The Hasbara Dictionary
A concise guide to linguistic acrobatics, reality distortion, and other verbal contortions essential for maintaining moral clarity while bombing things.
So, I wasn't planning on writing an article today, or even publishing one. Generally speaking, the weekend is a time where I prefer to read other peoples work, which is exactly how my morning started. A few hours ago I read another brilliant article from
, I'm quite sure most readers of my musings are no stranger of Caitlin’s work, but I have to give her kudos for the inspiration of this one, after her use of the terms “Israelify” and “Israelified” in her article from earlier today: Israel Foreign Ministry Falsely Claims Palestinians Tore Apart A Beached Whale (which you must read)!So, after a few hours of thinking and spewing my thoughts onto my laptop, with the added side-effects of little bit of alcohol and by now, probably a little bit of sunstroke to top it off, here is the official Truth Decay Hasbara Dictionary (Israeli Edition) 2025. Or maybe it's just an excerpt, there's probably more to come.
The Hasbara Dictionary
A concise guide to linguistic acrobatics, reality distortion, and other verbal contortions essential for maintaining moral clarity while bombing things.
Israelify
(verb) /ˈɪz.reɪ.ə.lɪ.faɪ/
1. To twist, edit, or entirely reinvent factual events until they more conveniently reflect Israel’s preferred version of reality.
Example: The video of the raid was Israelified into a clip of heroic restraint, complete with sombre piano music and no sound.
2. To accuse others of one’s own misdeeds, usually at high volume and with the confidence of a man holding an F-35 manual.
Example: When challenged about civilian deaths, the spokesperson Israelified the question by accusing Gaza of self-bombing.
Synonyms: spinify, mirror-bomb, truthproof, gaslightenment.
Israelifed
(adjective) /ˈɪz.reɪ.ə.laɪft/
1. Describing a report, image, or testimony that has been thoroughly sanitised to ensure it supports the “most moral army in the world” narrative.
Example: By the time it reached the evening bulletin, the footage had been completely Israelifed into a feel-good clip about “restoring order”.
2. Rendered incomprehensible by strategic whataboutism, moral equivalence, and pre-emptive accusations of bias.
Example: The debate was so Israelifed that no one could remember what the question was.
Whataboutism (Israeli variant)
(noun) /ˈwɒt.ə.baʊt.ɪ.zəm/
1. The ancient rhetorical art of answering any question about Israel’s conduct by asking an unrelated question about someone else’s.
Example: “Yes, but what about Yemen?” said the diplomat, expertly deflecting from a photo of rubble still smouldering behind him.
Usage note: Often deployed within 0.3 seconds of the word “occupation” leaving another person’s lips.
Human Shielding
(noun) /ˈhjuː.mən ʃiːld.ɪŋ/
1. The magical principle by which any civilian killed by Israeli fire is instantly reclassified as a voluntary participant in a Hamas training programme.
Example: The family home was regrettably rebranded as a military installation under the Human Shielding clause.
2. A rhetorical shield for actual bombing.
Synonyms: collateral alibi, moral Teflon.
Moral Inversion
(noun) /ˈmɒ.rəl ɪnˈvɜː.ʃən/
1. The process by which the oppressor becomes the victim through repeated use of the word “defence” and selective historical amnesia.
Example: The occupation was justified through moral inversion: the wall isn’t a prison, it’s a “protective cuddle” for democracy.
See also: Security Necessity; Existential Threat; Democracy™.
Precision Bombing
(noun) /prɪˈsɪʒ.ən ˈbɒm.ɪŋ/
1. A term used when a bomb lands roughly in the same postcode as the intended target.
2. The act of killing civilians with great accuracy.
Example: A precision strike demolished the apartment block with surgical neatness — except for the 80 unintended surgeries performed simultaneously.
Hasbara
(noun) /ˈhɑːz.bə.rɑː/
1. Literally “explanation”; practically, a taxpayer-funded PR effort to rebrand military occupation as public relations.
2. The noble art of speaking for twenty minutes without answering a single question.
Example: After the minister’s Hasbara session, even the journalists forgot what day it was.
Collateral Compassion
(noun) /kəˈlæt.ər.əl kəmˈpæʃ.ən/
1. The fleeting, camera-friendly sorrow expressed immediately after the killing of civilians, usually followed by a justification and a shrug.
Example: The spokesperson offered Collateral Compassion for the 42 dead, before clarifying that it was “Hamas’ fault for existing near them.”
