A few months ago, I met Brad Turrel, a senior CNN executive, at a parlor meeting in North Hollywood, California. After exchanging a few pleasantries, I told him that most Israelis felt that CNN was presenting an anti-Israel bias in its middle-east reporting.
He retorted, ? Did you ever pay attention to the material that appears in the Israeli media? Our reporters take these views as representing the Israeli position. We then hear what the Palestinians have to say, and reach the conclusion that the truth is somewhere in between. Get your own media to be more pro-Israeli and CNN will report accordingly.?
Turrel?s point was valid and I had to agree. If the Israeli press refers to the Jewish residents of communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza as settlers in ?occupied territories? doesn?t that weaken our own hasbara argument? When Israeli TV and newspapers give prominent headline coverage to a petition by 50 Israeli reservists who refused to serve in these ?occupied territories,? doesn?t that give the message that Israeli soldiers? presence in Judea, Samaria and Gaza is immoral? When a demonstration by 200 left wing protestors gets the same number of media sound bytes as a rally of tens of thousands of rightwing proponents, is the Israeli public getting a balanced view? Would American talk shows, the bastions of free speech, ever host proponents of Al Quaida after September 11? Yet, our talk shows eagerly interview Jewish Arafat supporters who were holed up in the Mukhata during Operation Defensive Shield. Would the American Congress or any other democratically elected parliament censure its members who openly legitimized the atrocities of that country?s enemies? You bet they would. However, most Israeli Arab Knesset members openly justify Palestinian acts of terror with impunity, even when the bombings and shootings are inside Israel?s heartland. How can we convince others about the righteousness of our cause if we are getting these muddled messages from our own media. Hasbara like charity begins at home.
Bret Stephens, wrote an excellent essay on What?s wrong with Israel?s Hasbarah in his Eye on the Media column in the Jerusalem Post . He concluded the article by suggesting the sorts of arguments Israel should be making. He proposed 3 main arguments Israel hasbara should be using:
· Refer to the territories as disputed rather than ?occupied? and the presence of Israelis on them does not violate one applicable article of international law set down by the Geneva convention.
· Israeli spokespersons must speak of the conflict between democrats and dictators and not as a battle between Jews and Arabs.
· The argument against terrorism must be placed in the context of an argument for the legitimacy of the State of Israel
Though I agree with the content of his proposal, I believe method of its presentation must be more aggressive. The Israel Government should fight its information campaign with the same gusto and aggressiveness that a politician uses against an opponent in an election. Top notch pollsters, spin doctors and media mavens must be hired to plan, organize and conduct the campaign. Unlike the classic film Wag the Dog there is no need to fabricate information to demonize the enemy. Israel has enough incriminating evidence against Arafat and the PA as is.
The first job of Israeli Hasbara is to explode the myth that the settlements are the issue in the present war. The PLO was founded 3 years before Israel won back its historic homeland in the Six Day War. The goal of the PLO then is the same as the goal of the PA, namely the destruction of the State of Israel, the only democracy in the middle-east.
Next, people and governments have to be shown that their donations are literally financing terror activities and lining the pockets of a petty dictator. For every dollar given to the Palestinian Authority, a third goes to finance terrorist actions against innocent civilians, another third goes into the private bank accounts of Arafat and company and only the remaining third is split between salaries of the PA apparchniks and the Palestinian people. Similar messages must be directed towards the Palestinian people showing that the cause of their suffering is not the Israelis but their own Palestinian Authority. History has shown that reform in totalitarian regimes only comes about when the change is introduced by the people.
Third, instead of debating whether Arafat should be expelled, Israeli hasbara should shatter the facade of him as a ?freedom fighter? and budding statesman:
· He is an Egyptian and not Palestinian. How can he lead the Palestinian people?
· He condemns terrorist actions in English, yet glorifies homicide bombers in Arabic.
· He has broken every agreement he has ever signed with anybody.
· Since he came onto the scene in 1964, he has conducted a reign of terror against Israel, western democracies and his own people.
· In the past 8 years since Israel ceded control of the Palestinian population centers to Arafat, the standard of living has of the average Palestinian family has decreased by 80%.
· He is an abuser of free speech and human rights of his own people. Opponents of his regime simply disappear as in Stalinist Russia
· He has destabilized and caused insurrection against the legitimate governments in every country he has lived in. His present threat is to destabilize the entire region as a form of extortion to pressure western countries to weaken Israel.
Fourth, Israel must equate the bombings of the WTC and the Pentagon with the spate of bombings going on in Israel. Israel?s fight is not between Jews and Arabs. It is a fight between freedom and western civilization against totalitarian oppression. There is no difference between the PA and Al Quaida. Both use terror as their main weapon. Terror is the main instrument of feudal totalitarian regimes. Democracies don?t use terror as a means to further their ends. The main aim of these regimes is to obliterate Israel. If Israel, the only mid-east democracy falls, the next target will be all other western democracies and their way of life.
Last, there is a great need to personalize the stories of victims of terror attacks and their families and not just quote statistics. Many of the terror victims were citizens of other countries. This fact helps localize the stories and creates greater audience empathy for the Israeli cause.
The time has come for the Israel government to realize that we facing a life or death situation and act accordingly.
