August 7, 2001, Tuesday 6:28 AM Eastern Time
Israel to launch global public relations blitz
Agence France Presse
JERUSALEM, Aug 7
Israel intends to launch an unprecendented global propaganda
blitz within days in a bid to reverse what it sees as its rapidly
diminishing image following 10-months of conflict with the
Palestinians.
High-ranking officials have been dispatched to France to hire a major
public relations firm to restore the Jewish state's reputation across
Europe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' deputy spokesman, Emmanuel
Nahshon, told AFP Tuesday.
High-profile intellectuals and artists, including author Amos Oz and
conductor Zubin Mehta, will also be called on to influence colleagues
and the masses, Nahshon said.
And a "back to basics" campaign will be carried out in North America
where government officials are hoping to gather hundreds of thousands
of people to support Israel at major rallies in cities including New
York, Memphis and Toronto.
More than 540 Palestinians have died since the intifada, or uprising,
began last September, and Nahshon conceded that television images of
the deaths were hurting Israel's international reputation.
"We believe there's been a devaluation of the image of Israel and we
want to restore a more positive image," Nahshon said.
"We have the feeling the perception of the general public,
particularly in Europe, is being judged mostly according to television
reports of the conflict, which reflects only a very small part of
reality.
"It's portraying a David versus Goliath syndrome. Israel is being
portrayed as a strong side and the Palestinians the weak side. We
believe this is not a full picture."
Nahshon said Israel had never before hired a public relations firm to
carry out such a task in Europe and the final decision came only after
a top-level meeting involving, among others, Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Monday.
He said Israel was in final negotiations with an unnamed French firm
and a deal could be signed within days, with the campaign to start
shortly after.
Nahshon said the duration of the campaign was dependant on the
feedback the French company received.
Israel already employs a PR firm in the United States, the New
York-based Howard J. Rubenstein Associates, to win the hearts and
minds of Americans, the Jerusalem Post reported.
This has already resulted in more women and less people wearing army
uniforms in Israeli PR campaigns and the Israeli Defence Force hiring
a spokeswoman who speaks English fluently, without an Israeli accent.
Nahshon said the beefed-up propaganda push in North America would
include major rallies throughout September and October, and possibly
until the end of the year.
He said Israel hoped hundreds of thousands of people would turn up at
these rallies to support the Jewish state.
Peres is also expected to call on nearly 2,000 rabbis in the United
States to emphasise during their Yom Kippur sermons the Jewish state's
historic links to the land of Israel.
The propaganda blitz follows unusually heavy criticism from the
western world over Israel's policy of killing alleged Palestinian
militants.
Even the United States, Israel's closest and most important ally, said
it was opposed to last week's slaying of six Hamas activists and two
young brothers in the West Bank town of Nablus, describing the rocket
attack as too aggressive.
The public relations offensive comes on top of what is already
regarded by the western media as an extremely slick Israeli propoganda
machine.
In contrast to the approach of Sharon's predecessor, Ehud Barak, who
kept his government at a distance from the foreign press, the Sharon
government sends pager messages to journalists around the clock while
spokespeople and "sources" are also on hand 24 hours a day.
The Palestinians are outraged over some of Israel's PR successes and
this week accused the British Broadcasting Corporation of succumbing
to Israeli pressure and diluting its reports of the killings of
Palestinian militants.
