The Effectiveness of Digital Public Diplomacy in Spreading the Palestinian Narrative: an Applied Study on the “Eye on Palestine” Page on Instagram
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35516/Hum.2025.7951Keywords:
Digital public diplomacy, Eye on Palestine, the Palestinian narrative, agenda setting, expansion of presence, generation of debate, Instagram.Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to assess the effectiveness of Palestinian digital public diplomacy in shaping public perceptions by analysing posts on the ‘Eye on Palestine’ Instagram page.
Methods: The study uses the survey method, as classified under descriptive research methodology, as well as content analysis, to analyze the page's posts. The content analysis questionnaire is based on a three-dimensional theoretical framework with the following dimensions: agenda-setting, expansion of presence and the generation of debate.
Results:. The study reveals that the ‘Eye on Palestine’ page successfully sets its agenda, with a focus on specific topics such as Israeli aggression against Palestinians and their properties, which covers 38.5% of the total posts. Palestinian digital public diplomacy on the aforementioned page has been highly effective in expanding its presence and reaching diverse audiences, especially the foreign public. Although the posts show significant interaction in terms of public comments, two-way communication is lacking. Additionally, the page relies heavily on video clips, constituting 70.5% of its posts.
Conclusions: Despite the increased use of Israeli digital diplomacy, the study shows that Palestinian digital public diplomacy has played a significant role in spreading the Palestinian narrative and influencing global public opinion, as well as refuting the Israeli narrative and its false content. However, this form of diplomacy requires further improvement and development.
Downloads
References
Abushbak, A. (2022). Digitalization of the conflict: Palestinians in east Jerusalem resorting to Instagram during the conflict escalation. In K. Kusuma., P. Paul & S. Ramappa (Eds.), Emerging Trends in Development Communication and Journalism: Many Voices-Many Platform (pp. 203-223). Kanishka Publishers, Distributors.
Agichtein, E., Castillo, C., Donato, D., Gionis, A. & Mishne, G.(2008) Finding High Quality Content in Social Media. In M. Najork (Ed), Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (pp. 183-194). ACM DL. https://doi.org/10.1145/1341531.1341557
Alrantisi, I., Rahim, N., Awais, I., & Almahallawi, W. (2022). Utilizing Digital Diplomacy in the Israeli Discourse to Influence Arab Public Opinion during the Israeli Aggression on Gaza 2021. Baltic Journal of Law & Politics, 15(1), 736-753. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/bjlp-2022-00034
Arsenault, A. (2009). Public diplomacy 2.0. In P. Seib (Ed.), Toward a new public diplomacy: Redirecting U.S. foreign policy (pp. 135–154). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ayoub, H. (2023). Assessing Palestinian public diplomacy: Realities, challenges and opportunities. Global Media and Communication, 19(2), 207-223. https://doi.org/10.1177/17427665231184681
Bendaş, K. (2023). "Image and Popular Culture in Digital Public Diplomacy". In T. Elitaş (Ed), Maintaining International Relations Through Digital Public Diplomacy Policies and Discourses (pp. 26-35). IGI Global. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-5822-8.ch003
Bjola, C., & Jiang, L. (2015). Social media and public diplomacy: A comparative analysis of the digital diplomatic strategies of the EU, US and Japan in China. In C. Bjola & M. Holmes (Eds.), Digital diplomacy (pp. 71-88). Routledge.
Bright, J. (2016). The social news gap: How news reading and news sharing diverge. Journal of Communication, 66(3), 343– 365. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12232
Burla, L., Knierim, B., Barth, J., Liewald, K., Duetz, M., & Abel, T. (2008). From text to codings: intercoder reliability assessment in qualitative content analysis. Nursing research, 57(2), 113-117.
Canals, P. (2023, October 31). Two-Way Communication: How to Use It in Your Social Media Strategy. Cyberclick. https://www.cyberclick.net/numericalblogen/two-way-communication-how-to-use-it-in-your-social-media-strategy
Cull, Nicholas. (2006, April 18). "Public Diplomacy" Before Gullion: The Evolution of a Phrase. CPD. https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/public-diplomacy-gullion-evolution-phrase
Freedman, E. (March 26, 2023). The next frontier: Israel taps AI and metaverse for aid in digital diplomacy. Retrieved from https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-next-frontier-israel-taps-ai-and-metaverse-for-aid-in-digital-diplomacy/
Jin, X. L., Zhou, Z., & Yu, X. (2019). Predicting users’ willingness to diffuse healthcare knowledge in social media: a communicative ecology perspective?. Information Technology & People, 32(4), 1044-1064. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-03-2018-0143
Kent, M. & Taylor, M. (2002). Toward a dialogic theory of public relations. Public Relations Review, 28(1), 21-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0363-8111(02)00108-X
Koa, M., & Abu Hasan, H. (2022). The impact of the social media companies' policies and the Israeli occupation violations on Palestinians' digital rights. The Algerian Journal of Mass Media and Public Opinion Research, 5(2), 167-188.
