Public relations?

[Vic]

Israel's PR budget lower than 'Bamba' advertising budget

By Gideon Alon, Ha'aretz Correspondent

Last update - 19:21 22/05/2002

Knesset Science and Technology Committee and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, meeting Wednesday on Israeli PR on the Internet, was told that Israel's public relations budget is less than NIS 10 million, around half that of the advertising budget for one of the country's snack products.

MK Michael Eitan (Likud) said that is was inconceivable that at a time of war Israel's PR budget was so low.

"It is shocking to hear that Osem's 'Bamba' snack has a PR budget two to three times bigger than Israel's entire PR budget," Eitan said. "The results of the war in the media battlefield directly effect the results on the ground."

Those present at the meeting heard information on the immense scope of Arab and Palestinian propaganda on the Internet, compared with Israel's ineffective response.

At the end of the meeting, it was decided to recommend to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that a cabinet minister becomes responsible for the establishment of a center for distributing information over the Internet.

The center will contact organizations and private individuals in Israel and abroad, ready to distribute information through the creation of Internet sites, through chat forums and via e-mailing.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=167050&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0

[NewsGuy]

Originally posted by Vic
[b]"It is shocking to hear that Osem's 'Bamba' snack has a PR budget two to three times bigger than Israel's entire PR budget,"
The funny thing is that Bamba is so damn good that it doesn't even need PR to promote it. It stands on its own crunchy merit. :)

[cerulean]

This article analyzes NPR bias and failure to focus at all on Israeli victims of murder attacks, but instead focus on Arab inconvenience.

http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1021813214334

Of course there is definite bias in the media. However, there is also great laziness. It's important that any firm or organization, including the Israeli government, write up their press releases. Then journalists can copy and paste them into their articles and avoid doing extra work. If the Israeli government doesn't do this, someone else will and does.

[Vic]

Originally posted by cerulean
However, there is also great laziness. It's important that any firm or organization, including the Israeli government, write up their press releases. Then journalists can copy and paste them into their articles and avoid doing extra work. If the Israeli government doesn't do this, someone else will and does.
Another interesting aspect:

Israel thinks reporters have a pro-Palestinian bias. They do. This is not because of the complex blames and injustices of the region. (Journalists are no better than other liberal-arts majors at doing regression analysis with infinite variables.) But when someone is pounding the stuffing out of someone else, there's more human interest in the unstuffed than in the stuffing pounders. The Sioux were right at the Little Bighorn, but Custer is what sells. Any good reporter would have stuck to Yellow Hair, at least until the last 20 minutes. How do you say, "I'm with CNN" in Sioux?

Also, from my own experience, Palestinians are warm, hospitable and chatty. Israelis soldiers are not. Journalists are as alert to social cues as any other herd animal. We prefer the Palestinians even if they don't invite us to come along on suicide bombings. Reporters thus ignore a basic principle of news: There are two sources you can't trust, those who won't tell their story and those who will.

Maybe the Israelis are just sick of journalists. No sensible people (celebrities thereby excepted) want journalists to cover them doing anything, ever. Jeffrey Skilling did not let a reporter sit in while he consulted with Arthur Andersen, safe as that would have been since no reporter is smart enough to understand an Enron partnership. So journalists aren't welcome if what Israel is doing in the West Bank is wrong. Nor are they welcome if it's a necessary evil. You have two leads. One begins with "Necessary." The other beings with "Evil." Which lead has tabloid impact and which sounds like a press release from the United Nations?

Even if Israel's West Bank actions are a positive good, reporters can buzz off. Santa doesn't bring us down the chimney. We'd write about elf labor conditions.

From:
The Mideast Press Process
War, unlike politics, can go on without reporters.
BY P.J. O'ROURKE
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=105001935

[Iori Yagami]

Originally posted by NewsGuy

The funny thing is that Bamba is so damn good that it doesn't even need PR to promote it. It stands on its own crunchy merit. :)
Bamba is friggin great :) I think we should print PR on Bamba packages, and export them to EU. It will have a much greater effect :)

[Vic]

Originally posted by Iori Yagami
Bamba is friggin great :) I think we should print PR on Bamba packages, and export them to EU. It will have a much greater effect :)
So much for the Israeli PR :)
Why don't you?

[elke]

Originally posted by Iori Yagami

Bamba is friggin great :) I think we should print PR on Bamba packages, and export them to EU. It will have a much greater effect :)

The route to a man's heart lies through his stomach... :)

[cerulean]

From another article at
http://jewishworldreview.com/0502/what_did_u_do.html

...
I'm unhappy as well--especially since I teach political communication--at Israel's unsophisticated, unplanned media policy. Since the Lebanon War, the seven squabbling Israeli ministries that claim to control press relations have been notorious for either ignoring or failing to understand the needs of modern journalism. One journalist noted to me: "The Palestinians will go to the news bureaus each day and pitch stories, and go out of their way to help arrange interviews, suggest places to shoot. From the Israeli government, all you get is statements, silence or red tape."