George M. Stanislavski,
------------------------
The writer is the founder of Creative Business Solutions, a Jerusalem based consulting firm.
He retorted, ? Did you ever pay attention to the material that appears in the Israeli media? Our reporters take these views as representing the Israeli position. We then hear what the Palestinians have to say, and reach the conclusion that the truth is somewhere in between. Get your own media to be more pro-Israeli and CNN will report accordingly.?
Turrel?s point was valid and I had to agree. If the Israeli press refers to the Jewish residents of communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza as settlers in ?occupied territories? doesn?t that weaken our own hasbara argument? When Israeli TV and newspapers give prominent headline coverage to a petition by 50 Israeli reservists who refused to serve in these ?occupied territories,? doesn?t that give the message that Israeli soldiers? presence in Judea, Samaria and Gaza is immoral? When a demonstration by 200 left wing protestors gets the same number of media sound bytes as a rally of tens of thousands of rightwing proponents, is the Israeli public getting a balanced view? Would American talk shows, the bastions of free speech, ever host proponents of Al Quaida after September 11? Yet, our talk shows eagerly interview Jewish Arafat supporters who were holed up in the Mukhata during Operation Defensive Shield. Would the American Congress or any other democratically elected parliament censure its members who openly legitimized the atrocities of that country?s enemies? You bet they would. However, most Israeli Arab Knesset members openly justify Palestinian acts of terror with impunity, even when the bombings and shootings are inside Israel?s heartland. How can we convince others about the righteousness of our cause if we are getting these muddled messages from our own media. Hasbara like charity begins at home.
Bret Stephens, wrote an excellent essay on What?s wrong with Israel?s Hasbarah in his Eye on the Media column in the Jerusalem Post . He concluded the article by suggesting the sorts of arguments Israel should be making. He proposed 3 main arguments Israel hasbara should be using:
· Refer to the territories as disputed rather than ?occupied? and the presence of Israelis on them does not violate one applicable article of international law set down by the Geneva convention.
· Israeli spokespersons must speak of the conflict between democrats and dictators and not as a battle between Jews and Arabs.
· The argument against terrorism must be placed in the context of an argument for the legitimacy of the State of Israel
Though I agree with the content of his proposal, I believe method of its presentation must be more aggressive. The Israel Government should fight its information campaign with the same gusto and aggressiveness that a politician uses against an opponent in an election. Top notch pollsters, spin doctors and media mavens must be hired to plan, organize and conduct the campaign. Unlike the classic film Wag the Dog there is no need to fabricate information to demonize the enemy. Israel has enough incriminating evidence against Arafat and the PA as is.
The first job of Israeli Hasbara is to explode the myth that the settlements are the issue in the present war. The PLO was founded 3 years before Israel won back its historic homeland in the Six Day War. The goal of the PLO then is the same as the goal of the PA, namely the destruction of the State of Israel, the only democracy in the middle-east.
Next, people and governments have to be shown that their donations are literally financing terror activities and lining the pockets of a petty dictator. For every dollar given to the Palestinian Authority, a third goes to finance terrorist actions against innocent civilians, another third goes into the private bank accounts of Arafat and company and only the remaining third is split between salaries of the PA apparchniks and the Palestinian people. Similar messages must be directed towards the Palestinian people showing that the cause of their suffering is not the Israelis but their own Palestinian Authority. History has shown that reform in totalitarian regimes only comes about when the change is introduced by the people.
Third, instead of debating whether Arafat should be expelled, Israeli hasbara should shatter the facade of him as a ?freedom fighter? and budding statesman:
· He is an Egyptian and not Palestinian. How can he lead the Palestinian people?
· He condemns terrorist actions in English, yet glorifies homicide bombers in Arabic.
· He has broken every agreement he has ever signed with anybody.
· Since he came onto the scene in 1964, he has conducted a reign of terror against Israel, western democracies and his own people.
· In the past 8 years since Israel ceded control of the Palestinian population centers to Arafat, the standard of living has of the average Palestinian family has decreased by 80%.
· He is an abuser of free speech and human rights of his own people. Opponents of his regime simply disappear as in Stalinist Russia
· He has destabilized and caused insurrection against the legitimate governments in every country he has lived in. His present threat is to destabilize the entire region as a form of extortion to pressure western countries to weaken Israel.
Fourth, Israel must equate the bombings of the WTC and the Pentagon with the spate of bombings going on in Israel. Israel?s fight is not between Jews and Arabs. It is a fight between freedom and western civilization against totalitarian oppression. There is no difference between the PA and Al Quaida. Both use terror as their main weapon. Terror is the main instrument of feudal totalitarian regimes. Democracies don?t use terror as a means to further their ends. The main aim of these regimes is to obliterate Israel. If Israel, the only mid-east democracy falls, the next target will be all other western democracies and their way of life.
Last, there is a great need to personalize the stories of victims of terror attacks and their families and not just quote statistics. Many of the terror victims were citizens of other countries. This fact helps localize the stories and creates greater audience empathy for the Israeli cause.
The time has come for the Israel government to realize that we facing a life or death situation and act accordingly.
George M. Stanislavski,
------------------------
The writer is the founder of Creative Business Solutions, a Jerusalem based consulting firm.