The girlbossification of global warfare

“Good morning to everyone except for those of you who are having trouble condemning a terrorist organisation.” To be clear, this isn’t a tweet from a wellness influencer, or an East Village yoga mum. It’s from the official Israeli government’s account. The same account that pulled fun at Hamas’ social welfare programme with a video of a children’s toy, clapped back at the United Nations on Twitter, and shared a fan edit of Taylor Swift’s bodyguard. As one commentator put it: “Historians are going to be so confused.”

If it isn’t already strange enough that a literal country is airing snarky tweets on main, this is only the beginning. Last week, the official Instagram account for the state of Israel publicly condemned Gigi Hadid for sharing an infographic to her Instagram Stories that urged followers not to conflate support for the Palestinian people with antisemitism or support for Hamas. They also slid into Dubai influencer Layannsalem’s DMs with a threatening message, which she screenshotted and shared with her 530k Instagram followers.

For anyone keeping tabs on the State of Israel’s online presence across the past few years, this bizarro (and messy) influencer-speak isn’t anything new. Back in February, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted a pastel pink Valentine’s Day infographic comparing “the situation in the Middle East” to a toxic relationship, while the State of Israel itself is also known for its Live Laugh Love approach to global conflict: a tweet at the height of 2021’s bombardment of Gaza reduced the violence to a string of rocket emojis. Another recently unearthed and outright weird tweet from last year reads “Age is just a number 😘” to celebrate 74 years of occupation.

Besides the obvious question – why is a nation-state posting like an unhinged millennial girlboss? – there’s an unnerving candour to Israel government’s state-funded propaganda machine, which co-opts the language of internet culture to sway public opinion surrounding the ongoing war, girlbossing, gaslighting and gatekeeping the harsh realities of the occupation with Get Ready With Me videos and workout routines with hashtags such as #motivation and #ThatGirl.

By now, it’s no surprise that Israel is a multibillion-dollar public relations machine – just look at the barrage of online ads and paid videos flooding Western screens following Hamas’ attack on October 7. While PR campaigns around wars aren't unique to Israel – its ongoing attempts to win the information war are part of a global trend of online manipulation by governments aggressively using social media to shape public opinion – Israel’s self-branding as ​​an empowered neoliberal feminist 🙏 is entirely its own. Though originating from official channels, this pre-vibe-shift-girl-coded national identity can be felt across the net, from IDF girlies posting about the perks of being a female soldier to this very strange tweet comparing the state of Israel to a misunderstood woman “always blamed for its own suffering”.

A recent viral video depicting ‘A Day In My Life (Israel is at war edition)’ by a Jerusalem foodfluencer sees them partner up with local bakeries to dispatch gluten-free baked goods to IDF soldiers, which has only added to the cringe accusations (the irony being that Gaza is currently cut off from all food, clean water and electricity). “It’s safe to assume Gal Gadot singing ‘Imagine’ is playing on loop in the background,” says one Reddit commenter. The IDF boasts itself as ‘the most vegan army in the world’, going as far as to issue leather-free combat boots and wool-free berets to soldiers who register as vegan, a government-sponsored initiative that only bolsters Israel’s progressive public image (they celebrate Pride too – how inclusive!) Not to mention this bizarre and tone-deaf tweet directed at Greta Thunberg about Hamas not using sustainable rockets.

@idf We always have and we will always will 💪🇮🇱💚 #israelunderattacks #soldiers #israel #idf ♬ Sequência da Orquestra (Slowed+Reverb) - TRASHXRL

Unlike the US military, where the deployment of E-girls across social media channels such as TikTok is debatable, the IDF openly capitalises on its young, hot cohort (military service is mandatory for citizens over the age of 18), using nationalist thirst traps to pedal pro-Israeli sentiments. With over 250k followers, the official IDF TikTok is the biggest platform for this influencer-led content, which includes clips such as POV: defending Israel, Which IDF job describes your best friend the most? and ‘I wonder who’s going to serve in my army’ #relationship goals. There’s even an IDF ASMR video featuring a gun clicking and a soldier polishing his boots. Haters will say these videos are harmless fun, but remember this: Israel has budget. It has one of the most powerful militaries in the Middle East – it’s the world’s second-largest spender on military per capita after Qatar and the most significant recipient of US foreign aid. All of this suggests that there’s a lot of money being spent on social media (Israel has been posting videos on its official YouTube since the platform’s early days in 2008).

“What do you mean all this state-sanctioned violence has consequences? I’m literally just a girl!”

There’s a reason most of this #relatable content revolves around young and conventionally attractive women, who defy traditional gender roles, quote the Barbie movie and eat cruelty-free food, which plays into the idea of the army as something fun and unthreatening (Soldiers! They’re Just Like Us!). All of this can create a disorientating experience for young, Western progressives with pro-Palestine sympathies, which plays into the Israeli government’s motivations to shape mainstream narratives one thirst trap or National Falafel Day challenge at a time.

Turning digital spaces into propaganda machines is, of course, nothing new. But what sets Israel apart from say the ironic meme wars between Russia and Ukraine last year is the influencer-speak. Sure, we all witnessed Russia and Ukraine interpret international relations through an irony-pilled layer of memes and emojis, but have they mobilised the E-girls through #MondayMotivation and That Girl clips? Girl-coded language is devoid of individual agency, which is convenient when avoiding blame: What do you mean all this state-sanctioned violence has consequences? I’m literally just a girl!

@gunwaifu

would you join me in battle? 🇮🇱

♬ why r so many hot people using this - shamelessistherapy

But Israel’s media presence isn’t just limited to official government channels; it extends across a vast network of affiliated and state-backed accounts, many of which post hot pics to pedal pro-Israel propaganda. A popular one is Girls Defense, which shares fit pics of attractive IDF soldiers, another is hot_idf_girls. Natalia Fedev, also known as Gun Waifu, is an Israeli influencer and IDF soldier who uses waifu aesthetics and catgirl cosplay to post nationalist content. A recent video sees her posing in full commando gear in a tank with the caption, “Are you on the right side of history?”, while another titled ‘Israel under attack’ is a literal photo dump of thirst pics.

As horrors unfold on our screens, there’s an even darker side to this influencer content. Across TikTok, there’s a wave of uncanny (possibly AI?) clips of yassified influencer-army-girls intended to mobilise the SIMPs with “I’m feeling sad/ let’s be friends/contact me” in their bios, while some Israeli influencers are even taking to the platform with openly xenophobic content. Last week, Israeli influencer Eve Cohen sparked a wave of controversy with a racist video on Palestinians, where she wore a keffiyeh and faked ‘war debris’ and blood, while another influencer Noya Cohen created a ‘make-up tutorial’ mocking Palestinian women stuck in the rubble. The future of global conflict may soon be found in aspirational quotes and Notes App apologies, but let’s hope it doesn’t distract from the IRL problems at hand. 

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