A more ominous reason that the evening news is so laden with images favorable to the Palestinians is that they are chosen and shot by Palestinians. Israeli reporters are banned from working in Palestine areas; foreign journalists are subtly or violently pressured to either keep out or report with a pro-Palestinian bias. The result is that most networks and news bureaus use Palestinian stringers for spot news coverage and also for translations. So Yassir and his brown shirts are allowed to make statements like, "We are the only occupied people in the world" without an accompanying laugh track.

...

===============
Now that I have read there are SEVEN government ministries responsible for PR, I now understand why it's done so poorly. There has to be a concrete action plan to improve the situation. What should be done, who should be approached, what can be done in this part of the world to produce accurate PR?

[Vic]

Here is another one I liked:

http://www.israelinsider.com/views/articles/views_0273.htm

The problem is quite familiar to me: representatives, even ambassadors, who do not speak the languages of the countries they work in properly, press releases so poorly written that they make any media professional double up with laughter, web sites that obvious candidates for "web pages that suck"...

To make matters worse, this seems to be infectious. The moment anyone outside Israel gets involved in pro-Israel activities the bad PR virus strikes without mercy. I am at a loss to find any sane explanation for this.

[NewsGuy]

Originally posted by Vic
The problem is quite familiar to me: representatives, even ambassadors, who do not speak the languages of the countries they work in properly, press releases so poorly written that they make any media professional double up with laughter, web sites that obvious candidates for "web pages that suck"...

Part of the problem is that Israelis do not fully understand the need to hire top-notch PR professionals, image-makers and advertising agencies.

Many Israelis are convinced that the world is aware of the obvious Arab attrocities against Jews, and they mistakenly think that there is no real need to influence public perception by professional means. This is the root of the problem.

[Mediocrates]

Oh I think its more subtle than that. It speaks to our general tendency to engage the debate and to be considerate and fair without ever questioning the motives of your opponents. Do we not shrink from 'propaganda' thinking it is somehow uncouth or inaccurate, dishonest? Yes I think so and that is the problem because what the MFA and IDF and Israel generally has to understand - and I'll put this in caps so you read all of the words:

PUBLIC OPINION AND MEDIA IS ANOTHER BATTLEFIELD AT LEAST AS IMPORTANT AS THE ONE WITH GUNS AND BLOOD SO YOU BETTER START FIGHTING THAT BATTLE MUCH MORE EFFECTIVELY OR YOU WILL LOSE THE WAR. DO NOT THINK THAT YOU CAN FIGHT THE PROPAGANDA WAR FAIRLY BECAUSE THERE IS NO SUCH THING. YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE MEDIA BATTLE AS BRUTALLY AND AS RUTHLESSLY AS YOU WOULD AN ALLEY FIGHT AND YOU HAVE TO HIT THEM SO HARD THEY CAN'T GET UP AND THEN YOU HAVE TO KICK THEM WHEN THEY'RE DOWN. REPEATEDLY.

I learned this when I was 7 years old, so why can't you?

[elke]

Is there anything we can do about this?

[Mediocrates]

Yes. This is standard MBA case study work.

1) Raise 20 million dollars seed capital - that isn't that hard
2) Hire a PR firm in the US and one in Europe.
Split the funds 40-40-20 (20 for internal Israeli PR for local and regional use).
3) Develop a business plan that addresses the following bullet points: broadcast/print/online media relations, media content development, trade/business and business group liason, funding development and presentations, interlock with AIPAC and lobbying groups, interlock with nonprofits such as UJA and other umbrella groups, development of local Jewish community resources, university relations, public events/outreach and media monitoring
4) Develop a unified monolithic message and touchpoints for all consumers.
5) Develop the message content package including paid for programming for US and European markets
6) Build an education component for the monolithic message and train the media liasons in it as well as grass roots volunteers.
7) Kick off a pro Israel investment fund to maintain a constant support stream. The fund should invest in Israeli businesses and the cash thrown off should help fund the media PR effort. Position it as a socially responsible investment venue.
8) Develop a counter-advocacy to monitor and refute pro Palestinian media including an alert group that notfies law enforcement bodies of the existence of locally hosted sites advocating hate speech, hate crimes, violence and terrorism

The seed capital should kick off the effort and a portion of it should be devoted to developing other funding streams. Funding should reach ~100 million in 2 years.

[Vic]

More on "standard MBA case study work":

Losing the Media Battle
Leslie Susser
http://www.jrep.com/Israel/Article-3.html


The thinking now, therefore, is to bring in more PR professionals. A few months ago, Meir was approached by an American Jewish activist [] who suggested that Israel hire the services of PR experts James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, renowned for their election campaign successes all over the world, including Israel. "The problem," claims Meir, "was the money. We just couldn’t afford them. They wanted $1.2 million just for opinion polls." Budget, Meir claims, is one of the main factors holding Israeli PR back."""" Meir notes that the entire annual Foreign Ministry PR budget today, $9 million dollars, is less than half what the Bezeq telephone company spends on PR and advertising.

