UN, Global
Media Silent As 80 Hamas Gaza Rockets Slam Israel - Bad PR?
By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem,
Israel --- October 24, 2012 ... Over 80 rockets launched by the
Hamas terror group in Gaza rained on Israel today.
At least 4 Israelis were injured, with one in critical condition.
One
rocket that slammed into a kibbutz in the Eshkol region of southern
Israel blew away the wall of a house, leaving a large crater in
the ground and coming within feet of murdering a woman who managed
to make it to the air raid shelter in time.
As
the Islamic terror rockets poured down on Israel there was not
one word mentioned at the UN.
"The continued silence of the UN Security Council is a green
light for further terrorist activities by Hamas," said Israel's
ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor. Prosor sent a strong
letter of complaint to the UN Secretary General and to the Security
Council saying: The daily lives of a million Israelis are
paralyzed. Parents do not go to work and children do not go to
school. The barrage of rockets just keeps growing and causes severe
damage to life and property. This tragic situation must stop."
One
must wonder why CNN, FOX News, CBS, BBC, AFP, Reuters, AP
and NBC say either nothing or have a small headline at
the bottom of their news Website pages stating that Israel had
killed Palestinians in Gaza. Is this really a non news story or
has the media tired of the Israel vs. Islamic Jihad conflict?
Recently,
the Jihadists who were backed by Iran and Syria to divert media
attention away from massacres in Syria and Iran's development
of a nuclear bomb sent one one "flotilla" propaganda
ship from Europe to Gaza. The IDF played into this PR event marketing
show with four warships, a Black Hawk helicopter, 10 fast-patrol
boats and several other vessels to intercept the lone sailboat
Estelle on Saturday.
This
one Palestinian sail boat made hundreds of headlines on the Internet.
While 80 rockets landing next to Jewish children in Israel's Negev
and coastal plain almost went totally unnoticed.
How
is it that one small sail boat can make so much noise while a
massive barrage of terror rockets slamming Israel almost goes
stealth?
Israel
is a poor nation. Rich in intellectual resources, strong in defense
but almost impotent in public relations.
The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs can barely function on
its limited budget while the Gaza Flotilla idea was actually born
on Madison Avenue. A US Justice Department document shows that
Fenton Communications, a New York based public relations firm,
had been working for Al Fakhoora, a Qatar-based pro-Palestinian
initiative that participated in the illegal flotilla to Gaza and
urged action against Israel.
According
the groups director, Al Fakhoora had launched an advocacy
campaign to file legal charges against Israel and change the public
perception in the West about its actions.
Millions of
dollars are pumped into public relations and public affairs by
the Arabs to discredit the only democracy in the Middle East,
while Israel remains almost silent.
There is a
solution.
The Israel
Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have the budget to retain
a professional PR firm but the Israel Defense Forces does have
a small budget to draft reserve soldiers into their spokesperson's
department. The IDF spokesperson's international department could
draft professional media and PR professionals to take up positions
in Israel embassies in London, Paris and New York. They would
be working in the same time zone and eating the same news cycle
in these media capitals. They could get out news releases, coordinate
press conferences, do lunch, interviews which would compliment
any media and social media efforts that the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and the IDF would be making in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The holy war
of Islamic Jihad against democracy takes place first and foremost
in the Middle East with democratic Israel taking much of the lightening
and thunder.
As powerful as Islamic suicide bomber belts, bullets, mortars
and rockets are as they explode on Israeli soil, so are the lethal
words that this Jihadist war produces in the global media, on
Facebook and Twitter. It is high time that Jewish PR professionals
wearing IDF uniforms start dialing AP, Reuters, FOX and
CNN in New York and Washington.
How much do
these phone calls cost in comparison to the cost of Jewish lives
and rising, global anti-Semitism resulting directly from Islamic
Jihadist propaganda?
Disclaimer:
Articles and opinions in the Israel News Agency reflect
the thoughts of individual writers
and do not necessarily reflect those of the views of other staff writers and the publisher of the Israel News Agency.