The Rise of the Machine

An article in yesterday’s Financial Times reported some interesting (if characteristically deluded) perspectives from the Israeli right in its closing paragraphs.  International condemnation of Israel’s latest atrocities has apparently been blamed on the ‘Palestinian PR Machine’.  At first I thought this ‘machine’ was as subtle and obscure as other figments of the neocon/Likudnik imagination.   However, readers should be aware that according to a security source of mine it is indeed as powerful and frightful as these bizarre statements suggest and furthermore it can be launched within 45 minutes.  Its existence is also confirmed by Emanuele Ottolenghi of St Antony’s College, Oxford (oh yes and the American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Institute).

So it’s no laughing matter.  In fact it’s so powerful that it requires an even greater propaganda assault than Israel has already launched (in retaliation naturally).   According to the Financial Times:

To counter these forces and repair Israel’s standing, one rightwing commentator this week went so far as to call for an Israeli ministry for PR. Adi Mintz said the ministry should be fitted out with “many dozens of video teams, editors and producers that would generate materials and immediately distribute them to all media outlets”. Israel’s message, he added, should be heard not just in America, but also “on television screens in Romania and China”.