- WASHINGTON -- One hundred
leading cable TV stations in the U.S. this week began broadcasting paid
advertising by two U.S. Jewish groups trying to get Israel's message across
to the American public.
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- Believing that Israel is losing the media war, the American
Jewish Committee and Israel 21C, a Silicon Valley group, decided to take
the unusual step of paying for TV ads instead of traditional public relations
methods, such as interviews and print newspaper advertising.
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- Beyond the change in the medium, the ads are also a change
in the Israeli message. The emphasis in them is on the similarity between
Israel and the U.S., the alliance between the two countries, and most importantly,
the fact that Israel is a democracy while its neighbors are not.
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- In the past, Israel information campaigns concentrated
on the conflict with the Palestinians - who started the violence, what
is terror, what Israel proposed to the Palestinians, the importance of
security, borders, etc. But polls showed the American public has lost interest
in the conflict and is moving toward a more neutral position without asking
which side is right. Moreover, the poll found there has been erosion of
Israel's image as a democracy in American eyes, but that an emphasis on
Israel being an American-style democracy could be more effective than arguments
about who is right in the conflict.
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- Both advertisements are similar. "Israel is America's
ally in the Middle East," begins one of the ads, against the background
of a spinning globe. There are images of daily life in Israel with subtitles
explaining why Israel is an ally - "democracy," "respect
for human rights" (against the background of skyscrapers and someone
working at a computer, "universal voting rights" (against the
background of an Arab woman voting), as well as "representative government,"
"freedom of religion, the press and speech," and finally, the
tag line: "America and Israel - common values, common visions."
The second ad is similar, emphasizing the participation of Arab and womens
in the Israeli political system.
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- The TV ads infuriate James Zogby, head of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee. He said the ads are latently racist, telling
Americans that Israelis "are like you Americans and they (meaning
the Arabs) are not," and that the emphasis on the differences is a
form of support for continuing the conflict and distancing peace.
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- The ad's organizers say that they simply wanted to show
the American public Israel as it is - a thriving democracy. David Harris,
head of the AJC, said Zogby's complaints were "lighting verbal fires."
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- The campaign, which will run through October, will cost
$1 million, with the AJC and the Silicon Valley group splitting the costs.
According to the AJC, the ads' efficacy will be evaluated at the end of
the first month of the campaign.
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- The Jewish groups are already planning the next stage
of TV advertising for Israel and apparently will include a new ad, based
on "Israel's outstretched hand for peace." It will cover Israeli
efforts to reach peace with its neighbors, from the adoption of the Partition
Plan, through the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan and the Oslo agreements,
culminating in the Camp David talks.
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- The organizers say they want to get across to the American
viewers that Israel has always wanted to reach a peaceful solution. Another
message will be the need for a different Palestinian leader, someone like
Sadat in Cairo and Hussein in Amman, who will know how to reach real peace
with Israel.
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- http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?it
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