The main purpose of the Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review (PDPBR), for kind readers who pay attention to it, is pedagogical. Every week, for the graduate course I was privileged to teach at Georgetown University -- "Propaganda and U.S. Foreign Policy: A Historical Overview" -- I selected items from the PDPBR for distribution to students to enliven discussion in our eleven-person, three-and-a-half-hour evening class. A sample "Current Affairs Readings" culled from the PDPBR can be found below. Also below is part of the syllabus for our course, which I update every week three days before meeting with students. (This because, in large part, how quickly -- as we all know -- items cited on the Internet can "disappear").
Given that the Georgetown course, which I have much enjoyed thanks to the intellectual quality, enthusiasm, and cosmopolitanism of its students, is ending on July 30, yours truly will no longer be producing the PDPBR in the coming months. I expect to resume my love of labor in the fall.
Image from
CURRENT AFFAIRS READINGS (SAMPLE)
CURRENT AFFAIRS READINGS (CAR 9), JULY 12--JULY 20
To be discussed during Class 10 (July 23)
Journalism appeals to our relatively new awareness that facts don't 'speak for themselves', least of all in war."
--Author Jeremy Treglown, "Revolving Door," The Times Literary Supplement (July 4, 2014), p. 7
"[W]ho are we on Facebook or Twitter if not an avatar of the persona that we’d like to project?"
--TechDigest editor James O'Malley
Table of Contents
America in the World
U.S. Border Security
U.S./Germany
U.S./Israel/Palestine
U.S./Iran
U.S./Viet Nam
Military Spending
Hillary Clinton and Foreign Policy
U.S. diplomacy/social media
USG Non-Military International
Broadcasting
Peace Corps
Israel/Palestinians
China
Brazil
Propaganda: Past History
America in the World
America’s ‘freedom’ reputation is on the decline a year after NSA revelations - Andrea Peterson, Washington Post: A main selling point of the U.S. brand on the international stage has long been summed up with the screech of eagles and one word: "Freedom." But in the wake of the revelations about U.S. surveillance programs from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden last year, the world is less convinced of the U.S.'s respect for personal freedoms according to new survey results from Pew Research.
U.S. needs a discussion on when, not whether, to use force - Robert Kagan, Washington Post: The willingness of the United States to use force and to threaten to use force to defend its interests and the liberal world order has been an essential and unavoidable part of sustaining that world order since the end of World War II. It is also an essential part of effective diplomacy.
An Exceptional Decline for the Exceptional Country? The Empire as Basket Case - Tom Engelhardt, tomdispatch.com: Recent history is clear: that military has proven incapable of winning its wars against minor (and minority) insurgencies globally, just as Washington, for all its firepower, military and economic, has had a remarkably difficult time imposing its desires just about anywhere on the planet. Though it may still look like a superpower and though the power of its national security state may still be growing, Washington seems to have lost the ability to translate that power into anything resembling success. Today, the U.S. looks less like a functioning and effective empire than an imperial basket case, unable to bring its massive power to bear effectively from Germany to Syria, Iraq to Afghanistan, Libya to the South China Sea, the Crimea to Africa. Just what kind of decline this represents remains to be seen. What does seem clearer today is that the rise of the national security state and the triumphalism of the corporate sector (along with the much publicized growth of great wealth and striking inequality in the country) has been accompanied by a decided diminution in the power of the government to function domestically and of the imperial state to impose its will anywhere on Earth.
Obama's foreign-policy strikeout: Could things get any worse for him? - Dana Millbank, Washington Post: The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article Monday reporting that "the breadth of global instability now unfolding hasn't been seen since the late 1970s" and that "U.S. global power seems increasingly tenuous." The Journal's catalogue of woes — civil wars in Iraq and Syria, hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians, an electoral crisis in Afghanistan, tension with Russia over Ukraine, floundering nuclear negotiations with Iran and renewed Chinese expansionism — didn't include the current crisis on the United States' Southern border. Could things get any worse? Well, maybe if the president's chief spokesman claimed that Obama was bringing "tranquility" to the globe — which is what White House press secretary Josh Earnest did at his daily briefing Monday afternoon.
