WHY DOES ISRAEL HAVE SUCH POOR PUBLIC RELATIONS?
Israel doesn’t suffer from a lack of excellent spokespeople. Its PR is not always stellar for other reasons. Primary among these is the fact that we are subject to the network’s discretion as to what spokespeople and what articles are selected for airing. You can be sure that CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and BBC are not broadcasting all the excellent material that is being supplied to them by official and unofficial sources. A public image, like the news, is created just as much by what is omitted as by what is included. When excellent Israeli spokespersons like Dore Gold and Bibi Netanyahu — or Americans such as Daniel Pipes and Frank Gaffney — are ignored, while many Arabs are broadcasted, Israel’s image suffers. Whose fault is that? Similarly, if a veteran Leftie like Yossi Sarid or Yossi Beilin, or even Shimon Peres, is chosen by those networks to speak for Israel, I believe the message is skewed away from the Israeli consensus and also detracts from our public relations stature. Contrast t
