When Herut Davidson hits post on a video in Arabic, she braces for the reaction. Some viewers respond with hostility, calling her a propagandist. But others — sometimes reaching out quietly, and sometimes from countries where any contact with Israelis is considered off-limits — tell her that hearing an Israeli Jewish woman speak their language has transformed their perspective.
Davidson is an Israeli content creator who has grown an audience of more than 90,000 followers between TikTok, where she goes by hurriya.it.is.me, and Instagram, where she posts as hurriya.its_my_name. Her goal is as ambitious as it is controversial: communicating directly with Arab-speaking audiences in their own language during a period when war, deep political divisions, and clashing narratives have made mutual understanding harder than ever.
For Davidson, social media represents both a challenge and a chance. She has noted that traditional news outlets tend to leave everyday people relying on official or dominant versions of events, while social platforms give individuals the power to speak for themselves and reach audiences directly.
One message that has stuck with her captures the essence of what she is trying to accomplish — a viewer telling her: ‘Thanks to your content, I don’t hate Israelis anymore.’