2. A form of emotional outsourcing in which empathy is subcontracted to foreign journalists until public attention moves on.
Synonyms: Tragedy Management, Empathy Spin Cycle, Mourning-as-PR.
Ceasefire (temporary PR measure)
(noun) /ˈsiːs.faɪə(r)/
1. A short commercial break between bombardments, designed to allow time for reloading, rebranding, and refreshing one’s moral authority.
Example: The government announced a 48-hour ceasefire to demonstrate its commitment to peace, while quietly buying more bombs.
2. A diplomatic intermission during which both sides pretend to negotiate peace, and only one side actually stops shooting.
Usage note: Always described as “fragile,” despite being the most reliable form of military scheduling.
Self-Defence (expandable concept)
(noun) /ˌsɛlf.dɪˈfɛns/
1. The sacred right to retaliate indefinitely, regardless of proportionality, geography, or whether anyone was attacking in the first place.
Example: Bulldozing another village was classified as self-defence against “potential future hostilities.”
2. A moral get-out-of-jail-free card allowing one to commit acts of aggression under the banner of existential panic.
3. See also: Defensive Invasion; Preventative Genocide; Freedom Fortification.
Antisemitism (conversation terminator)
(noun) /ˌæn.tɪˈsɛm.ɪ.tɪ.zəm/
1. A legitimate and grave hatred of Jewish people, now routinely weaponised to silence criticism of the Israeli state’s policies, regardless of context or intent.
Example: The journalist was accused of antisemitism for suggesting bombing hospitals might not be great optics.
2. The nuclear button of debate — once pressed, all discussion evaporates in a puff of moral panic.
3. A rhetorical device so powerful it can turn a lifelong human-rights activist into a pariah before lunch.
Usage note: Deploy liberally; no evidence required.
Okay, now you’re up to date, head over to CJ’s article: Israel Foreign Ministry Falsely Claims Palestinians Tore Apart A Beached Whale
And, if you want to read more from me, scroll down or clink the title for my most popular article on Substack: Tel Aviv’s Rainbow Mirage: How Israel Used Gay Men, Glitter and Eurovision to Gaslight the World.
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Many thanks, James.
Tel Aviv’s Rainbow Mirage: How Israel Used Gay Men, Glitter and Eurovision to Gaslight the World:
Welcome to Tel Aviv, the city where the margaritas are cold, the abs are hard, and the politics are hidden somewhere behind a rainbow flag and a giant inflatable unicorn. On the surface, it’s Ibiza with hummus—sun, sea, techno beats, and half the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race on holiday. But this isn’t just your average Pride destination. No, this is geopo…
A dictionary whose time has come. Actually, I've been thinking along the same lines. Here are few I've come up with:
1. antisemite noun 1 an epithet used by Zionist Jews and Zionist Christians to defame, discredit, intimidate and destroy the reputation of anyone who criticizes Israel in any way, shape or form 2 a label that has been so frequently and inappropriately used that it has the same effect as calling someone a big, fat pig or sticking your tongue out 3 something someone like Benjamin Netanyahu, for instance, calls someone when he can't come up with a valid opposing argument in Israel's defence.
- SYNONYMS Nazi, terrorist, UN official, ICC Chief Prosecutor
2. democracy noun 1 a representative form of government that Western countries claim proudly to have, but which exists only in political science books and politicians' imaginations 2 control of a specially selected, publicly elected group by corporations, billionaires and the military-industrial complex who run things from behind the scenes
- SYNONYMS fantasy, delusion, con job, joke, sham
3. freedom noun 1 once thought of as having universal application, freedom has come to mean the limitless right of an exceptionalist person/group/state to do whatever the fuck it wants, however it wants and whenever it wants
- SYNONYMS anarchy, chaos, self-indulgence
4. human rights noun 1 like democracy, this is a nice sounding concept that has been invented to make some people/groups/states sound as if they actually care two hoots about human beings and human welfare 2 a reason for a powerful country to overthrow or invade a less powerful country on the ostensible grounds that it wants to protect women and girls from abuse, to rescue a persecuted minority or to establish freedom and democracy when what it really wants is to destabilize the regions and get its grubby hands on the country's resources
- SYNONYMS fairy tale
5. humanitarian law noun 1 a branch of the law that only a handful of specialized legal experts knows anything about 2 the only laws that any offender, such as Israel and the United States, can break and ignore with total impunity because there are no enforcement mechanisms
- SYNONYMS wishful thinking
Excellent! Thank you.