Israel Rallies Support From China in Social Media Campaign Against Hamas

The Israeli Embassy in Beijing has used the Chinese social media platform Weibo to rally support against Hamas among the Chinese public.

The embassy's Weibo account has been active, adding several posts a day to bring attention to Hamas' role in the conflict. Even the embassy's WeChat account isn't as active as Weibo, which is seen as a relatively more open platform to spread public messaging.

On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest ever airstrikes on Gaza. At least 2,800 people have been killed on both sides, the Associated Press reported Friday.

As Israel appeared to be preparing for a ground offensive, roughly 1.1 million people in northern Gaza were ordered to evacuate as the Israel-Hamas fighting entered its seventh day Friday. Hamas urged residents to stay put.

On Wednesday, Israel posted a video of a Chinese worker interviewed by Chinese state-affiliated Phoenix Television. The worker recounted that despite shouting at the gunman that he was Chinese, the attacker started shooting.

"No, he didn't care. He just fired," said Mr. Wang, a Chinese construction worker shot during the conflict.

"Mr. Wang, a construction worker in Beijing, said, 'We were lying on the ground and he [the terrorist] saw that we were Chinese. He just didn't care about you and he just shot.' Hamas is attacking indiscriminately and brutally, regardless of nationality," the Israeli Embassy wrote on Weibo.

The clip of the Phoenix Television broadcast posted by the Israeli Embassy has received more than 934,000 views on Weibo.

In other messages, the embassy has tried to highlight its civilians killed in the attack by Hamas.

"Engaged Maya [23 years old] and Eliran [24 years old] were planning a wedding. Now, they can only be buried together. Hamas=ISIS," said a Weibo post by the Israeli Embassy in China.

The embassy has particularly brought attention to the fate of Israeli children to rally support from the Chinese public against Hamas.

"Please, Hamas, release the weak and helpless child hostages," said a Weibo post by the embassy.

The Chinese public has engaged with the Weibo posts by the embassy and shared their opinion on the conflict.

"It's ridiculous that so many Chinese people support Hamas terrorists," one Weibo user wrote in response to the video clip shared by the embassy.

"Support Israel's anti-terrorism efforts!" another user replied to embassy's Weibo post.

Though China hasn't officially backed Hamas, the narrative on Chinese social media has emerged to keep a distance from U.S.-allied Israel in the current conflict.

On Friday, an Israeli diplomat was attacked with a knife by an unknown attacker on the streets of Beijing. Beijing tried to control the spread of the stabbing news on Weibo, as no video or discussion was seen on the social media platform.

A Weibo user posted the stabbing video first seen on X, formerly Twitter, It was later deleted, Newsweek confirmed.

"Something happened in Beijing too," said another user while mentioning a stabbing in France.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that an unnamed assailant attacked one of its embassy employees in Beijing. Later, Beijing police said that one of the diplomat's family members was attacked by a 53-year-old foreign national. Beijing police arrested the suspect.

Newsweek couldn't independently verify the exact number of individuals involved in the incident.

State broadcaster China Central Television focused on reporting about Israel's attack on Gaza while downplaying the initial attack by Hamas. China has tried to suppress the news about Hamas' attack, which didn't make the top search trends.

China's special envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, spoke to Israel's Rafi Harpaz, the deputy director-general in charge of Asia-Pacific affairs of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, according to Chinese state media.

"China stays firm on the side of peace and justice and is willing to work with the international community to promote peace talks between the two sides to create conditions for peace," Zhai told Harpaz in a phone call.

"He called for a cease-fire and ending the violence as soon as possible, and resuming peace talks on the basis of the two-state solution," China Daily said about the call between Zhai and Harpaz.

On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Beijing was on the side of peace, fairness and justice.

"I want to emphasize that China has no selfish interests on the Palestinian issue," foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.