Still, he has been able to hire a PR firm in New York, is considering doing the same is some European countries, and has already hired local guru Motti Morel, whose portfolio includes successful campaigns for Binyamin Netanyahu and Natan Sharansky. "" "We are weak on visuals, so we want him to create media events and produce special videos," says Meir. "We ’ want him to take our PR messages and package them for us. Then the PR firms abroad will hone them further for their target audiences."

The key to Israel’s long-term PR success, Meir believes, is on the campuses of North America and Europe. Wealthy Jews like Howard Schultz, the owner of the Starbucks chain, are helping with student projects, including seminars held in both Israel and North America, in which students hear Israeli presentations on the crisis. "That’s one of our biggest problems, the next generation of leaders and formers of public opinion," Meir concedes.""

[Mediocrates]

No not government effort but a private effort. In the US alone we've raised nearly $100million for direct aid to victims of terrorism so siphonig off 20 million for a successful private PR effort is not that hard, moreover AIPAC and other groups should go after business associations for businesses that work with or in Israel. They should be lobbied to contribute money as part of doing business in Israel.

[cerulean]

http://www.israelnewsagency.com/cantspell.html

[Vic]

Originally posted by cerulean
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/cantspell.html
Same thing all over - the site is run by a private agency, take a look at their clients' projects: http://www.israelpr.com/clients.html . Now I know who is responsible for the bad design of some common Israeli sites ;)

[Mediocrates]

Horrifying - my 13 year old could do better.

[Vic]

Originally posted by Mediocrates
Horrifying - my 13 year old could do better.
Maybe you should propose him as a web designer for the Israeli government? Do they hold a kind of contest among potential contractors down there and decide on the worst one they can find? :(

[elke]

All right, let's recruit all our children. Make them earn their keep. Maybe, we are on to something: they eat a lot anyway, might as well make them useful.

I am only half-kidding, btw.

[cerulean]

Originally posted by elke
All right, let's recruit all our children. Make them earn their keep. Maybe, we are on to something: they eat a lot anyway, might as well make them useful.

I am only half-kidding, btw.

I'm sure this fits in somehow with the Economics thread :-)

[L@mplighterM]

I think it was a wonderful site I just loved all the colors.

[Mediocrates]

Just flayed-off dotbomber? Are your options lining the birdcage? They just repoed your SC2000? Come to sunny Israel and be a web designer!

They have all these volunteers for Israel programs where volunteers do grunt work . Howzabout professional technical volunteers? Yes I know it's hard to project manage something like this but there are lots of 'grunt' tech jobs that subcontractors fill. Make it a mitzvah! Donate your PHP skills to the Promised Land. It's a simcha to Shockwave! Run that Apache cluster, admin those firewalls (Checkpoint the #1 firewall software company in the world is Israeli), hell, just spell checking their pages for them would be blessing.

[L@mplighterM]

How now brown cow. I like the way that sounds.

Seriously how’s this for an idea.


The Israeli Government pays X number of dollars to pay for a server or several servers. It’s not going to cost the moon.


Set up a dozen or more servers and let selected members of Mr. & Mrs. Administer them on a volunteer base.




They could even be set up in different languages.


Time for bed!

[Vic]

Focus / There's a lot more talk than action

By Aluf Benn

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=173919&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


The public relations firm that represents Israel in Washington recommended that the Israel Defense Forces delay its response to Wednesday's fatal bombing near Megiddo. Wait 24 hours, the American consultants urged, so that newspapers and television news programs in the United States will open with the horrific pictures of the bombing and the victims' funerals, not the Palestinians' suffering.

The Foreign Ministry relayed this recommendation to the offices of the prime minister and defense minister, but Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer were not interested in public relations considerations: They sent the IDF to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's office in Ramallah. The American press gave star billing to the assault on the Palestinian leader, while reports of the bombing played second fiddle.

[cerulean]

Maybe it doesn't really belong in this Public Relations thread, but it is a very nice example of a good human interest story.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2002/06/07/paramedics/index.html

It's about young women paramedics (as young as 18) who, as part of their volunteer service, are at the front lines in Jerusalem whenever there is a suicide bombing.

I tried to find other articles by the author (who is identified as freelance writer Ken Lee based in Jerusalem), but was unsuccessful.

[Vic]

A fine article, Cerulean, thanks.

More on the PR issue:
BRET STEPHENS'S EYE ON THE MEDIA: What's wrong with Israel's hasbara?
http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1022691091379

A bit on the "it's their fault, not ours" side, isn't it?

[elke]

Originally posted by Vic
A fine article, Cerulean, thanks.

