Israeli PM's Office Hires Jewish Believer for Social Media
JERUSALEM, Israel – An Israeli believer in Jesus is making headlines here after Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's office hired him as the new deputy social media adviser for the prime minister,
a media report said.
Hananya Naftali is a popular social media figure, advocating on behalf of Israel on Facebook,
YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. He has been sharing on social media for several years and
has a following of more than 310,000 on Facebook and more than 26,000 on Twitter.
But at least the Jerusalem Post is taking issue with his beliefs.
Jerusalem Post. Later the web version headlined, "From Praising Jesus to Tweeting Bibi, PM's
New Recruit Has Colorful Past."
In the front page article, the Post noted that Naftali's parents are both Jewish but said he had called
himself "a Christian" in one video.
According to the article, Netanyahu's social media advisor, Topaz Luk, hired him. He described
Naftali as "a full Jew on both sides, who respects Christians, who loves Israel and do so much
to strengthen Israel."
Luk was quoted as saying that Naftali was a "superstar" and he would help in running
Netanyahu's social media networks. In an interview a year ago, Naftali asked Netanyahu for
his advice on how to defend Israel on social media.
"It's easy to advocate for the State of Israel because all you have to do is advocate the truth,"
Netanyahu said. "That's my tip: just tell the truth."
Naftali, who was an IDF soldier and fought Hamas in
Operation Protective Edge – Israel's 2014
battle in the Gaza Strip – has produced numerous videos doing just that.
From the Gaza Strip, to the Syrian border to standing against the Israel is Apartheid claim,
Naftali details the threats and disputes the accusations against Israel.
In one of his most popular videos, "How to Boycott Israel," a friendly Naftali lists all the things
that Israel-haters should remove Intel Pentium chips from their computers and laptops as well as
firewall and anti-virus programs; not to use Microsoft operating systems; and not to use SMS
messaging on the cellphone.
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