Israel ups the stakes in the propaganda war

[Briar]

Israel ups the stakes in the propaganda war


Following its invasion of Lebanon this summer, Israel was said to have largely lost the PR battle to Hizbullah, but armed with a major web offensive, it's fighting back

Stewart Purvis


Amir Gissin runs what he calls '"Israel's Explanation Department". Which is why it is surprising to hear him admit that many Israelis think "the whole problem is that we don't explain ourselves correctly".

...

But Gissin was not down-hearted. He declared there to be a "war on the web" in which Israel had a new weapon, a piece of computer software called the "internet megaphone".

"During the war we had the opportunity to do some very nice things with the megaphone community," he revealed at the conference. Among them, he claimed, was a role in getting an admission from Reuters that a photograph of damage to Beirut had been doctored by a Lebanese photographer to increase the amount of smoke in the picture. This was first spotted by American blogger Charles Johnson, who has won an award for "promoting Israel and Zionism".

To check out the power of the megaphone, I logged onto a website called GIYUS (Give Israel Your United Support) last Wednesday afternoon. More than 25,000 registered users of www.giyus.org have downloaded the megaphone software, which enables them to receive alerts asking them to get active online.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1952099,00.html

[IntiRaymi]

1. LOL!

I downloaded Megaphone....it was hilarity. It would detail an event, and would post a link followed by the cryptic statement:
"Read and React"
...
I recommend downloading it. If anything, you can get an idea of where the lynch mob is headed at that particular moment. Also a good idea to dl. the Hasbara handbook, which is a meticulous recipe for campus operations, meant to form opinions of students about Israel.
Did you all know that trance music is a tool of Israeli propaganda?

[Violet_Crumble]

4. Heh, I downloaded it to check it out...

I guess it appeals to the mindless lemmings who wouldn't see a problem in travelling around the internet shrieking PROPAGANDA!!! BIAS!! PROPAGANDA!!! while using a propaganda tool to do it :)

[Scurrilous]

2. Ah yes...

...'extra-plume-of-smoke-gate.'

Fantastic victory for the mega-phonies! :thumbsup:

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Smart move.

There is a propaganda war. Israel has been on the losing end for years, even with powerful allies like the US. In the great scope of things, Israel is seen as one of the most dangerous places to the world order. The world view on Israel is biased and based in ancient prejudices and ignorance.

[acmejack]

5. Luckily there wouldn't be any of those lowlifes here!

[breakaleg]

6. As usual, Israel does itself no favors with this kind of thing. What they've done

is make it so people are suspect of all reports coming out from the Israeli side.

[msmcghee]

7. Yes, the world already is quite aware . .

.. of their tendency for treachery and deceit.