Advocacy Group Draws Support for Israel From Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Yemen, Qatar, Iran
by Joshua Levitt
Israel advocacy group StandWithUs on Wednesday said that when it asked social media followers to send a picture of their passports in support of Israel, readers quickly sent in more than 1,000 passports from 100 countries, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Yemen, Qatar, Malaysia, and Iran.
In a statement to The Algemeiner, the group said, “In no time, StandWithUs was flooded with photos of people writing messages on their hands and photographing it with their passport to show where they are from.”
Other countries represented in the online showing of support were Pakistan, Indonesia, Albania, Turkey, Georgia and Ukraine, as well as the U.S., France, Australia, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, India, and China, among the many others.
The group said, “One Egyptian participant even filmed his contribution, making a bold statement of support for Israel,” which he posted to Facebook, where he said, “My name is Ahmad, I am an Egyptian Zionist.” The post has received 10,600 “likes” in two days.
A supporter of Israel from Afghanistan posted his photo and said, “We Love Israel for defending their people and punish these Hamas Terrorists. Imagine if Hamas had the same power as Israel, Hamas would have killed the entire Israeli populations. So here’s my passport to say thank you for standing against Hamas and removing the threats of rocket attack towards Israeli civilians. All Afghanistanis are with Israel at this very important time. God bless Israel. We feel your pain, we have lived under their regime during the fascist Taliban.”
Michael Dickson, Director of the Israel office of StandWithUs, evoked the rocket-busting Iron Dome, when he said, “The battle for public opinion and support is Israel’s second frontline. SWU ramped-up its social media campaign, knocking anti-Israel propaganda out of the sky.”
“This creative campaign allows people to show their support for Israel and is a huge boost for Israeli who are living under fire and are sending their young people to the frontline,” Dickson said. “We have been amazed by the level of support for Israel from all over the world.”
The group has posted an album to Flickr with photos of the many foreign passports and messages in support of Israel, as well as more videos to YouTube.