Public diplomacy of Israel: Difference between revisions
→Israeli government hasbara: sigh. removing material sourced to a source that doesn't mention hasbara again. Really, guys, please take WP:SYN seriously |
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In 2002, the Israeli State Comptroller's office issued a report critical of Israel's PR efforts, "A lack of an overall strategic public relations conception and objective" and lack of coordination between the various organizations were mentioned. Funding levels are modest; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent about US$8.6 million on these efforts in 2002, and the Government Press Office was only budgeted at US$100,000.[http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp487.htm] |
In 2002, the Israeli State Comptroller's office issued a report critical of Israel's PR efforts, "A lack of an overall strategic public relations conception and objective" and lack of coordination between the various organizations were mentioned. Funding levels are modest; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent about US$8.6 million on these efforts in 2002, and the Government Press Office was only budgeted at US$100,000.[http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp487.htm] |
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In 2001, [[Shmuel Katz]] published a brief retrospective of Israeli hasbara efforts, taking the position that [[Moshe Dayan]] and [[Shimon Perez]], during their tenure in the Foreign Ministry, had "neglected" hasbara and encouraging Prime Minister [[Ariel Sharon]] to take action. Katz said that "The task of Israel's hasbara must be tackled not by occasional sudden sallies but by a separate permanent department in the government."<ref>{{cite news | |
In 2001, [[Shmuel Katz]], who had been "Adviser to the Prime Minister of Information Abroad" in 1977 under [[Menachem Begin]]<ref> The New York Times, January 6 1978, Adviser to Begin quits</ref> published a brief retrospective of Israeli hasbara efforts, taking the position that [[Moshe Dayan]] and [[Shimon Perez]], during their tenure in the Foreign Ministry, had "neglected" hasbara and encouraging Prime Minister [[Ariel Sharon]] to take action. Katz said that "The task of Israel's hasbara must be tackled not by occasional sudden sallies but by a separate permanent department in the government."<ref>{{cite news | |
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title=Tinkering with "Hasbara" | |
title=Tinkering with "Hasbara" | |
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url=http://www.freeman.org/m_online/sep01/katz.htm | |
url=http://www.freeman.org/m_online/sep01/katz.htm | |
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Revision as of 15:40, 8 April 2009
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Hasbara (Hebrew: הסברה, also spelt Hasbarah) is a Hebrew noun that literally means "explanation". [1][2] The term has been used by the State of Israel and by supporters of Israel to describe their efforts to explain Israeli government policies, and to promote Israel to the world at large.
Meaning of the term
While hasbara literally means "explanation", its exact import in its current usage is debated. Gideon Meir has said that there is no "real, precise" translation of the word hasbara to English or any other language, and has characterized it as public diplomacy,[3] an action undertaken by all governments around the world with the growing importance of what Harvard professor Joseph Nye termed soft power. Gary Rosenblatt describes it as "advocacy".[4] Nathan Guttman has characterized hasbara as "pro-Israel propaganda,"[5] while Avi Hyman has said "while propaganda strives to highlight the positive aspects of one side of a conflict, hasbara seeks to explain actions, whether or not they are justified."[2]
Early English media usage of hasbara
Early usage of the term in English mainstream print media,[6] dates to the late 1970s and describes hasbara as “overseas image-building”[7] or “[I]t is called hasbara when the purpose is to reshape public opinion abroad.”[8] By the early 1980s, Hasabra was defined as a “public relations campaign“,[9] and simply as “explaining”[10] In 1986, the New York Times reported a similar late 1970s period for the start of a program for “communicating defense goals” and a 1984 implementation of a “Hasbara Project” to “train foreign-service officers in communications by placing them with American companies.”[11]
Israeli government hasbara
During the Madrid Conference of 1991, The Age discusses the ‘propaganda machines’ associated with the news event. On the Israeli side it notes; ”Mr Netanyahu owes his prominence in the Israeli delegation to his ability to ward off difficult questions with repetition of the party line and his closeness to Mr Yitzhak Shamir, the Prime Minister. Bibi, as he is known in Israel, is backed by a formidable "hasbara", or information, apparatus. Mr Netanyahu has perfected the craft of delivering his message pugnaciously in made-for-television soundbites.[12]
In May 1992, the Jerusalem Post reported that American Jewish leaders hardly reacted to news that the Foreign Ministry's hasbara, or publicity, department will be eliminated as part of a sweeping reorganization of the ministry slated for later in the year. An AIPAC spokesman in Washington said the news was "very interesting," but declined to comment further until more details are known. Malcolm Hoenlein, noted there “had been talk” of streamlining the ministry's hasbara functions for some time. He said that merging the hasbara department's functions with those of the press department did not portend any downgrading in the priority the Likud government gives to hasbara abroad. Abe Foxman, reacted similarly, saying he was "not distressed or disturbed", and noted that hasbara has always been the responsibility of every Foreign Ministry staff officer, especially those working abroad; if eliminating one department means everyone will assume greater responsibility for his or her own hasbara efforts, then he is all in favor. It also reported that Yuval Rotem, spokesman for the Consulate in New York, noted the ministry's reorganization would not affect the structure of overseas offices "for the moment", but eventually personnel in foreign hasbara departments will be shifted to press departments, which is where much of the work currently done by hasbara officials properly belongs. He explained that in the future Israel's hasbara efforts abroad would focus on media communications, saying, "You won't see those five-color brochures with arrows and diagrams explaining why the PLO is bad," he quiped. "A year from now, we'll be in the studios at 20/20, convincing the producer to present positive stories about us. American[sic] has moved to the electronic age. People don't read pamphlets, they watch TV."[13]
In late 1992, following the election, Susan Hattis Rolef, editor of the Knesset website and Senior Researcher in the Knesset Research and Information Center[14], wrote in an opinion piece that[15]
Labor and Likud differ on foreign policy in two major ways. One has to do with content. The other concerns the use of hasbara (information). As to content, there are again two chief differences.
