Who is riding the ‘fake news’ wave?

Russian-speaking Israelis are skeptical of anything promoted by the government, and exposed to an industry of anti-western propaganda from Russia. Even worse, some Yisrael Beytenu party activists have crossed the line and are politicizing the vaccine.

By  Ariel Bulshtein, IH     02-17-2021 

An breakdown of the data about COVID vaccinations by population sector leads us to a supposedly astonishing conclusion: Relatively few Russian-speaking Israelis have gotten vaccinated. This is especially strange given that this sector is known for being highly educated, and could therefore be expected to appreciate the scientific achievement that led to the vaccine and use it to protect themselves.

There are a few reasons why few Israelis originally from the former Soviet Union are getting vaccinated. First, those who happened to be born and grow up in the Soviet Union learned to doubt anything from the authorities. The culture of lies in the Soviet state did not leave them any other choice. The communist regime in Russia and its satellites was built on a combination of lies and coercion, and after those who lived under it found that out – some when the regime still appeared to be strong and threatening, and others after it collapsed – they are unable to believe that there are good intentions in anything arriving from “up top,” and are always looking for hidden and malicious motives. It must be admitted that when it comes to the Russian government, this skeptical approach is justified. Still, sadly, some former Soviet citizens apply the same attitude toward any government, including the government of Israel, which has absolutely nothing in common with the traditions of the Soviet regime.<
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Secondly, the reluctance of some Russian-speaking Israelis to be vaccinated feeds of the industry of lies and fake news coming out of Russia now. It’s no secret that the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging an all-out propaganda war against the west that is designed to taint the achievements of the west and glorify those of Russia. Since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, the issue of how it is being handled has become a central issue in propaganda circles, especially online. Russian players often spread rumors and fake news about the vaccines developed by western countries and inflate conspiracy theories that these vaccines are potentially fatal and intended to cull the world’s population. The Russian propaganda sometimes prompts a smirk, but it does manage to worm its way into the hearts of its target audience, especially among those who are not exposed to reliable sources of information in other languages.

As if these two reasons weren’t enough, there is another, more serious one at play in Israel: the campaign by Yisrael Beytenu. Party chairman Avigdor Lieberman has done everything possible to avoid urging the Israeli population to be vaccinated, and defends MKs from his faction who come out against the vaccines and cling to false conspiracies about them. The messages sent out to party supporters on social media are even more crude and radical, and party activists spread hair-raising comments like “Don’t get Bibi’s vaccine, you’ll help contain the pandemic and help Likud win the election.”

Messages like this, which are mostly sent out in Russia, overstep the bounds of political debate and comprise a real danger to people’s health, certainly given the advanced age of most Yisrael Beytenu voters, which puts them in a high-risk group. How cynical does a politician have to be to abandon his constituency to a terrible disease, and rather than doing everything possible to bring them to vaccination centers, looks calmly on as his supporters’ destructive propaganda leaves them exposed and defenseless?