Border Security
Perry, Obama Meet for Border Security Discussion - Ed Sterling, blanconews.com: "In a July 11 speech broadcast from Austin, Obama said he was waiting on Congress to approve his June 30 request for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to address the population influx. The president asked that those funds be used for [inter alia] ... Addressing root causes of migration, paying for public diplomacy and international information programs."
The US Has Been Quietly Recording Pop Songs to Scare Away Would-Be Immigrants - Tess Vanden Dodder, inthecapital.streetwise.co: "While the United States might get the most credit for its military prowess the American government's public diplomacy efforts are pretty top notch. At least that's the positive spin on the fact that the United States has been spending millions of dollars on quiet public relations campaigns designed to dissuade Central Americans from attempting to cross the border into America, including producing some rather catchy pop songs … which highlighted the deaths and other dangers faced by migrants attempting to cross the Sonoran desert to reach the American border. Part of this campaign included the release of five songs, which are set in the popular and upbeat cumbia style, yet have lyrics that promise certain death for those attempting to illegal enter the United States. The most popular of these songs, La Bestia or 'The Beast,' is currently in daily rotation at 21 well known radio stations throughout Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The lyrics read, 'migrants from everywhere, entrenched along the rail ties. Far away from where they come, further away from where they go. They call her the Beast from the South, this wretched train of death. With the devil in the boiler, whistles, roars, twists and turns.'”
Propaganda song popular among Central Americans was devised by U.S. Border Patrol - Jessica Chasmar, Washington Times: A hit song in Central America was reportedly devised by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection as a propaganda push to deter migrants from riding “death trains” to the border. “La Bestia,” or “The Beast” refers to a network of Mexican freight trains that migrants use as an extremely dangerous method of traveling to the U.S. border, where riders face the constant threat of robbery, kidnapping, rape and murder. The song, “La Bestia,” by Spanish crooner Eddie Ganz, is a favorite among radio listeners in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, where it’s currently being played by 21 different carriers. Customs and Border Protection announced plans earlier this month to launch a million-dollar “Dangers Awareness Campaign,” aimed at warning families about the dangers encountered by unaccompanied minors who attempt to travel from Central America to the U.S.
U.S. /Germany
Germany's Choice: Will It Be America or Russia? http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/as-us-scandals-grow-germans-seek-greater-political-independence-a-979695.html - Markus Feldenkirchen, Christiane Hoffmann and René Pfister, Spiegel, de: Angela Merkel has already abandoned hope that the United States will come to its senses and rein in its intelligence agencies. During Merkel's last visit to Washington, US President Barack Obama wasn't even willing to commit to a no-spy agreement guaranteeing Germany a modicum of security. On the one hand, Germans are disappointed by the Americans and their unceasing surveillance activities. At the same time, they have demonstrated a surprising level of sympathy for the Russians and their president, Vladimir Putin, in the Ukraine crisis. This raises the fundamental question of Germany's national identity. In the long run, Germans will have to decide which side they prefer.
Why Germany feels dissed - Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times: The United States hasn't offered what Germany really wants: a "no spy" agreement that would exempt Germany from being a target. The sensible thing for Washington to do would be to impose voluntary limits on its intelligence activities against its most valuable ally in Europe, especially when they have proved so counterproductive once exposed. But the U.S. also needs to learn a larger lesson: Alliances, even long-standing ones, need careful tending. They can't be taken for granted.
U.S. Spying on Germany: Breaking the Rules for What? - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: In the world of spying in general, and especially when you’re spying on allied nations, Rule No. 1 is “Don’t Get Caught.” Rule No. 2 is “Make Sure the Juice is Worth the Squeeze.” The U.S. broke both rules, several times, in Germany.
