience – our neighbors – and to introduce them to the true face of Israel in ways that were not possible before.

Beyond our general Arab-language accounts on Facebook and Twitter (@IsraelArabic) we chose to dedicate a page to engaging with Iraqis in light of the glorious history of the Iraqi Jews (who today live in Israel), and the rising interest of Iraqi citizens in our story in recent years, something we became aware of after receiving many positive comments on our existing social media accounts from Baghdad and across Iraq. We believe this Facebook page will promote a positive, fruitful dialogue that will lead to a closer acquaintance between Israeli society and Iraqi society in all its components – Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and other populations.”

Yonatan Gonen, the head of the Arabic Language Digital Diplomacy team at the MFA – the team responsible for running the Arab-language social media – explains: “Launching the page is a result of the dynamic dialogue we’ve been having with the Iraqi population for a long time on our social media. In 2017 alone, we received around 50 million views exclusively from Iraq. Many followers from Iraq show great interest in having a dialogue with Israel. They see Israel’s existence as a fait accompli and express their hope for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.”

One of the main reasons for the growing popularity of Israel among the Iraqi population is the sense of nostalgia towards the Iraqi-Jewish community, a community that contributed significantly to the development of modern Iraq but was later forced to leave the country. “The Jewish community that originated in Iraq and today lives in Israel is a human bridge between the countries”, says Linda Menuhin Abdul Aziz, the Iraq-born senior consultant of the Arabic Language Digital Diplomacy team at the Israel MFA. “There’s no doubt that we are witnessing a sea-change in Iraqi public opinion, compared to the period of Ba’ath rule, when I lived there and Jews suffered from persecution and hostility”.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)