Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Ayalon: Public relations is a battle, not a marathon

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=177504
Public relations battle is a marathon, not a sprint
By DANNY AYALON
This has been a difficult week for Israel. Faced with an armada of hate
and violence, our soldiers, whose sole task was to control the boats and
bring them peacefully to Ashdod, were faced with machete-wielding jihadists.
This Hamas-backed flotilla was a premeditated provocation that sought to
either open up a corridor for weapons smuggling and terror that would
have resulted in the loss of countless innocent lives, or to embarrass
Israel and gain sympathy for their cause.
When weighing these two very difficult outcomes against each other, it
is abundantly clear that Israel, like any other nation, has a
responsibility first and foremost to the security and well-being of its
citizens.
Although few could have foreseen the eventual outcome, the Foreign
Ministry and many other governmental agencies had been working furiously
to prepare for the worst, while hoping for the best. In fact the level
of coordination before, during and after these events was unprecedented.
Senior Foreign Ministry officials held countless meetings with the
leadership and ambassadors around the world, especially from those
countries whose citizens were involved in the flotilla, reiterating the
dangers and true nature of the flotilla organizers’ strategy. The
international media was briefed and many press releases and information
packs on the true intentions of the flotilla were distributed well in
advance.
While some have criticized Israel’s public relations readiness for the
ghastly events that took place on Monday morning, far more have
expressed increasing satisfaction with the vast improvement in Israel’s
official crisis management. The Foreign Ministry had prepared a
situation room in advance to coordinate between the different agencies
and to send responses out to the public and relevant governments as soon
as possible.
Before many in Europe had arrived at work, I held a press conference
clearly enunciating the government position on the flotilla and the
necessity of our operation to prevent the flotilla from achieving its
aims. We had already put in place a live streaming video feed so every
foreign journalist had access to the press conference without leaving
his or her office. This is vital in an age where many in the
international media are facing budgetary cutbacks, meaning they have far
fewer correspondents and camera crews. This also made it easier for
major international networks to screen it live, including CNN.
Before North America had awoken, the international media were
consistently showing images from the IDF Spokesman’s Office of the
attempted lynching of our forces. Many government ministers were working
tirelessly, moving from one international media bureau to another for
the next couple of days explaining Israel’s case. We tweeted, sent
messages through Facebook and created YouTube videos in vast numbers.
Just following my own tweets, I was astonished to see the ripple and
multiplying effect of these messages.
Israel learnt lessons from previous crises and improved accordingly. No
one can argue the system worked perfectly, but we will endeavor to learn
even more lessons from this crisis to further improve for the future.
HOWEVER, NO ONE should be fooled into thinking that this is an easy
battle. Just as when an army is involved in asymmetric warfare, in
asymmetric public relations, there are structural disadvantages for any
fully functioning democratic government.
Whereas non-governmental organizations are not held accountable to abide
by facts and the truth, our government needs to keep to higher
standards. We are proud that we thoroughly check all information before
dissemination and unlike the “Pallywood” antics of the other side, you
won’t see Israel stage or fake events or blatantly and intentionally lie
about the facts.
To be able to disseminate pictures from the operation to apprehend the
ships, the IDF had to ensure that no soldier’s faces could be identified
and that no operational procedures were broadcast to our enemies.  As
stated above, our first priority is the safety of our citizens,
especially when they are on the front lines defending us in increasingly
difficult situations.
As much as we released information about the sordid nature of the
flotilla and the terror background of its main organizer in advance,
there was little interest. As the saying goes: “Only when the tanks are
moving do the cameras start rolling.”
It should also be borne in mind that while public relations is vitally
important, it was only one of the very many tasks that we had to attend
to in light of the events surrounding the flotilla. At the Foreign
Ministry, we were in constant contact with our ambassadors to spread
Israel’s message and keep them updated, and speaking to the foreign
diplomatic corps based in Israel, especially coordinating with those
whose citizens were aboard the flotilla. We coordinated our message with
thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, NGOs, bloggers and
volunteers. We kept foreign heads of government abreast of the situation
and pressed Israel’s case while working with multilateral bodies, like
the United Nations.
As witnessed by recent hostile resolutions, it is precisely within
organizations like the United Nations that our structural disadvantages
are most apparent. The Arab League has 22 members, the Islamic
Conference has 57 and is part of the Non-Aligned group of 118 nations
out of a total 192 UN members. This automatic majority is the main
reason why so much disproportionate time is wasted on Israel when
nations like Saudi Arabia are never reprimanded for their abject human
rights abuses.
Israel’s public diplomacy has become the new battlefield and if one
gauges the results, it is clear that there are many positives. There is
not one credible member of the international media that still parrots
the stated motives of the organizers of the flotilla. Every major
international network reported the flotilla story using IDF Spokesman’s
videos within hours of the events. More and more correspondents, many
who were previously very critical of Israeli policy, have placed the
blame squarely on the shoulders of the flotilla organizers. These are
very real successes.
Of course, there are criticisms and we listen to them intently while
recognizing that there were still flaws in our strategy, and we will
need to ensure we work harder in the future to learn those lessons. It
should be kept in mind that this is not about the first five minutes,
but about the next five months and beyond. The public relations battle
is a marathon and not a sprint. However, this government is using all
the means at its disposal to ensure that our enemies do not win on any
battlefield, regardless of the restrictions or the limitations.
The writer is the deputy foreign minister.

 Public relations battle is a marathon, not a sprint
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