More on the PR issue:
BRET STEPHENS'S EYE ON THE MEDIA: What's wrong with Israel's hasbara?
http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1022691091379

A bit on the "it's their fault, not ours" side, isn't it?

I don't know... It seems that they have the right idea regarding what is really happening with the Western opinion.

I don't think that Israel should lie, or suppress information on the ugly side of the conflict; but trying to make the points such as "disputed territories" vs. "occupied territories" is not a bad idea. Neither is it a bad idea to stress the difference between the "open society" vs. "thugocracy". In general, bringing out the larger issues, rather than the minutia would make much more sense than trying to justify the "tit for tat" logic.

[dafka]

Originally posted by Vic
A fine article, Cerulean, thanks.

More on the PR issue:
BRET STEPHENS'S EYE ON THE MEDIA: What's wrong with Israel's hasbara?
http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1022691091379



I think the following is Stephens's key point:

"Finally, the argument against terrorism must be placed in the context of an argument for the legitimacy of the state of Israel. For most Israelis, as for those in the West, this may not seem much in doubt. But that legitimacy is very much in doubt among too large a percentage of the Palestinian population, and people in the West need to understand that the dispute over the territories is merely a proxy argument over this larger question."

As long as the media focus is on the "occupation" and the Palestinians' desire for a state of their own, Israel is going to come off looking like the bad guy .

My perception, which the mainstream media does not share, is that most Palestinians are not open to a two state solution. They want to keep fighting until they liberate all of Palestine, from the Jordan to the sea. If PR message were that "Israel is fighting for its survival," the whole tone of the discussion would change.

[Vic]

The spin that wasn't?

Media / Why vilify Syria now?
By Aviv Lavie

http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=174658&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=174658

At the weekend Channel Two diplomatic correspondent Udi Segal announced that there is a new campaign, hot off the Foreign Ministry production line: the vilification of Syria, and the representation of it to the world as an exporter of terror controlled by a sinister dictator. A large headline yesterday in the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth gave an official stamp to the move: "New Israeli Campaign: `Smearing' Syria."

....

Indeed, just as in the world of advertising, where companies announce publicly that they are embarking on a campaign for a new product - for example, the Keshet Channel Two franchisee's recent announcement of the launch of the "Hot Season" campaign and the subsequent flooding of the small screen with commercials - so the Foreign Ministry is declaring its intentions of initiating an onslaught on world public opinion. The product: "Smearing Syria."

Speaking of the use of concepts from the world of advertising, it is worth remembering that advertisers generally caution against the use of a negative campaign based on smearing the rival while praising one's own product. However, Israel - as a product - is apparently a bit difficult to market these days, whereas Syria has a plenitude of vulnerable points that provide Israel with a "pretext to party," as one Foreign Ministry source puts it.

[cerulean]

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/17/books/17ORLY.html

This article focuses on an Israeli novelist having to live with suicide attacks occurring continually and the impact these had on her writing.

Since I started reading thread a few weeks ago, I've been taking note of when I see effectively done human-interest pieces that reflect day to day reality for Israelis (that do not appear in Israeli or Jewish publications). In the course of reading/skimming several dozen or more news stories per day, I've now found two such stories.

[cerulean]

I'm sure everyone here is getting tired of this variation on a theme, but anyway:

http://www.newaus.com.au/israel340perlmutterjenin.html
Slandering Private Shlomo
by David D. Perlmutter*
TNA News with Commentary
No. 340, June 2002

A couple paragraphs from the article:

...
So why did no journalist offer viewers and readers the more prosaic explanation as even a possibility? The reasons are many. Israel has a confused, clumsy, overbureaucratic system of press relations. No journalist I have spoken with thinks the Jewish state is doing a good job of telling or showing its point of view. Also, to save money and out of fear, most television news organizations hire “local” (read: Arab) stringers and crews to cover the news in the Palestinian areas. No surprise at the slant of the interviews, translations, and sights they turn in.

This last bias was inadvertently revealed when one television reporter recently commented that his tech crew “gave a thumb’s up” when they saw images of the carnage of the latest “homicide” bomber in Israel. Apparently his network does not consider it a problem to have terrorist sympathizers controlling the sights and sounds America witnesses.
...

[Vic]

From the Ha'aretz newsticker:15:29 Arab countries to invest $20 million in public relations campaign against Israel

[Vic]

Jun. 19, 2002
Melchior: No more budget for PR
By NINA GILBERT

http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1023716522075
The Foreign Ministry's public relations budget has been exhausted, Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior said yesterday.

The total budget for information is NIS 40.8 million, according to Melchior.

...

In response to a question, Melchior confirmed that the Foreign Ministry has hired private public relations firms to assist in the ministry's information efforts.

