Israel Introduction Israel’s computational propaganda efforts fall under three main categories: (1) propaganda which is aimed at social media users outside of the country (Hasbara/public diplomacy), (2) political campaign propaganda which is aimed at local Israeli citizens, and (3) the “alternative enforcement” method which Israel’s attorney generals’ office developed together with platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to ensure better coordination between the platforms and Israel in locating malicious online behaviour directed toward Israel. An Overview of Cyber Troop Activity in Israel Organizational Form Hasbara (Public Diplomacy): The first of these efforts falls mainly within the broader effort of public diplomacy (in Hebrew, hasbara). In recent years this has become more professionalized and centralized in character (Aouragh, 2016). Israel’s public diplomacy efforts are divided roughly into four different and coordinated organizations: The Ministry of Foreign affairs, the Office of Hasbara, the Hasbara array in The Office of the Prime Minister, and the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit. The general aims of public diplomacy efforts are addressed mostly to foreign audiences and include the promotion of pro-Israeli narratives and countering BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) propaganda messages, whose threats aim at delegitimizing Israel (Toker, 2012). The main government organizations working in the field of hasbara work on different audiences. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is primarily focused on spreading messages to other Israeli delegations around the world that are at the forefront of foreign media. The Hasbara array in the Prime Ministers Office focuses on the Jewish diaspora and pro-Israeli organizations around the world. It is also in charge of coordinating responses to foreign media in Israel. These organizations find themselves the most active during major regional conflicts as they become a major player in the “narrative war” with Palestinian diplomatic and propaganda efforts. During these conflicts, public diplomacy works towards justifying and explaining the Israeli position on the nature of the conflicts. The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit is one of the most active organizations during these conflicts and uses digital means to spread messages about Israel's military activity and attempts by terrorist organizations to attack Israeli civilians (Toker, 2012). The Ministry of Strategic Affairs is another government office that has become increasingly more involved in Hasbara. In recent years the ministry, which started out as an office without substantial political importance, has become the leading office in the development of online Hasbara strategies, especially in regards to efforts concerned with the global BDS organization. One of the main activities the office has supported is the promotion of a Hasbara app called act.il, to be used by supporters around the world to help spread pro-Israel and anti-BDS messages online. The app is supported by the ministry and was developed by three organizations in Israel and the US: The Israeli-American Council, the Maccabee Task Force, and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya University. On the ministry’s website there is additional recommended content to be used by apps users for sharing on social media (Sommer, 2017). 209