Israel launches Arabic YouTube channel to bypass Arab media

The Foreign Ministry has launched a YouTube channel in Arabic which is meant to bypass Arab media and give Israel's version of current events directly to Arab viewers, Haaretz has learned.

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The ministry's Arab media department chief Ofir Gendelman told Haaretz on Wednesday that they seek to reduce Israel's dependency on Arab media channels, who tend to give Israeli spokespersons relatively limited airtime.

He also said that the amount of coverage depends on Israel's fluctuating relationship with Arab channels. Thus, for example, Israeli spokespersons have recently shunned Al Jazeera over its allegedly unbalanced coverage of Middle East affairs.



"We have a problem reaching out to the Arab audience, and we need to take additional measures to maximize our exposure," Gendelman said. "The internet scene in Arabic is buzzing, and we wish to establish another communication channel for dialogue. We see it as complementing our current activity in the Arab media."

The first clip was posted on the channel a few months ago, ahead of July's prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah. Tens of thousands of people watched it.

Gendelman says that the channel will update more frequently, and that the Ministry considers adding English subtitles. He also said that in the future they hope to post video reports featuring footages provided by the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Unit. Haaretz