The first stems from the fact that Labor does not regard the world as hostile to Israel by definition, though it does not deny that there were times when the international environment was disproportionately hostile to anything Israel might have done or failed to do.
The Likud, on the other hand, especially its Herut component, does regard the world as hostile by definition, and when our few proven friends in the worst of times happened to criticize Israel, the Likud was inclined to react by saying that they too must be "closet antisemites."
The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry[3], the diplomatic arm of the Government of Israel, was an original co-sponsor of the Hasbara Fellowships activities of Aish HaTorah. The Jewish Agency for Israel, Department for Jewish Zionist Education, operates a campaign, "Hasbara, Israeli Advocacy, Your Guide to the Middle East Conflict".[3] The trip is still run by Aish HaTorah, but the Israeli government is no longer involved.[4]
In 2002, the Israeli State Comptroller's office issued a report critical of Israel's PR efforts, "A lack of an overall strategic public relations conception and objective" and lack of coordination between the various organizations were mentioned. Funding levels are modest; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent about US$8.6 million on these efforts in 2002, and the Government Press Office was only budgeted at US$100,000.[5]
In 2001, Shmuel Katz, who had been "Adviser to the Prime Minister of Information Abroad" in 1977 under Menachem Begin[16] published a brief retrospective of Israeli hasbara efforts, taking the position that Moshe Dayan and Shimon Perez, during their tenure in the Foreign Ministry, had "neglected" hasbara and encouraging Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to take action. Katz said that "The task of Israel's hasbara must be tackled not by occasional sudden sallies but by a separate permanent department in the government."[17]. Sharon did increase hasbara efforts, but did not create a cabinet-level ministry for that purpose.[18]
A new "Hasbara czar", Yarden Vatikay, was appointed by the Israeli government in February, 2008. He heads a "unit to coordinate Israel’s domestic and foreign media policy". [19]
In 2009, Israel's foreign ministry organized volunteers to flood news websites with pro-Israeli comments related to Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.[20] [21] [22]
Methods
In the words of one hasbara group, the Israel Citizens Information Council (ICIC):
The purpose of the ICIC is to assist efforts to explain Israeli life from the vantage point of the average Israeli citizen. Towards that end, the ICIC enlists Israelis from all walks of life to participate in its various projects ... One of our major activities is the production of special Powerpoint presentations which we post on our website. These presentations review specific aspects and issues related to Israel and the Middle East ..." [6]
Some hasbara documents explain their techniques, reporting on methods used by Palestinian activists, and providing advice on how to counter them, or how to use the same techniques in defense of Israel:
For example, describing demonstrators as "youths" creates a different impression from calling them "children". For the Israel activist, it is important to be aware of the subtly different meanings that well chosen words give. Call 'demonstrations' "riots", many Palestinian political organizations "terror organizations", and so on. Name calling is hard to counter. Don't allow opponents the opportunity to engage in point scoring. [7]
Palestinian-American professor Edward Said identified several hasbara methods used by pro-Israel groups during the Second Intifada:
This has included an entire range of efforts: lunches and free trips for influential journalists; seminars for Jewish university students who over a week in a secluded country estate can be primed to "defend" Israel on the campus; bombarding congressmen and -women with invitations and visits; pamphlets and, most important, money for election campaigns; directing (or, as the case requires, harassing) photographers and writers of the current Intifada into producing certain images and not others; lecture and concert tours by prominent Israelis; training commentators to make frequent references to the Holocaust and Israel's predicament today; many advertisements in the newspapers attacking Arabs and praising Israel; and on and on.[8]
Various people may be trained in hasbara by the Israeli government:
The Ambassador's course offers community leaders, educators, students and activists in the Diaspora an opportunity to acquire both a comprehensive overview of the conflict, tools to understand Palestinian propaganda/media bias and the means to advocate Israel's policy. [9]
See also
External links
Promotion of hasbara
- Hasbara.com
- Government courses
- Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Office
- Israel Hasbara committee
- Israelactivism.com, an Aish HaTorah website.
