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EIGHTH FRONT WAR: Arab-Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad Says Israel Is Losing The Battle For Narrative

September 25th,

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Arab-Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad says he wants to bring a Middle Eastern mindset to how Israel sells itself to the world, and he is hoping voters give him the chance to do it from inside government. Running second on Ofer Winter's Amcha Yisrael list ahead of Israel's 2026 election, Haddad has said that if the party enters government, he wants the job of public diplomacy minister. A Christian Arab from Nazareth who was wounded fighting with Golani forces during the 2006 Lebanon war, Haddad has spent the past decade making the case for Israel in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, and he argues the country has been badly outmatched in the information war despite winning on the battlefield. His pitch centers on directly countering narratives coming out of Arab media rather than only speaking to Western audiences, arguing that Israel needs to engage the region on its own terms if it wants to be understood rather than just tolerated.

Haddad, founder of the coexistence group Together, Vouch for Each Other, says his first move as minister would be holding regular press briefings in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, aimed not just at foreign reporters but at Israelis themselves who he says are often left out of the loop on government decisions. He has framed the campaign as a fight on two fronts at once, pushing back against hostile propaganda abroad while also challenging what he calls extremism and outdated political thinking at home. Along the way, Haddad has become a lightning rod, drawing death threats his party has linked to Iran-connected sources, even as he continues to position Jewish-Arab partnership as central to his message. Whether voters reward that approach will become clear when Israel heads to the polls, but Haddad is betting that a familiar face speaking an unfamiliar language of diplomacy is exactly what the moment calls for.