Koa, M., Muna, G., & Jinhu, R. (2024). Zionist digital propaganda during the fourth round of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip: the “Israel Speaks Arabic” page on the Facebook platform as an example. In M. Al-Abdullah, H. Qutb, M. Matbouli, & F. Boumjahed (Eds.), Media and Communication Strategies in Current Wars, From Soft Power to Military Confrontation (pp. 269-279). Dar Al Nahda AlArabia.
Koa, M., & Mustafa, H. (2023). The Zionist Organizations Recruitment of Propaganda Techniques on Facebook: An Analytical Study of ‘Stand With Us’ Arabic Page. Journal of the Arab American University, 9(1), 27-69.
Koa, M., & Naser, H. (2024). Strategic Communication during Warfare: The Israeli Occupation Army's Employment of Persuasive Appeals on X Platform to Support its Psychological Operations during the Fifth War on Gaza Strip. Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences, In Print.
Koa, M., & Nassar, H. (2024). The Effectiveness of the Israeli Digital Diplomacy Targeting the Arab Public on Social Media Platforms. An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities), 38(5), 928-960. https://doi.org/10.35552/0247.38.5.2191
Koa, M., Ott, H., Aghbar, Y., & Abu Eisheh, M. (2023). The Palestinian digital resistance in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah: The role of personal pages on social media in facing the Israeli attempts of displacement and Judaization.. Al-Quds Journal for Academic Research, 1(2), 57-74. https://doi.org/10.47874/2023pp:57-74
Koa, M., Sawalha, D., & Sharar, D. (2023). The Israeli occupation army spokesman (Avichay Adraee) employment of media frames and propaganda techniques to influence the public’s perceptions during the events of Ramadan 2022. Communication & Development, 2023(36), 115-138.
Mccombs, M. & Valenzuela, S. (2007). The Agenda-Setting Theory. Cuadernos.info, 44-50. http://dx.doi.org/10.7764/cdi.20.111
Mccombs, M. (2005). A Look at Agenda-Setting: Past, Present and Future. Journalism Studies, 6(4), 543-557. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14616700500250438
Nelson-Field, K., Riebe, E., & Newstead, K. (2013). The Emotions that Drive Viral Video. Australasian Marketing Journal, 21(4), 205-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2013.07.003
Olsson, T. & Almgren, S. (2016). Commenting, sharing and tweeting news: Measuring online news participation. Nordicom Review, 37(2), 67–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/nor-2016-0018
Pfitzner, R., Garas, A., & Schweitzer, F. (2012). Emotional divergence influences information spreading in Twitter. In Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 6(1), 543-546.
Ross, A. (2011). Digital Diplomacy and US Foreign Policy. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 6(3-4), 451-455. https://doi.org/10.1163/187119111X590556
Saragih, B. & Natsir, M. (2023). Analysis of Instagram Social Media as Journalistic Activity in the @Kompascom Account. Randwick International of Education and Linguistics Science Journal, 4(1), 164-171. http://dx.doi.org/10.47175/rielsj.v4i1.655
Sevin, E. & Ingenhoff, D. (2018). Public Diplomacy on Social Media: Analyzing Networks and Content. International Journal of Communication, 12 (2018), 3663-3685. https://doi.org/10.31098/pss.v1i1.205
Shalash, L. (2023). The Israeli digital diplomacy directed to the Arabs: An analysis of the “Israel speaks Arabic” Facebook Page. Journal of Al-Tamaddun, 18(1), 245-263. http://dx.doi.org/10.22452/JAT.vol18no1.20
Snow, N. (2013). Truth is the best propaganda: The speeches of Edward R. Murrow in the Kennedy years. McLean, VA: Miniver Press.
Tyler, M., & Beyerinck, C. (2016). Citizen Diplomacy. In C. Constantinou & P. Kerr & P. Sharp (Eds), The SAGE Handbook of Diplomacy (pp. 521-528). SAGE Publications.
Wimmer, R. D., & Dominick, J. R. (2013). Mass media research: An introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Accepted 2024-09-05
Published 2025-08-01