Berlin vs. Washington: When friends spy on friends - Editorial, Los Angeles Times: Spying on a close ally is as likely to undermine as to enhance the security of the U.S. Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that Germany and the U.S. shouldn't "waste energy" spying on each other. Obama should make sure that the CIA and other intelligence agencies understand and act on that message.
Spies Like Us - Jochen Bittner, New York Times: To the Americans, intelligence gathering since 9/11 has been part of a war. Germans would never think that way. To them, intelligence services should play by the rules, as in a game of Scrabble. To the Americans, intelligence gathering since 9/11 has been part of a war. Germans would never think that way. To them, intelligence services should play by the rules, as in a game of Scrabble. Germany’s stance emerges in part from the bad experiences with intelligence services in the past, namely the Gestapo and the Stasi. On top of this comes a deeply ingrained antimilitarism, and -- not to be underestimated -- a growing anti-Americanism. When the Germans hear “C.I.A.,” they think of Latin American coups, rendition flights and covert killings. The C.I.A. needs to stop wasting time, energy and money on our intelligence people — and respect us Germans as we are. A bit reluctant at times, but generally highly reliable. As in any relationship, respect will be worth a lot more in the long run than the short-term gains of impatient snooping.
U.S. /Israel/Palestinians
The Palestinian Rocket and Propaganda Offensive - Joseph Klein, frontpagemag.com: Here is the perverse logic of the Palestinian propaganda offensive in a nutshell: Hamas and its co-jihadists can launch long-range rockets aimed indiscriminately at Israeli civilians in major population centers and try to precipitate a nuclear disaster with impunity, but when Israel strikes back selectively to take out military targets in Gaza used to launch or support the rocket firings, Israel, according to Abbas, is committing “genocide.” Not surprisingly, the Palestinians are successfully pushing this outrageous, truth-challenged narrative in their favorite venue, the United Nations.
"Paper Dome" and Israeli/US propaganda - As'ad AbuKhali, The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب: "For more on the rockets now used by Hamas and Hezbollah, Robert Siegel speaks with Ted Postol, a professor of science, technology and national security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Postol also comments on Israel's pursuit of an upgraded defense system. SIEGEL: They say it was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. How would - how successful is that system, in your view? POSTOL: We can tell, for sure, from video images and even photographs that the Iron Dome system is not working very well at all. It - my guess is maybe 5 percent of the time - could be even lower."
U.S./Iran
Religion, Sports Exchanges Bring Iranians and Americans Closer - Barbara Slavin, voanews.com: "While U.S. and Iranian negotiators labor to reach a long-term nuclear agreement, other Americans and Iranians are stepping up contacts in a new wave of people-to-people diplomacy. In recent months, three American religious delegations have visited Iran while the first group of female Iranian seminary students came to the United States. Sports exchanges are also on the rise again, spearheaded by American wrestlers who find far more numerous and passionate fans in Iran than in many countries, including the U.S."
U.S./Vietnam
Vietnam’s Overdue Alliance With America - Tuong Lai, New York Times: The key ally for Vietnam today is the United States — an alliance that the Vietnamese liberation hero Ho Chi Minh ironically always wanted. Our country must dispose of the myth of friendship with China and return to what Ho Chi Minh passionately advocated after World War II: an American-Vietnamese alliance in Asia.
U.S. Military Spending
Countries spending the most on the military - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3178426/posts - Thomas C. Frohlich and Alexander Kent, USA Today: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) measures annual military spending for most of the world's armed countries. According to SIPRI, the U.S. spent $618 billion on its military last year, more than three times the $171 billion budget of second place China. Based on SIPRI's 2013 data, these are the countries with the largest military budgets.
