Tel Aviv Celebrates 100 Years As Israel PR Suffers

Photo: Israel News Agency / Leyden Communications (Israel)

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Tel Aviv --- April 5, 2009 ..... Hundreds of thousands of people poured in Yitzhak Rabin Square last night to celebrate 100th birthday of Tel Aviv. The centennial anniversary of Tel Aviv was highlighted by a free concert, professional singers, dancers, rappelling artists and a dazzling display of fireworks.

The festive evening celebration quickly became a frenzy of smiles and laughter as thousands of onlookers began dancing and singing in the streets.

And where most from Israel have become accustomed to the sound of harsh booms emanating from terror bombs and night skies being lit by Israel Defense Forces flares over the West Bank and Gaza, this sound and light show only embraced joy and peace. Following recent terror attacks, Israel security was on their highest alert, with thousands of police and security forces blanketing the area from ground, air and sea.

As the Israel News Agency approached Kikar Rabin we were stopped several times at a number of Israel Police and MAGAV security checkpoints set up within Tel Aviv. Once we arrived at Kikar Rabin, we quickly became a small part of a wide and diverse tapestry of Jewish people stretching for several blocks in all directions.

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai greeted several VIP's including former Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo Lahat (Cheech) and then kicked off an amazing spectacle of music. The Tel Aviv Philharmonic Orchestra played music by Strauss and Tchaikovsky as fireworks lit the sky. Behind the raised blue domed stage, the Tel Aviv City Hall came alive as the number 100 appeared as white fireworks sparkled from its walls..

The professional performances which took place atop a high standing stages included Dana International, Barry Sakharof, Miri Mesika, Mati Caspi, Shlomo Gronich, Danny Robas, Alona Daniel, and the Monica Sex band.

Hundreds of people enjoyed the show from nearby rooftops as the tenants below were provided with first row seats.

It was a diverse crowd of children, adults and the elderly who integrated into one colorful collage. As onlookers approached the area they were all given small colorful lights to place on their fingers. Thus the sea of onlookers became active participants in lighting up the very heart of Tel Aviv. The music was a a mix of classical, rock, opera, and pop music - something for everyone. Actors and actresses took the stage in clothes from the roaring Twenties reflecting on how life was like as Tel Aviv became a city as black and white images of old Tel Aviv were projected on the tan and white walls of nearby buildings. Trance and dance music followed the concert, creating the largest street party that Tel Aviv has ever seen.

These journalists were not given coffee. Instead were removed by the organizers
and not allowed to report on one of Israel's most historic and postive events. Photo: INA

It was a party by and for Israel. And this is where the organizers of the Tel Aviv 100 year celebration failed. The PR agency handling the centennial event did not have one public relations professional handling the international media. In fact, there was no press area. Many of the journalists from New York, London and Paris climbed a small two storey high ladder to join the production crew on a scaffold. Organizers asked them to get down as they were photographing and documenting this historic event. The 30 or so journalists simply ignored the yelling organizer. They had a job to do. They were in the right position to do it and they risked their lives to climb that steel ladder. The organizers claimed that one scaffold set up facing center stage was not strong enough to hold both the domestic and international press corps. So, the INA asks, why wasn't there a press area set up for film crews, photographers, reporters, and Internet news bloggers? Thirty minutes later two policeman arrived, climbing the ladder to the second floor of the scaffold and requested in a polite manner for all journalists to come down. Slowly the journalists followed the police request and by this time they had now secured the news and feature footage that they needed.

This lack of logistics and event marketing for the international media has long been an Achilles heal within Israel. The late former Prime Minister Golda Meir was famous for her statement that Israel does not need PR, but rather F-15's. Public opinion creates facts on the ground. It has a direct effect on both Israel and Palestinian lives. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israel Defense Forces now finally realize this fact. These governmental bodies now have a few media professionals working in Jerusalem and aboard on salary including Noam Katz, Ronit Ben-Dor, Danny Seaman, Mark Regev, Amir Gissin, David Saranga and IDF Colonel Olivier Rafowicz.

Can one imagine the Mayor of New York, London, Moscow or Tokyo planning such an historic event without taking into consideration the international media?

Israel, whose image suffers from Islamic terror attacks and several wars, had a unique opportunity to show a positive and warm event to the world. Where were the invitations to international leaders to attend? Had they flown in for this historic Israel moment, it would have illustrated solidarity with the rest of the free, democratic world.

The organizers could say that they did not have the budget to address the international media. Which could be fact. But it is much more of a cultural flaw than an economic one. If no money was available they could have approached a number of professional commercial and non-profit organizations including The Israel Project, American Zionist Organization, the World Zionist Organization, United Jewish Communities, UK Jewish organizations, Charley Levine Communications and Leyden Communications (Israel) all of whom would have been pleased to contribute.

We need to alert the organizers of this critical failure.
As an Israeli, I could not have been prouder than to have been standing in Kikar Rabin last night, feasting my eyes upon thousands of other smiling Israelis. Jews who have and continue to say by their mere presence, that Israel is here to stay. No terror attack or war will ever create a doubt or fear among us to leave our historic and ancient homeland. We, who have come to this harsh land and turned it into a lush, green paradise, with modern skyscrapers, leading the world in hi-tech and medical science and who have cultivated miles of long, sandy beaches say never again as we remember the Holocaust from which we recently came. We are proud of being here. We are proud of our many commercial and humanitarian accomplishments. But where is the delivery system to get these positive images of Israel out. Should the foreign journalists remain in Gaza covering so called human rights violations and destroyed homes for which Hamas used as shields in a defensive war, or should we invite these journalists to sing and dance in Tel Aviv among hundreds of thousands?

The city has invested an unprecedented NIS 70 million towards several free events through the year. Can someone in the organizing committee set aside a 4,000 schekels or a 1,000 dollars for international PR?

Israel needs the tourism. Israel needs the investment.

If we can create a city - Tel Aviv - out of bare, dry sand dunes, surely we can send one or two news releases in English to the rest of the world.

The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in Israel for the Internet by the Leyden Communications Internet Marketing SEO Group - Israel, London, New York.

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