- Hasbara Israel Advocacy
- Hasabara Handbook - Promoting Israel on Campus Entire WUJS handbook, as .pdf
- The Israel Project, USA[23]
Criticism of Hasbara
- Edward Said. Propaganda and War
- From Hasbara to Intifada: How Israel's foreign press corps rewrote history
- Israeli Hasbara: A Nation Working Against Itself
- With Israel's foreign ministry organising volunteers to flood news websites with pro-Israeli comments, Propaganda 2.0 is here
References
- ^ "The word 'hasbara' means, literally, 'explanation.'" Fein, Leonard. Spinning Out Of Control, The Forward, July 19, 2002.
- ^ "known by the prosaic Hebrew term 'hasbara,' ('explanation')" Burston, Bradley. "The media war Israel cannot win", Haaretz, May 25, 2004.
- ^ a b What “Hasbara” Is Really All About. Meir, Gideon, 24 May 2005
- ^ Rosenblatt, Gary. ‘Hasbara’ Goes Prime Time, The Jewish Week, 12/03/2004.
- ^ Guttman, Nathan. Dancing the Hasbara, Moment (magazine), August 2006.
- ^ Based on a search of nexislexis for the term “Hasbara” in electronically available “Major U.S. and World Publications”, between Jan.1 1940 and Jan 1, 1987
- ^ Washington Post, September 17, 1979, Monday, Final Edition. Israel Lifts Prohibition On Buying Arab Land;Israel Allows Purchases of Arab Land.
"From the point of view of hasbara (overseas image-building) we have to be the underdog. But I don't think nasty comments will be justified. The [revoked] law was immoral," Naor said.” [Aryeh Naor, the Cabinet secretary]
- ^ Washington Post, December 16, 1981, Wednesday, Final Edition. Israel Moves to Smooth Ties With U.S., Others After Golan Action
In Hebrew, it is called hasbara when the purpose is to reshape public opinion abroad.
- ^ Washington Post, July 18, 1982, Sunday, Final Edition. Numbers Game Clouds Toll in Lebanon; Israel Issues New Low Figures
For several weeks now, Israel has had under way a hasbara, or public relations campaign, aimed at recuperating from the propaganda battering it thinks the Palestine Liberation Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Western media based in Beirut inflicted on Israel's image during the early part of the war.
- ^ Newsweek, September 12, 1983, United States Edition. ISRAEL;
Beginism Without Begin
Today, the diminutive Shamir -- he is shorter than Begin -- is known in the Jerusalem press corps as "the tiny terrorist." He is a strong believer in hasbara, Hebrew for "explaining." He believes that by explaining Israel's rationale and historical imperatives, hostile world opinion could be turned around. Hasbara could become one of Shamir's major duties. With its many problems -- and a new prime minister -- Israel can use all the friends it can get.
- ^ New York Times, June 6, 1986, Friday, Late City Final Edition, NEW YORK DAY BY DAY. To Help Israel Improve Public Relations
Ten years ago, Mr. Spielvogel, chairman of Backer & Spielvogel, first traveled to Israel to advise the Government on communicating defense goals. "No single event has brought home the need for a more effective hasbara, or information program, more persuasively than the 1982 war in Lebanon and the events that followed," a brochure from the congress says.
The trip led to the Hasbara Project, an internship program established two years ago to train foreign-service officers in communications by placing them with American companies.
- ^ The Age, November 1, 1991, p8, Propaganda machines go into battle
- ^ The Jerusalem Post, May 4 1992, American Jews quiet over publicity reform
- ^ Biography, Susan Hattis Rolef, PhD, at Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org [1]
- ^ The Jerusalem Post,November 23, 1992, “The Delicate Art“
- ^ The New York Times, January 6 1978, Adviser to Begin quits
- ^ Katz. Shmuel (August, 16 2001). "Tinkering with "Hasbara"". Jerusalem Post.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Israel Targets PR, Finally; Sharon calls for bolstering hasbara; Foreign Ministry supporting several projects here". New York Jewish Week. December 12, 2003.
- ^ Pfeffer, Anshel (February 8, 2008). "New media czar lost for a message". London: The Jewish Chronicle.
- ^ Silverstein, Richard (January 9, 2009). "Hasbara spam alert". The Guardian.
- ^ JONATHAN BECK (Jan 18, 200). "Latest hasbara weapon: 'Army of bloggers'". Jerusalem Post.
- ^ Cnaan Liphshiz (19/01/2009). "Israel recruits 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Web sites". Haaretz.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Levine, Charley J. "Interview with Jennifer Laszlo" , Hadassah Magazine, January 2007 Vol. 88 No. 5. "Q Why do people call The Israel Project a revolution in hasbara, pro-Israel information? How does it defer Jewish individuals or organizations from complaining about media bias or error? A. We strengthen Israel’s image and build support for public policies that make Israel safer. To do that, we are educational rather than confrontational, proactive rather than reactive. When a reporter is on a deadline and about to file a major story...we understand he needs to get the facts, sound bites or visuals to do the story right and in time for deadline. We work within that framework, knowing that complaints afterward aren’t going to help very much."