Weekly Commentary: Israel's PR Achilles' Heel

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 30 October 2008

When Transition Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided at the last minute that
Israel, to avoid bad publicity, should back down from its high profile
threat and not stop the third vessel violating the Gaza Strip security
envelope, he sent a clear message to Israel's enemies: fear of bad PR is
Israel's Achilles' Heel.

But shouldn't Israel avoid bad PR?

Yes. But not at all cost.

And even more important: an incident that has the potential to generate
considerable bad publicity can be handled in ways that keep the PR damage to
acceptable levels.

That means not only getting out Israel's story in a way that is both
understandable and newsworthy but also acting to undermine the enemy's PR
efforts.

It is well within Israel's technological capabilities to block
communications between the challenging boat and the outside world so that by
the time the enemy is able to graphically tell their story it will literally
be "old news".

Did Israel have such a plan in place when it declared that the third boat
was going to be stopped or did Olmert let the boat in because there was no
plan?

Either way, the damage has been done.

Israel needs leaders who think before they talk.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il