[Vic]

An apt observation on fact-mongering rather than analyzing the big picture:While we pounce upon this or that exhibit like polished prosecutors (the "lynch," the "photograph"), masses of Hamas supporters openly call for the annihilation of Israel via terror attacks and weapons of mass destruction. What does this resemble? A person who's trying to prove in a small claims court that his neighbor harbors malicious intent, and meantime there's a huge knife sticking out of his back.

But this is the singular talent of Israeli "public relations." Israel depicts each fact as a rumor, and each sentiment as a fact. The "macro" level is too small for us, and so we leave the big picture (the occupation, the problem of refugees) to Palestinian propaganda, and we deal repeatedly with the "micro" level, that proves misery and victimization ("look, see how much they hate us!"). How does that move anything forward? Where does it lead? We don't have a clue. Maybe it means that our special "genius" isn't only in public relations work, but also in our general approach to the dispute.Weekend's End / Fact as rumor
By Doron Rosenblum
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=181473&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

[cerulean]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=181796&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Israel's PR on baby bomber seen a success
By Yossi Melman

The Foreign Ministry says it is pleased with the results of its efforts to disseminate to the international media a photograph of a Palestinian toddler dressed up as a suicide bomber.

The ministry PR chiefs said all the major news networks, like CNN, SkyNews, and the BBC carried extensive reports about the photograph, which the IDF found during its sweep through the territories last week, and which Sky News, relying on interviews with the baby's family, said was a prank by some members of the family.

According to the Foreign Ministry's deputy spokesman, Noam Katz, the photograph was "successful, because it made into a story the problem of terrorism and the role models shaheeds have become in Palestinian society."
...

[Vic]

Jul. 16, 2002
Touted British ambassador speaks 'rudimentary' English
By GIL HOFFMANPrime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres have given preliminary approval for Industry and Trade Minister Dalia Itzik to be appointed ambassador to England in October, even though her colleagues say she has only a "rudimentary" knowledge of English.

Itzik asked Peres, who is considered her political patron, two weeks ago during a cabinet meeting whether there are any diplomatic appointments available for her. The foreign minister told her to choose between England and Russia and she chose the former.

Colleagues from English-speaking countries familiar with Itzik's level of the language expressed concern that Israel would appoint an ambassador to England who has avoided being interviewed in English and who has made it known that she is uncomfortable in the language.

"Her English isn't very good it's rudimentary at best," one such colleague said. "England is a country where refinement opens doors. You have to know the English language in a way in which you can manipulate it. Because she lacks the British roundabout manner of speaking and codes of behavior, she will not be able to understand what people are telling her."

At a time in which ambassadors have taken on a higher-profile role defending Israel in the international battle for public opinion, Itzik's colleagues said that she would be a liability, because she will not be able to be interviewed by the BBC.

[...]

Peres defended Itzik's appointment, telling Army Radio that "Foreign relations are not a matter of speaking English like Shakespeare and eating lunch with polite manners."

"In today's world, foreign relations revolve around trade and economics," said Peres. "For a major trade partner like the UK, sending someone from the heart of our economic scene will help Israel tremendously."

[...]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1025787793801 ... and when Israel gets bad press, it lies with the press alone...

Has Mr. Peres ever seen a European political talkshow on the TV, the main source of opinion-making in many countries?

[Mediocrates]

Women in Green volunteer to rescue Minister Dalia Itzik from
shame and embarrassment:

Women in Green are shocked that the Minister Itzik is a serious
candidate for the position of Israeli ambassador in London.

Everyone understands that the minister is attempting to flee the
imminent downfall of the Labor Party by finding refuge in London
until the storm passes.

But the question is:
Is her appointment good for Israel?
For not only is Minister Itzik a radical leftists who represents Arab
Palestinian interests rather than those of Israel,
BUT THE LADY IS INCAPABLE OF RUDIMENTARY ENGLISH SPEECH!!

In order to attempt to prevent great embarrassment to Israel,
Women in Green has decided to send Minister Dalia Itzik a kit
that teaches English on the kindergarten level.
In addition, we are adding to the package basic books (in Hebrew!) on the topics of Judaism and Zionism.

Our Jewish brothers in the Diaspora are sick and tired of Israeli
diplomatic representatives from the left who are not able to speak
the local language and who don't know (and don't want!) to express Jewish Zionists views.

Enough of this shame!

Ruth and Nadia Matar
Women in Green
---------------------------------
To contact Minister Dalia Itzik:
tel: 972-2-622-03-76
fax: 972-2-624-73-78

[Vic]

Well, for myself I'd rather avoid the Israeli vs. Israeli issues, it's clear that the political adversaries would pounce on it.

It is a general problem. Representatives (of a country, of a business company or whatever) are there precisely to do one thing: represent. And anyone representing an embattled country like Israel must possess movie star qualities. There is no other way. People react with their guts, they decide according personal sympathy and antipathy, by what they see and hear: faces, voice, eloquency, personal appeal... So don't blame Israel's bad standing in Europe on the biased media alone, the media can't produce what it is not being fed.

