The Galactic Federation

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About

The Galactic Federation refers to a series of jokes and memes made in response to comments made by the former head of Israel's space security program that extraterrestrials exist but will not reveal themselves until humanity is ready. The former space security chief says that humanity has been in contact with a "galactic federation" for years. However, to prevent hysteria, these beings will remain hidden.

Origin

On December 2nd, 2020, the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot^[1] published an interview with Haim Eshed, the former head of the Israeli space security program. In the interview, Eshed told the paper that extraterrestrials exist but will not reveal themselves until humanity is ready. He says that the United States and Israeli government have been in contact with a "galactic federation" that humanity will join when humans "evolve and reach a stage where we will… understand what space and spaceships are."

He said:^[10]

The UFOs asked not to advertise that they are here, humanity is not ready yet. Trump was on the verge of finding out, but the aliens in the Galactic Federation say: wait, let the spirits calm first. They don't want us to have mass hysteria. They want to make us sane and understanding first. They waited until today, for humanity to evolve and reach a stage where we will understand what space and space are.

There is an agreement between the US government and the aliens. They signed a contract with us to experiment here. They are also investigating and trying to understand the rule of the universe, and they want us as helpers. There's a ground base in the Mars capacitor, and there's their representatives and our American astronauts too.

He continued to explain that there is an "underground base in the depths of Mars," where human representatives have met with aliens. Additionally, he says that United States President Donald Trump nearly revealed the truth about human communication with aliens but decided against it to prevent "mass hysteria."

Spread

On December 7th, 2020, the Jerusalem Post^[2] published the article "Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready." That day, they tweeted the article, writing, "Former Israeli space #security chief Haim Eshed has revealed that aliens from a "Galactic Federation" have been in contact with the US and #Israel for years, but humanity isn't ready to know this. Or so he claims." The post received more than 39,000 likes and 37,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

Following the tweet by the Jerusalem Post, people began joking about the aliens reaction to humanity, how they view humans with disdain and do not want them joining the "galactic federation." Twitter^[3] user @ethanmcarpenter tweeted a photo of people at a party looking at the camera, with the caption "Earth: 'Can we join the Galactic Federation?'" The post received more than 100,000 likes and 12,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below, left). Twitter^[4] user @ethanmcarpenter's posted a similar meme featuring a reaction image of comedian John Mulaney saying, "Not unless everyone gets really cool about a lot of stuff really quickly." The post received more than 92,000 likes and 12,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below, center).

Throughout the week, others shared memes about the federation, mocking the news and humanity's inclusion in such a federation (example below, right).

A NASA spokesperson said:^[11]

One of NASA’s key goals is the search for life in the universe. Although we have yet to find signs of extraterrestrial life, NASA is exploring the solar system and beyond to help us answer fundamental questions, including whether we are alone in the universe. From studying water on Mars, probing promising “oceans worlds,” such as Enceladus and Europa, to looking for biosignatures in the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system, NASA’s science missions are working together with a goal to find unmistakable signs of life beyond Earth.

Factchecking website Snopes^[11] said the comments by Eshed should be taken with a "hefty dose of salt," They wrote, "These comments come from a promotional interview for a new book “The Universe Beyond the Horizon – Conversations with Professor Haim Eshed.” While that doesn’t mean on its own that these claims are false, it may indicate that book sales, not uncovering the truth, were the driving force behind these comments.

The news also inspired conversation and memes on the subreddits /r/teenagers,^[5] /r/neoliberal,^[6] /r/prequelmemes^[7] and more.

Several media outlets covered the news and reaction, including NBC,^[8] BuzzFeed, ^[9] Paper Mag^[12] and more.