Avi Mayer was monitoring his Twitter account early Sunday morning when he
noticed a disturbing topic that had been gaining popularity.
The phrase
“Israelhates” had been tagged onto enough posts that the message had become a
worldwide trend topic. Overnight, the hash tag had reached 0.15 percent of all
worldwide tweets, reaching its peak just after 2 a.m., according to the web site
Trendistic, which monitors the popularity of trend topics.
For example,
“#IsraelHates Freedom, Democracy, The Free Voice! & Resistance,” was
retweeted more than 100 times.
Mayer, who heads social media for the
Jewish Agency, wanted to combat that message of hate, so he decided to start his
own trend topic.
“The haters have gotten ‘IsraelHates’ to trend
worldwide. Let’s counter with #Israelloves,” Mayer wrote in the wee hours of
Sunday morning.
Less than a day later, Mayer’s tag had become so popular,
reaching 0.02 percent of worldwide tweets, that the message of hate he had
sought to combat had disappeared from the trending list.
“It’s important
for those who love Israel to talk about it in a positive way,” said
Mayer.
Mayer stressed it was crucial for his counter message to be one of
love and not hate, as responding with “Palestinehates” would have
been.
“Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestine are not mutually exclusive,” said
Mayer.
Though he stated his main goal was to have the “Israelhates” tag
removed from the trends, Mayer said he is hopeful for his message to continue,
whether it is to acknowledge Israel’s support of civil rights or to say how much
Israel loves humous. It’s part of Jewish peoplehood, said Mayer, to support the
Jewish nation. “There is an eagerness out there to combat negativity with
positivity.”
Despite Mayer’s message of positivity, some Israel
supporters have decided to flip the “Israelhates” message on its head, with one
person tweeting “I wish the righteous folks twitting #israelhates a good,
fulfilling, joyful and democratic life in peaceful Syria. Say hi for me, will
ya?”