Yes, and communications skill count in business circles too.

[Mediocrates]

Abba Eban speaks what, 4 languages, 5?

[Vic]

Do you know how to clone him?

[Vic]

From today's Ha'aretz:

People and Politics
Sensitivity, sensibility and compatibility
By Akiva Eldar
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=187971&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=187971 Diplomatic skills

If Dalia Itzik were to exchange a few words with Afif Safia, the veteran PLO envoy to London, she might reconsider her decision to start a new career as a diplomat in Britain. Safia is considered the most articulate Palestinian diplomat in Europe, and possibly the world. The most experienced speakers the foreign ministry can muster have been sent to face off against him in international conferences and on BBC talk shows, and they have run into difficulty opposite the Jerusalem-born Palestinian with the rich vocabulary and smooth delivery.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres thinks an Israeli diplomat in London does not need to speak perfect English if they are to represent Israel in the British media or at think tank lectures and speeches to the community.

On Tuesday, he told Raviv Drucker of Army Radio that "foreign policy is not about competing with Shakespeare in English nor even about eating politely at a luncheon."

Less than 30 seconds later, he was taking pride in his appointment of Danny Gillerman as Israel's ambassador to the UN. Gillerman, said Peres, like Itzik, "comes out of the heart of the economy and marketplace of Israel." Peres said he was certain "Gillerman will be excellent." What guarantees success for the former head of the Chamber of Commerce? "He is very presentable and really quite fluent in English," said Peres.

So, is it a good idea for an ambassador to an English-speaking country be fluent in the language, or maybe it's more important in America than in Britain? In the same interview, Peres explained that diplomacy isn't really a profession, and what really matters is that the ambassadors understand economics. In other words, Peres-style diplomacy doesn't require knowledge of the local culture and language, of how to conduct political discussions, nor is it very important to know how to explain government policies.Funny, this one. In all Western countries I've ever heard of diplomacy is a career profession. The same article, cont'd:A reminder: Two weeks ago the government voted 14-1 to remove certain diplomatic appointments from the need to go to tender, specifically, the 11 political appointments at the disposal of the foreign minister - although they still need to be approved by an appointments committee.

Article B. of the government decision says "if the appointments committee finds that a candidate has a personal, business or political relationship with a minister in the government, the committee will not recommend the nominee, other than in cases where it finds the nominee has special skills that make the appointment worthy."

Sine it will be difficult to convince the committee that Itzik has no personal and political relationship with any of the government's ministers, she'll have to explain what, exactly, are the special qualities and skills that make her a worthy candidate to represent Israel in one of the five most important capitals in the world. Truth is, she can already start packing her bags. The committee has approved far worse political appointments than hers.Any ideas on it?

[Mediocrates]

In the US we hand out ambassadorships to innocuous places like Jamaica, Barbados, Lichtenstein, New Zealand to political hacks who are owed a favor by whomever wins the election. The jobs that are important go to people who are politically aligned and have the necessary skills for the job.

The Israelis need a vetting process similar to Congressional hearings for postings like this. Open it up to Pariamentary approval. This is true in the US even for those plum jobs to Barbados, etc. (of course our rules are arbitrary too- Congress recently refused a Presidential posting based solely on the fact the appointee is gay)

The Israelis need stronger civil service laws and practices. It should never fall back on custom ("oh that job has ALWAYS been given out by the foreign minister.."). Some jobs should only go to the Mandarins, the Pro's.

[Miriam]

Citing infighting between IDF and Foreign Ministry, State Comptroller slams PR failings

By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz Correspondent

http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=217106&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg yesterday added his voice to the chorus of criticism of Israel’s public relations apparatus during the two-year conflict with the Palestinians.

In his biannual report, Goldberg investigated the preparedness of the government’s public relations mechanisms, and found that they suffer from lack of coordination and guidance, from internecine divisions and that they are busy waging bureaucratic war on each other, rather than working together to get Israel’s message across.

[...]

The central point of friction in the public relations failure, as portrayed by Goldberg, is between the Foreign Ministry and the IDF spokesman’s office. According to Gideon Meir, deputy director of communications and public relations in the Foreign Ministry, “the heart of the foreign public relations problem” is that his office is reliant on vital information that is in the hands of the security services. These bodies have no set procedures for working together, relying instead on improvised solutions and personal initiatives. According to Meir, the Foreign Ministry’s public relations apparatus must be involved in the planning and approval of military actions, both within the IDF and in the security cabinet, to put forward the “public relations cost” of any operation. That way, he argues, the Foreign Ministry will also be more able to explain the operation in retrospect.

[Miriam]

My Meddlesome Diaspora Jew Question:

will anyone ever realize that the job simply takes people capable of performing it?

