IDF campaign seeks to honor Holocaust survivors through social media

The IDF Spokesman's Office is asking users to submit photos of themselves with a Holocaust survivor and the hashtag #WeAreHere.

By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN
One of the #WeAreHere photo submissions shared on the IDF's twitter page. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN'S OFFICE)
One of the #WeAreHere photo submissions shared on the IDF's twitter page.
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN'S OFFICE)
Ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the IDF Spokesman’s Office has launched a cross-platform photo campaign asking their followers to send pictures of themselves with a Holocaust survivor and the hashtag #WeAreHere.
Each submission, along with a photo, includes the survivor’s name, age, city of residence and birthplace.
Since the campaign’s launch on April 22, hundreds of people from around the world have submitted photos across the three platforms, with photos coming from places like France, Argentina, Australia, Israel and the United States. Some of the pictures are of IDF soldiers in uniform with their Holocaust-survivor grandparents.
The Facebook campaign announcement has been shared almost 500 times in less than a day and the heavily- tweeted announcements on Twitter have been retweeted over 400 times.
The campaign has not been without its usual anti-Israel critics using the #WeAreHere hashtag in reference to Palestinian causes.
So far, the IDF Spokesman’s Office has only posted a handful of the submitted photographs on their social media platforms, but on April 27, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Spokesman’s Office will unveil an interactive map on their website with all of the submitted pictures.