Citizen Influencers in Public Diplomacy During Wars: The Case of Israel-Hamas war

This study presents an innovative theoretical framework for analyzing the activities of citizen influencers in public diplomacy during threat situations and warfare. While existing literature has primarily focused on official digital diplomacy during crises, this research fills a critical gap in understanding the role of non-state actors in shaping international discourse independently of official channels during security threats. The paper presents a conceptual framework integrating theories of crisis communication, reputational security, public diplomacy, and digital platforms. It focuses on the ways citizen influencers leverage digital platforms to mobilize international support during military conflicts. The theoretical framework includes key factors: influencers' motivation and positioning as diplomatic actors; communication strategies; content topics and style (emotional vs. logical); audience targeting and engagement patterns; narrative construction; the integration of personal testimony with strategic messages; and levels of expertise. The framework maps how citizens transform into spontaneous digital diplomats during security crises. The theoretical framework was applied to the 'Israel-Hamas War' that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas committed a massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis and abducted 251, the most brutal terrorist attack in Israel's history and the worst since the Holocaust, until a ceasefire was signed on October 10, 2025. This event constitutes a unique case study for examining how citizen influencers operate in extreme threat situations, when international legitimacy and public support become critical strategic assets. Using a mixed-methods framework, we examined the X-platform activities of twenty leading Israeli influencers during the first two months of the war. The research included quantitative content analysis of approximately 4,000 top tweets, combined with semi-structured in-depth interviews with influencers, designed to generate a deeper understanding of the framework's key factors and operational patterns. Preliminary findings reveal that citizen influencers adopt communication strategies characterized by high urgency, intense emotional content, and the use of harsh visual materials. Influencers operate as "spontaneous digital citizen diplomats," leveraging their authenticity and personal credibility to reach international audiences that are inaccessible to official channels. They create narratives combining personal stories with strategic messages, successfully evoking emotional engagement and support among global audiences. The research contributes to the expansion of public diplomacy theory to civilian actors in crises, offers a methodological model for evaluating digital influence during conflicts, and provides practical insights for integrating citizen voices into official diplomatic efforts during high-security situations.