[cerulean]

The Guardian newspaper, fresh from the Rabbi Sacks imbroglio, is portraying itself (and much of the British media) as fearless fighters against the Israeli public relations lobby, a reverse David and Goliath story if there ever was one.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,810503,00.html

[Miriam]

Originally posted by cerulean
The Guardian newspaper, fresh from the Rabbi Sacks imbroglio, is portraying itself (and much of the British media) as fearless fighters against the Israeli public relations lobby, a reverse David and Goliath story if there ever was one.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,810503,00.html Poor little Guardian...

I'm afraid that the "Jewish lobby" won't be making much headway in Europe, the "top-notch people" they have hired according to Guardian, are IMO absolutely the wrong ones to deal with the crucial population groups. Just another miserable waste of good money :(

The strategists enlisted are Stanley Greenberg, Democratic pollster and former adviser to President Clinton, Tony Blair and former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, and the Republican Frank Lunz, adviser to President Bush, the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani.

[...]

Lee Petar, the acting director of Bicom, told the Jewish Chronicle: "We are looking at ways to sharpen the message and to choose the right people to do it. To get the world's best professionals - and these are the world's best professionals - you have to pay the top price." And Guardian surely realizes this as well...

[jcsd]

You must also realize that the large majority of Guardian readers are against the Israeli occupation anyway.

[Mediocrates]

Originally posted by jcsd
You must also realize that the large majority of Guardian readers are against the Israeli occupation anyway.

Yes Israel bashing is the Guardian's stock in trade. Why would they suddenly do otherwise and alienate readers and advertisers?

[johnny_a]

Hi -
I am new here so please forgive any breach of etiquette and lousy formatting.

I was looking for israeli songs on Kazaa, and
after searching for the query "Israeli" found almost a dozen videos titled "Israeli Nazis", "Israeli terror machine", and variations on the theme. I downloaded the videos.
The content was as hideous as the titles - the clips seem to be produced by some outfit called "palfacts.org". Even though the videos were lies, distortions and more lies, i can see how they can be effective.

Now here is my problem: I tried finding clips
of Israel's side of the story - clips of Palestinian terrorism, incitement, etc... and I COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING on the web or on Kazaa. The ONLY thing i could find were some (lame) streams on the Israel's MFA website.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
By that logic, a video is worth 20*1000*length_in_seconds words. We need to get Israel's side of the story out there!!!
If you have clips that expose PLO, Hamas, and other Palestinian terrorist organizations for what they are, that shows that IDF operates under extremely tight moral constraints and actually cares about the lives of Palestinians, etc... -- PLEASE POST THEM on KAZAA, morpheus, overnet, edonkey and the like.

Or, if anyone has better ideas - please speak up.
We gotta do something about this - we can't let Palestinian propaganda be the only video material on the web and on peer-to-peer!

[shoshannah]

Originally posted by johnny_a
Hi -
I am new here so please forgive any breach of etiquette and lousy formatting.

I was looking for israeli songs on Kazaa, and
after searching for the query "Israeli" found almost a dozen videos titled "Israeli Nazis", "Israeli terror machine", and variations on the theme. I downloaded the videos.
The content was as hideous as the titles - the clips seem to be produced by some outfit called "palfacts.org". Even though the videos were lies, distortions and more lies, i can see how they can be effective.

Now here is my problem: I tried finding clips
of Israel's side of the story - clips of Palestinian terrorism, incitement, etc... and I COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING on the web or on Kazaa. The ONLY thing i could find were some (lame) streams on the Israel's MFA website.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
By that logic, a video is worth 20*1000*length_in_seconds words. We need to get Israel's side of the story out there!!!
If you have clips that expose PLO, Hamas, and other Palestinian terrorist organizations for what they are, that shows that IDF operates under extremely tight moral constraints and actually cares about the lives of Palestinians, etc... -- PLEASE POST THEM on KAZAA, morpheus, overnet, edonkey and the like.

Or, if anyone has better ideas - please speak up.
We gotta do something about this - we can't let Palestinian propaganda be the only video material on the web and on peer-to-peer!

Good point.
Here are a few links I have with presentations that can be downloaded and shared via p2p (in my case, limewire). anyone have more links?

http://www.oslo-war.com/video_eng.htm
http://www.bambili.com/asp_new/anti-semism.asp
http://www.geocities.com/enough_net/right-video.html
http://www.geocities.com/enough_net/right-present.html

[johnny_a]

http://www.oslo-war.com/video_eng.htm
http://www.bambili.com/asp_new/anti-semism.asp
http://www.geocities.com/enough_net/right-video.html
http://www.geocities.com/enough_net/right-present.html [/B][/QUOTE]

Thanks, great stuff!
Any more?

[Blueprint]

I downloaded one of the PalFacts video of SoulSeek that had the title of something like "Israeli Massacre of Palestinians", and all it showed were a few Israeli soldiers trying to subdue a Palestinian and applying force when he fought back.

[Communication]

Sorry, I'm new so I can't start a new thread on the board. This seems like a good place for this article, though.


