Why is Israel failing in PR and how can it improve?

While Israel wages a difficult war against enemies who seek to destroy us, its military successes are overshadowed by our lack of public relations achievements. There is no doubt that the Republican victory Donald Trump The victory over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the US presidential election marks a turning point in relations between the US and Israeli governments. In his victory speech this week, Trump said: “I will not start wars; I will end them.”

After the Six-Day War, when the small and threatened state of Israel defeated three Arab countries, there was a dramatic shift in world public opinion: some journalists, including Jews, embraced radical leftist views. Some journalists have revived anti-Semitic statements that combine with anti-Israel sentiment to create a false narrative about Israel’s struggle for existence.

A recent standout in this regard is Thomas Friedman, one of America’s most influential journalists, an American Jew, and a foreign affairs commentator. New York Times. Now he claims that because we eliminated Sinwar, Gaza can be brought back under control. Palestinian Authority (PA). The journalist, whose memory is clearly not his strong suit, said back in June that Sinwar should be appointed to oversee Gaza reconstruction. It’s hard to believe.

Friedman has developed positions that have drawn sharp criticism from many Israelis and large parts of the American Jewish community, who accuse him of inaccurate reporting of Israeli events, presenting views hostile to the Jewish state and media bias in favor of Palestinians and Arab states. . One of the main arguments of his critics is that he takes a one-sided approach when discussing Israeli policies, especially regarding military operations, settlement construction and Israeli behavior in the diplomatic arena. He believes that Israel is occupying and using its military power against the Palestinians.

Friedman has been repeatedly accused of presenting a distorted picture of the reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Examples of journalistic inaccuracies in his columns include misrepresenting data, misrepresenting or quoting statements out of context, and sometimes ignoring the full history of the conflict. There are instances where Friedman describes Israeli policy in a way that reinforces the Palestinian position, rather than conveying the complexity of the security threats Israel faces.

President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. (Photo: REUTERS)

Three weeks ago, Friedman wrote: “The Palestinian Authority will be responsible for rebuilding Gaza, using money provided by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states, European countries and possibly the United States.” He added: “Sinwar’s removal also creates the opportunity for the ‘greatest’ step since Oslo towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.” Friedman doesn’t let the facts fool him.

To refresh Mr. Friedman’s memory, the PA did control Gaza until Hamas ousted it, killing many of its members while others fled with their tails between their legs. However, this did not stop PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas from convening the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for an emergency meeting to “pray for the memory of Sinwar and plan the invasion of Gaza.” Abbas called the mass killer “a great national leader who died as a martyr in the path of Allah” and expressed condolences to his Hamas brothers, its activists and the family of “martyr” Yahya Sinwar.

Can Mr. Friedman explain to his readers how a Holocaust denier like Abbas, who praises the evil murderer Sinwar, can return to rule Gaza?

Christiane Amanpour’s criticism of bias against Israel

Another influential journalist CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpourborn in England and educated in Iran. Over the years, Amanpour has covered wars and been heavily criticized for what has been described as clear bias against Israel and inaccuracies in reporting the reality on the ground.

A notable example is her coverage of the fighting in the Gaza Strip, where she depicts Israel using excessive force and attacking Palestinian civilians. Amanpour often focuses on Palestinian casualty figures (provided by the Hamas-led Gaza Health Authority) without providing the full context of the fighting, including the use of Palestinians as human shields by terrorist organizations or deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians.

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During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, Amanpour’s reporting included numerous reports of Palestinian casualties while ignoring the reasons that prompted Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip, such as continued rocket attacks and terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. Amanpour routinely portrays Israel as a brutal occupying force, oblivious to the Palestinians’ refusal to recognize their right to exist as a Jewish state.

I have yet to see Thomas Friedman or Christiane Amanpour immediately condemn Lebanon for trying to assassinate the Prime Minister of Israel, or the terrorist state of Iran, whose organizations sent a drone that crashed into a house in Caesarea.