Hillary Clinton and Foreign Policy
Hillary Clinton’s Bizarre Critique of U.S. Foreign Policy: Is patriotic storytelling really the solution to America's international relations problem? - Peter Beinart, theatlantic.com [JB note: Per the video we watched in class]: "Tuesday night on The Daily Show, Hillary Clinton showed why she gives a great interview. When Stewart mocked the pretense that she’s not yet decided to run for president, Hillary didn’t stiffen or get flustered.She impishly played along with the gag, displaying a relaxed self-awareness rarely evident during her 2008 presidential run. On style, she was terrific. It was when the conversation turned substantive that the problems began. Near the end of the interview, Stewart asked a broad question that ended, 'What is our foreign policy anymore?' Here’s the key chunk of Hillary’s reply. [']What I found when I became secretary of state is that so many people in the world—especially young people—they had no memory of the United States liberating Europe and Asia, beating the Nazis, fighting the Cold War and winning, that was just ancient history. They didn’t know the sacrifices that we had made and the values that motivated us to do it. We have not been telling our story very well. We do have a great story. We are not perfect by any means, but we have a great story about human freedom, human rights, human opportunity, and let’s get back to telling it, to ourselves first and foremost, and believing it about ourselves and then taking that around the world. That’s what we should be standing for. ['] As a vision for America’s relations with the world, this isn’t just unconvincing. It’s downright disturbing. It’s true that young people overseas don’t remember the Cold War. But even if they did, they still wouldn’t be inspired by America’s 'great story about [promoting] human freedom, human rights, human opportunity.' That’s because in the developing world—where most of humanity lives—barely anyone believes that American foreign policy during the Cold War actually promoted those things. What they mostly remember is that in anticommunism’s name, from Pakistan to Guatemala to Iran to Congo, America funded dictators and fueled civil wars. Barack Obama has acknowledged as much. He begins the foreign policy chapter of The Audacity of Hope by discussing his boyhood home of Indonesia, a country that for much of the Cold War was ruled by a 'harshly repressive' military regime under which 'arrests and torture of dissidents were common, a free press nonexistent, elections a mere formality.' All this, Obama notes, 'was done with the knowledge, if not outright approval, of the U.S. administrations.' Hillary Clinton, by contrast, in her interview with Stewart, painted the Cold War as a glorious freedom struggle through which America inspired the globe. For Hillary, America’s current problem is that once the Cold War ended, we 'withdrew from the information arena.' As a result, across the world, a new generation no longer remembers the great things we supposedly did in the past, and America has stopped telling them about the great things we are still doing today. Her answer: 'get back to telling' the story of America’s greatness, not only to the rest of the world but 'to ourselves first and foremost.' Is America’s biggest post-Cold War foreign policy problem really that we’ve failed to adequately remind others, and ourselves, how good we are? Really? Is America’s biggest post-Cold War foreign policy problem really that we’ve failed to adequately remind others, and ourselves, how good we are?"
U.S. Diplomacy/social media
Inauthenticity and the Tweet Tweet of Digital Diplomacy - Robert Albro, USC CPD Blog: "Most often associated with Alec Ross’s stint at the State Department as Senior Advisor for Innovation, diplomacy’s rush to better leverage the advantages of social media and mobile technologies by investing in ediplomacy and PD 2.0 is no secret. On his first day as new Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs last February, Richard Stengel made his position clear: social media are 'transformational tools' and the State Department needs to move toward a 'digital-first strategy.' Ambassadors nowtweet regularly. … [A]t a moment of attempted stealth cuts to the Fulbright program, the uncritical celebration of social media hipness, embraced by practitioners as an attractive opportunity for more direct communication with public diplomacy’s critical subject populations, is puzzling. The breezy elision of social media with greater self-authenticity, in particular, advances a deeply flawed account of social media’s potential for diplomacy. Left unconsidered were the ways that social networking sites, or the next trending social app, are in no way direct forms of communication but instead technologically mediated platforms with parameters that significantly determine the possibilities for social interaction and the performative choices for self-construction. … And social media can be manipulated in non-transparent ways. Examples abound. … Meanwhile, the State Department’s Digital Outreach Team does not simply debate America’s