Yesterday, Israel’s ‘Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister’ Yuli Edelstein spoke at some length about his country’s ‘PR problem’, including possible plans to create a 24-hr news channel. But further down the article, Edelstein talked about the ways in which Israel’s propaganda effort is being increasingly delegated to volunteers:
“We’ve been working on creating an infrastructure of our friends and allies around the world, in the Jewish and Christian communities, which is not fully ready yet. It’s based on volunteers and professionals [who will coordinate the transmission of accurate information],” the minister said.
Edelstein conceded that the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Ministry suffered from restrictive budget problems. Nevertheless, he was seeking to implement ambitious initiatives based on volunteers.
“This is the 21st century, and that means things that are not officially called hasbara are the best hasbara. The moment things come from the government, the state, or ministries, they are perceived as being less reliable and as propaganda,” Edelstein said.
”There are many things only volunteers can do. Writing on Facebook, Twitter blogs, and sending e-mails to friends is second to none. The best things people can do are not about money, but about doing things in the right way.”
Edelstein cited an operations center housed in his ministry and staffed by volunteers, as well as a ministry secretary, both aimed at maintaining continuous contact with Diaspora communities.
Edelstein makes it clear that key elements of the state’s hasbara drive are being carried out by ‘volunteers and professionals’, particularly through media like Facebook and Twitter. Crucially, this ‘infrastructure’ should not be seen as coming from the government – which gives the game away.
This reminded me of another article from just over a week ago, this time in Ha’aretz. Here the intention of disseminating propaganda through ‘front groups’ is made explicit:
The Foreign Ministry is planning to use front groups to transmit hasbara (public relations ) messages in order to influence senior politicians, opinion shapers and journalists in Europe, ministry sources said.
The goal is to create a public diplomacy track parallel to the one used by the Foreign Ministry, whose message does not bear the “fingerprints” of the Israeli government, the source said.
Yet more money and time invested in apologising for apartheid – this rebranding business can definitely be tricky.
P U L S E 
They think we are fools? THey think thier hasbara rats do not wear the finger prints of the Israeli governmennt….??? They think wrong…REality is no matter how much hasbara they put out….itsnever going to ocver up hte grosss actions committed b the zionist entity.If nothing else the latest debacle surrounding the hasbara lies busted by jounalists should tell them that hasbara does ont work anymore……thank god.
thier heads are backin the 1960’s during hasbaras glory days…. it dosnt work like that in the 21st century.
In this day and age of wikileaks, youtube and 24/7 news channels watching every twist and turn, the days of cakewalk hit-and-run operations are numbered.
Israeli authorities wanted to cow down the aid flotilla in darkness and in silence to claim the spotlight by arriving to an awaiting media corps in Ashdod. The aid activists are seen defending themselves with plastic chairs.
The length to which Tel Aviv’s apologists and spin doctors desperately went to circulate IDF’s flotilla footage as visuals of victimhood only reflect how much they remain haunted by the daunting footage of their Dubai Debacle.
All atttempts to wash stains of shame with spatters of blood will only expose how bids of face saving are leading to far bigger embarrassment to friends and allies.
There is no way Israel can keep up (even with volunteers). The comments voted most popular on a NYTimes article about Iran sanctions, for example, all mention the hypocrisy of the U.S. and Israel.
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/world/middleeast/10sanctions.html?sort=recommended
I found the same thing on many articles about the flotilla.
Bloggers who skillfully apply truth and evidence-based, verifiable facts will always win arguments with those who present nothing but myths and lies. So I seen no problem. Bring the liars on!!!