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See my earlier diary about director Satcha Dratwa – IDF’s New Media – War Propaganda Through Social Media.
Israeli Army’s Social Media Director Poses as Obama in Blackface
(Your Black World) – The head of the IDF’s social media unit, lieutenant Sacha Dratwa, enjoys more than Twitter and Facebook. Apparently, he’s also into some good `ol fashioned Jim Crow styled blackface as well.
Yesterday, a photo began circulating of the social media guru with sand smeared on his face with the caption, “Obama style.” The photo was actually uploaded on September 29th, but the photo only began circulating after Gawker ran a story on Dratwa, increasing his international profile.
Titled “Obama Style”
« click for story The United States may be supporting Israel, but the Israeli Army’s social media director still finds time to denigrate the President by employing a little blackface. Sacha Dratwa posted a picture of his face covered in sand with the oh-so-original tagline “Obama style” to describe the photo.
Do Israelis harbor racist views toward black and brown people? In June of this year, Israel began a massive deportation of African migrants who said they were treated “like animals” during the process.
Here’s the 26-Year-Old Snowboarder Running Israel’s Social Media War
Sacha Dratwa enjoys some very normal things …
who commands a team of social media soldiers fighting to sway public opinion on a controversial war one tweet, Flickr upload, and YouTube share at a time, has an almost entirely public Facebook profile. [Oops, page is gone now, see below – Oui]
Looking at all this, you probably wouldn’t guess that he’s running an ethically dubious, historically unprecedented Internet battle for hearts and minds. Mostly, it’s a show of humanity, like any other Facebook profile. It’s transparent. It’s mundane. And it’s probable that wars of the future, large and small, will be accompanied by something like Israel’s Twitter blitz, run by more dudes in their mid-20s who like Smirnoff and swimming. [Facebook via Tablet]
IDF spokesman posts blackface photo of himself as Obama, then issues non-apology
(Mondoweiss) – Dratwa has tried to explain the picture:
There have been attempts to make use of private photos from my Facebook profile in order to publicly misrepresent my opinions. Due to the amount of public attention I’ve garnered in recent days I have decided to restrict access to my page, in order to protect my privacy and prevent further cynical use of the information therein.
I am, and have always been, completely candid about my beliefs and have nothing to hide – as reflected by my Facebook profile, which until recently was open to everyone. The aforementioned photos do not reflect my beliefs and have no bearing whatsoever on my position in the IDF.