critics on Twitter, but also hijacks hashtags and spoofs propaganda videos. Lines between hacking, trolling, and debating get fuzzy. … Social media effectively amplifies propagandistic reportage of contentious events and conceals ulterior motives because there is typically little context accompanying content, but also because the particular source behind a given cybercampaign is not immediately identifiable. ... We are better off, as the anthropologist Daniel Miller has put it, remaining attentive to the ways in which 'authenticity is created out of fakery' in social media." Image from entry; see also John Brown, "Twittering; or, Where are the Emily Dickinsons at the State Department?" (Huffington Post, 2009) and "Remember When Social Media Was the Solution to All Our Global Problems?" (Huffington Post, 2014)
USG Non-Military International Broadcasting
A propaganda-free Voice of America: Congress must prevent U.S. tax dollars from helping America’s enemies - Ted Lipien, washingtontimes.com: "A bipartisan bill in Congress, the U.S. International Broadcasting Reform Act of 2014 (H.R. 4490), is designed to return VOA and the rest of U.S. government international broadcasting to its core foundation. The bipartisan reform legislation should be enacted by the Congress and signed by the president. ... I do not believe Congress wants U.S. propaganda. That would be completely counterproductive. ... As someone who had worked at VOA as a journalist when it was part of the old U.S. Information Agency, I do not see H.R. 4490 proposing a link between VOA and public diplomacy that would be anywhere as strong as it was then. Still, I would make minor changes in the bill’s text and include in full the VOA Charter, which guarantees news independence, but also gives VOA its Washington and America news beat that Congress wants. ... VOA and Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty have completely different missions and do not belong together. Merging them under centralized management will not save money. H.R. 4490 offers the best solution in making surrogate broadcasters independent from the dysfunctional International Broadcasting Bureau bureaucracy."
Voice of America accuses Ukraine of inflaming rhetoric over downing of Malaysian airliner - BBG Watcher, BBG Watch: "VOICE OF AMERICA NEWS: 'Ukrainian officials have further inflamed the rhetoric over the downing of the Malaysian airliner, claiming that a Russian crew was operating the anti-aircraft system that was allegedly used.' With editorial direction and oversight almost nonexistent these days at the mismanaged Voice of America, more and more often some VOA news reports sound like pro-Kremlin editorials. The latest example of such inappropriate editorializing by Voice of America in its news reporting — which by the way almost always favors the Kremlin and its propaganda line — was noted by World Media Watch. U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America has accused Ukrainian government officials of inflaming the rhetoric over the downing of the Malaysian airliner. The VOA editorial comment would make a perfect headline for Russia’s RT or Voice of Russia. These Putin’s propaganda media outlets would be foolish not to report that even U.S. government-funded Voice of America believes that Ukraine officials in Kyiv are guilty of inflaming the rhetoric over the downing of the Malaysian airliner with presumably false accusations.
Joe Bruns on radio and new media at BBG and at VOA under USIA - BBG Watcher, bbgwatch: "IBB bureaucrats like to refer to anyone who supports radio as 'traditionalists' and to radio as 'legacy medium.' They have often implied that supporters of radio are against new media. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the following commentary from Joe Bruns clearly shows. Supporters of radio are some of the strongest advocates of new media because they know that serious radio journalism provides some of the best online news content. We would add just one point to Mr. Bruns’s excellent arguments. IBB claims that the latest shortwave cuts will save about $1.6 million. $1.6 million is nothing compared to the multimillion dollar cost of the nearly 40% growth in IBB bureaucratic positions in the last several years while numerous broadcasts and journalistic positions were also cut. Millions of dollars were spent by IBB on developing new media, which is essentially free and where success or failure are determined largely by the quality of content. VOA English News Twitter has now nearly ten times fewer Followers as the U.S. State Department Twitter account and is even behind UN Peacekeeping in the number of Twitter Followers. But the most disturbing fact is that this large and constantly growing bureaucracy is cutting a lifeline to the most vulnerable individuals and groups: the poorest, the most oppressed and the most fearful — those who have no other means of getting uncensored news and information. IBB is taking $1.6 million from these groups rather than from its overblown budget and personnel. Radio audiences in countries without free media should be the last places for making cuts."