This is in today's Guardian Education supplement.

The paragraph numbers are mine: look at 5 and 6! What price academicfreedom?

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,9830,858529,00.html

British academic boycott of Israel gathers pace

Andy Beckett and Ewen MacAskill
Thursday December 12, 2002
The Guardian

1) Evidence is growing that a British boycott of Israeli academics is gathering pace.

2) British academics have delivered a series of snubs to their Israeli counterparts since the idea of a boycott first gained ground in the spring.

3) In interviews with the Guardian, British and Israeli academics listed various incidents in which visits, research projects and publication of articles have been blocked.

4) Colin Blakemore, an Oxford University professor of physiology, who supports a boycott, said: "I do not know of any British academic who has been to a conference in Israel in the last six months."

5) Dr Oren Yiftachel, a left-wing Israeli academic at Ben Gurion University, complained that an article he had co-authored with a Palestinian was initially rejected by the respected British journal Political Geography. He said it was returned to him unopened with a note stating that Political Geography could not accept a submission from Israel.

6) Mr Yiftachel said that, after months of negotiation, the article is to be published but only after he agreed to make substantial revisions, including making a comparison between his homeland and apartheid South Africa.

7) The issue of a boycott was highlighted in the spring when two British academics, Steven and Hilary Rose, had a letter published in the Guardian supporting the idea. It was signed by 123 other academics.

8) Professor Paul Zinger, outgoing head of the Israeli Science Foundation, said: "Every year we send most of our research papers abroad for reference. We send out about 7,000 papers a year. This year, for the first time, we had people writing back, about 25 of them, saying 'We refuse to look at these'."

[Mediocrates]

I wonder what the Brits would do if Israeli intellectual property owners decided to increase royalty fees for licencing in the UK? I think treble fees should do the trick. If they want to snuff out academic freedom then they should pay more for the fruits of that labor.

It's time to take a stand.

[johnny_a]

Originally posted by Mediocrates
I wonder what the Brits would do if Israeli intellectual property owners decided to increase royalty fees for licencing in the UK? I think treble fees should do the trick. If they want to snuff out academic freedom then they should pay more for the fruits of that labor.


Good intention, but probably would be counter-productive: I would think we want to _encourage_ people to license israeli intellectual property.

What might be more productive is to publicize the list of British academics that are pushing for the boycott (didn't they sign some public petition?).
If these names are splattered in this unsavoury context on the web, perhaps peer reviewers/referees will think twice about publishing THEIR work. Reputation of intellectual integrity is essential for academics and this might really hit them where it hurts...

[Mediocrates]

I was wondering about that - but it seems they are shameless. Some technology is just not that easy to substitute or transition or cicumvent.

Biomedical research, vaccinations, internet technology come to mind. Very expensive to redevelop or transition. Just ask those guys who run quality control for the Ariane 5-ESCA program

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2565387.stm

(now this is just to illustrate a point - I don't if there is any Israeli technology there, the point is it's extremely difficult to change).

Anyone who wants to wage economic warfare that's fine, but no one has to stand there and take it. And I view IP to be a form of economic warfare - this age is all about IP.

[Communication]

Originally posted by johnny_a
Good intention, but probably would be counter-productive: I would think we want to _encourage_ people to license israeli intellectual property.

What might be more productive is to publicize the list of British academics that are pushing for the boycott (didn't they sign some public petition?).
If these names are splattered in this unsavoury context on the web, perhaps peer reviewers/referees will think twice about publishing THEIR work. Reputation of intellectual integrity is essential for academics and this might really hit them where it hurts...

I wish that would do the trick but it hasn't proven successful so far. You probably remember that not long ago, two U.K. academics who started this whole campaign came under fire, and yet it seems to continue. I think that the problem is that people attacked the boycott on the basis of anti-semitism, which may be the case (although sometimes it is more ignorance and a total lack of information about what is going on in the PA and the rest of the Arab world to undermine peace) but Europe doesn't understand things like anti-semitism. It's like asking the blind why they don't see what's in front of them.

This is censorship, plain and simple. The fact that they are willing to censor a leftist Israeli who has viewpoints that are crticial of the Israeli government can be nothing less than that. In fact, it's worse, because they are blackmailing him by making him say things about his government that he probably doesn't agree with in order to get published.

I just don't understand Europe. I'm convinced that between centuries of religious rule, fascism, and communism, the "enlightenment" was nothing more than a momentary loss of control. They can't handle a free marketplace of ideas so they use censorship with the cover of "morality." It's just a very sick place with no introspection. So if any letters are going to be written, I suggest that they highlight the fact that this is censorship, maybe even give them a jab for being intellectually unsophisticated, myopic, and bankrupt. But don't mention the "anti-semitism" word. These are people who compare Sharon to Hitler and give academic platforms for people who glorify suicide bombers as "freedom fighters."

[Communication]

Letters in response to boycott


http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,859024,00.html