Changes in the modern media landscape

Over the past two decades, the modern media landscape has undergone significant changes. The shift from traditional media such as newspapers and television to digital media, especially social media, has made public relations more difficult. Israel must combat hostile narratives, especially from media outlets such as CNN, BBC and CBS, which perpetuate negative opinions against it.

The decline in Israel’s PR reputation over recent decades is an alarming phenomenon. Effective public relations has always been an important part of Israel’s struggles in the international arena, but over the years Israel has lost ground in this area, resulting in significant reputational damage that can affect not only the country’s international relations, but also global public support and diplomatic and economic ties.

Israel struggles with hostile narratives and one-sided coverage from major international media outlets, which often portray it in a negative light and frequently use terms such as “occupation,” “apartheid,” and “disproportionate response” that help reinforce anti-Israel narratives. in the world public consciousness. These narratives, emanating from political figures or pro-Palestinian organizations, are disseminated through the media and amplified on social media, where Israel struggles to respond effectively and in real time.

The Jewish state is not endowed with significant financial resources, unlike, say, Qatar, whose television channels in English and Arabic are watched by millions of people. Qatar is buying places at top US universities with large donations, acquiring public companies and donating to soccer clubs.

Israeli PR messages tend to suffer from a lack of consistency and lack of a coherent and direct message that can be clearly understood and aimed at gaining international support. His messages tend to be aimed at domestic audiences (in Israel and Jewish audiences in the Diaspora), while the wider international public is less involved.

One of the central problems in public relations is the lack of communication with foreign correspondents covering Israel, who may not always get a complete picture of our security and political situation here. As a result, their reporting is biased or based on incorrect or partial information from Palestinian sources or anti-Israel organizations. Improving relationships with these correspondents and providing widespread access to accurate and up-to-date information is likely to positively improve coverage.

The national PR system has long ceased to function. The system created to coordinate between various bodies to convey Israeli messages failed to fulfill its purpose. It is also unclear what happened to the NIS 300 million budget allocated to the system. In contrast, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ PR budget is only NIS 28 million.

Last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began to allocate financial resources for PR on social networks. Defense Minister and outgoing Foreign Minister Israel Katz held regular meetings with serving ambassadors to present Israel’s position. At the same time, orders were issued to speed up public relations activities in digital spaces and face-to-face meetings with social media influencers abroad to aid public relations efforts.

Over the past year, the digital activity has generated more than 9 billion views. Initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an event was held in New York several months ago that brought together 300 Jewish social media influencers to help Israel’s public relations efforts around the world. A similar conference is scheduled to take place in New York in December, aiming to strengthen ties with Jewish student leaders on campuses in response to public relations challenges in the wake of the October 7 protests against Israel. Additional conferences will soon be held in the United States and key European capitals, and the ministry plans to hold a conference for pro-Israel influencers in an Arab capital. No further details were provided due to the sensitivity of the topic.

In a media interview, Israel’s Consul General in New York, Ofir Akunis, explains that the “death threats” against Israel and America prove that our October 7th is their September 11th, and we face a common enemy that we must fight. together.

Cooperation between Israel and the Diaspora Jewish community is critical. Organizations such as AIPAC in the US and Jewish associations in Europe can help combat the one-sided media coverage that often results from ignorance due to lack of information.

New Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced on Wednesday that Israel’s Foreign Ministry will receive an unprecedented NIS 545 million budget increase for 2025 for dramatically improved PR. The funds will be used, among other things, for campaigns abroad in foreign media and social networks. As part of its enhanced public relations efforts, the ministry will conduct targeted activities on campuses in the United States to change attitudes toward Israel and its policies, in collaboration with the Jewish community in the United States and without undermining the Diaspora Ministry’s activities.

We can only hope that this difficult war will end soon, the residents of the North will return home, and the hostages will return as soon as possible. However, we are only at the beginning of the battle.

The author of this article is the CEO of Radios 100 FM, Honorary Consul General of Nauru, Deputy Dean of the Diplomatic Consular Corps and President of the Israel Radio Communications Association.