House Foreign Affairs Chairman: Overhaul Pro-Freedom Broadcasting -
John Gizzi, newsmax.com: "House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce has called for a complete overhaul of the U.S. government agency that oversees civilian broadcasting abroad, saying the current Broadcasting Board of Governors is effectively 'defunct' and 'real change' is needed to send American voices of freedom to people who aren't as free. 'We need an overhaul of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and a complete reinvigoration of Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and the Voice of America,' the California Republican said. 'Real change is needed to offset the propaganda in Russia and the Middle East.' At a media breakfast on Friday hosted by The Christian Science Monitor, Royce specifically criticized the 'the part-time Board of Governors, which very often cannot find a quorum.' He called for replacing the current structure of three disparate broadcasting bodies by combining them into 'a single institute.' 'It would be put under a CEO and have an advisory panel, and operate like the NED,' he said, referring to the National Endowment for Democracy, the umbrella agency that oversees the four core pro-democracy nongovernmental organizations. But Royce strongly emphasized that the message of the streamlined broadcasting agency must also be overhauled. He urged that it should communicate the same things as it did during the Cold War. The Californian pointed out that 'friendly voices' and messages of freedom were heard from U.S. broadcasts under his political hero Ronald Reagan. A younger Royce worked as executive director of Reagan's youth campaign in the California primary during Reagan's 1976 challenge to President Gerald Ford. 'Radio Free Liberty and Radio Free Europe helped instruct a generation of young Germans and helped shape' the present free Germany, he said, noting that many Germans have said the positive messages they heard on those broadcasts were light years removed 'from the bombastic rhetoric of [Communist] East Germany.' Recalling a decision made by Radio Liberty not to broadcast into what was then Yugoslavia, Royce said that years after that country dissolved into civil war and broke up into several states, he met a young man from the former Yugoslav state of Croatia. 'He told me all he had to listen to was hate radio from the Serbs [who forged the present nation of Serbia], hate radio from Bosnia-Herzegovina [now an independent state], and his own peoples' hate radio.' The Croatian contrasted those broadcasts, Royce said, with broadcasts under U.S. aegis by Czechoslovakian anti-Communist leader Vaclav Havel, and told him, 'If only we heard what I heard, we would not have had the loss of life we did.' Royce noted that in a polar opposite situation to the bloodshed that swept former Yugoslav states in the 1990s, 'Czechoslovakia became independent and then peacefully divided itself into the Czech Republic and Slovakia without a shot being fired.'"
A historical perspective on H.R. 4490 debate — propaganda — public diplomacy — VOA Charter - bbgwatch.com: "It is important to note for historical background and as a contribution to the current debate over H.R. 4490 that Voice of America operated in its early years under the direction of the State Department and later was part of the United States Information Agency (USIA) which was a public diplomacy arm of the State Department. ... [I]t is inaccurate to claim that VOA was never connected in some way with U.S. public diplomacy. ... We are again not saying that VOA should be in the U.S.public diplomacy business, but it should at least stop advancing other countries’ public diplomacy and start observing its charter. The result of mismanagement at IBB and VOA is sometimes propaganda in favor of the Kremlin, such as VOA posting a map showing Crimea being part of Russia or VOA reporting without any questions asked on pro-Kremlin propaganda results of a faulty poll ordered in Russia-occupied Crimea by International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) executives who also promoted these misleading survey results. Almost all critics of H.R. 4490
with regard to the bill’s wording about VOA’s mission also recognize the urgent need of management reform at the BBG and the Voice of America. The VOA Charter represents the right compromise, under which VOA can maintain its news reporting independence while still giving U.S. taxpayers and foreign audiences something extra about the United States. It need not to be public diplomacy and it certainly should not be propaganda. But a return to the VOA Charter is absolutely necessary, as are management reforms to reverse VOA’s decline as a news and broadcasting organization." On H.R. 4490, see.
Peace Corps
Peace Corps announces major changes to application process - T. Rees Shapiro. Washington Post: The Peace Corps, formed more than 50 years ago to send Americans abroad to perform good works, is in the midst of its most serious challenge, with the number of applicants falling rapidly, leaving the volunteer force at its lowest level in more than a decade. Recognizing that the organization envisioned by President John F. Kennedy could be endangered, its leaders are scheduled to announce Tuesday a series of steps to make it more attractive, including allowing candidates to choose the country where they want to serve, shortening the year-long application period, and recruiting more minorities and young people. “The Peace Corps is a great brand, but we really needed to bring it into the 21st century,” Carrie Hessler-Radelet, director of the organization, said ahead of the announcement. “This is the most extensive reform effort our agency has ever undertaken.”
Israel/Palestinians
Gaza in the First Person - R.S. Zaharna, uscpublicdiplomacy.org: "While much of the world sees Gaza in the third person -- a place peopled by 'them' – I see Gaza in the first person. It’s home. It’s my grandmother. It’s my room upstairs with the kitchen downstairs. ... When I hear Israeli military officials insist the rockets must stop, I agree. In the 21st century, such continued violence is unconscionable. The deliberate killing of youth is unspeakable. When I hear the Israeli vow to stop the rockets 'once and for all,' my heart skips a beat. In the conflict between the intimately intertwined Israelis and Palestinians, the fate of one is the fate of the other. When we begin to ponder humane resolutions of that conflict and recognize how inexorably entwined our fates are, we might understand better why military solutions are neither effective nor enduring in ending that shared suffering. But that shift requires moving from us-versus-them to just us. That goal may seem elusive at the moment, but it is what compelled me to study communication and keeps me wedded to the ideals of public diplomacy."
Masa Participants from Around the World Join Online Public Diplomacy Effort - theyeshivaworld.com: "Masa Israel Journey and the National Information Directorate within the Prime Minister’s Office have launched a joint effort to raise awareness of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in both traditional and new media. The goal of the effort is to show that Israeli civilians are under attack from Hamas in Gaza and explain to the world that Israel embarked on a defensive operation under the banner, 'Israel Under Fire.' Volunteers from several Masa programs have contributed their time out of a desire to show the world what is really happening in Israel and out of a sense of attachment to the country. The volunteers are helping translate materials into their native tongues, adapt the messaging to their specific national audiences, and contribute their own unique perspectives based on their experiences in Israel. They post on Facebook and Twitter, respond to falsehoods, expose Hamas lies, share explanatory YouTube videos, and attempt both raise awareness and challenge the discourse on social media."
Is an Israeli Official Spreading Propaganda on Tinder? - Eli Clifton, thenation.com: “'Operation Protective Edge,' Israel’s self-named “defensive” operation in Gaza, is killing a lot of Palestinians in response to rocket fire from Gaza. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza puts the latest casualty toll at 174 killed Palestinians and over 1,100 wounded. The UNRWA commissioner general in Gaza told The New York Times, 'Women and children make up a sizable number of victims of the current strikes.' As of yet, no Israelis have been killed during the latest Gaza offensive. One hundred and seventy-four to zero is a tough ratio to explain. Especially for an operation that Israel claims is being taken in self-defense against terrorists in Gaza. But the Israeli Prime Minister’s office may have found an answer to this minor public-diplomacy challenge: Tinder, a popular online smartphone dating/hookup app. A friend who uses Tinder logged on yesterday and was swiping through profiles when he came upon 'Israel,' age '34' (?!). Israel said it (he? she?) was five miles away, but seemed to have one thing on its mind: sharing images justifying Israel’s bombing campaign of Gaza. ... One of the images advises viewers to visit #IsraelUnderFire, a Facebook site full of Israeli Defense Forces meme-style images. Several of the images on the Tinder profile had been posted on #IsraelUnderFire. The administrator for the page is Yair Eddie Fraiman, 'Director of Interactive Media and Public Diplomacy at Office of the Prime Minister of Israel,' according to his LinkedIn profile. Fraiman hasn’t responded to a request for comment (I’ll update this post if he does)."
Young Israelis Fight Hashtag Battle to Defend #IsraelUnderFire - Robert Mackey, New York Times: Confronted with an outpouring of sympathy on social networks for Palestinians killed or wounded in Gaza in an eight-day military confrontation, a group of young Israelis is pushing back, using the hashtag #IsraelUnderFire to rally support for what they say is an unavoidable, defensive war provoked by rocket fire from Islamist militants. As The Jerusalem Post reports, the effort to make Israel’s case is being spearheaded by 400 college students posting comments, memes, video clips, images and explanatory graphics on Facebook and Twitter from dozens of computers in a 'Hasbara war room' at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. Hasbara, a Hebrew euphemism for propaganda, literally means 'explanation,' and the organizers of the campaign promise to equip like-minded volunteers who visit their website, Israel Under Fire, with 'everything you need in order to properly inform about and advocate for Israel,' in 19 languages."
Israel and Hamas clash on social media: As in the field, Israel deploys superior strength and resources as both sides attack each other on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube - Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian: In recent years Israel has recruited hundreds of students to assist in its hasbara, or public diplomacy campaign. These individuals – some of whom are paid – act openly and covertly, many engaging in below-the-line online discussion threads to promote Israel's interests.
Israel's media strategy: What lies beneath - Marwan Bishara, uk.news.yahoo.com: "Do you wonder why official Israeli spokespersons sound so calm, smiley and kind when their popular base sounds so angry, so aggressive, and so racist? How they are likely to say something like, ‘thank you it's nice to be with you’, even after being grilled by a probing frustrated anchor. Why, when asked about the expansion of illegal settlements, Israeli spokespersons speak of the need for a peace settlement, and when asked about bombing civilians, they speak of a better future for all children, Israeli and Palestinian? Wonder no more. This is all part of a well-thought, well-orchestrated media strategy to mystify, mislead and even misrepresent the reality. And much of it can be found in The Israel Project's 2009 Global Language Dictionary. … ... Chapter six of the 18-chapter, 117-page guide focuses on the lessons from the last Gaza war and proposes a more effective public diplomacy for the next time around, i.e. this round. One of the first recommendations goes as follows: 'Israel made painful sacrifices and took a risk to give peace a chance. They voluntarily removed over 9,000 settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, abandoning homes, schools, businesses, and places of worship in the hopes of renewing the peace process.' And 'Despite making an overture for peace by withdrawing from Gaza, Israel continues to face terrorist attacks, including rocket attacks and drive-by shootings of innocent Israelis. Israel knows that for a lasting peace, they must be free from terrorism and live with defensible borders.' Needless to say, much of the formulation is misleading. Most of the illegal settlers had already moved out because of mounting Palestinian resistance, pushing Israel to finally redeploy its military without any coordination with the Palestinian Authority. The decision was motivated by the need to disengage demographically from 1.5 million impoverished Palestinians and was based on cost-benefit analysis, not peace strategy. All of which partially explains why Israel has being laying siege to Gaza and reckons it has the right to intervene militarily at will ever since. At any rate, the guide suggests that defenders and promoters of Israel's war need to use the kind of language that 'may be hard for some of you to say, but every result of research confirms that an approach like this is the best way for an Israeli spokesperson to truly be heard and therefore make a difference'. ... The guide advises the pro-Israel camps to 'use rhetorical questions to gain permission from the audience for Israel's actions'. For example: 'What should Israel do? Imagine, if thousands of rockets were fired into your community every day and every night? What would your country do? What would you want them to do? Don't we have a duty to protect our citizens?'"
IDC fights war on another front: Student Union opens ‘hasbara’ room in effort to fillpublic diplomacy vacuum - Lidar Gravé-Lazi, jpost.com: "As Israel’s security forces remain embroiled in the ongoing conflict with Hamas along the country’s southern border, students at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (IDC) are engaged on another equally important front: hasbara or public diplomacy. The Student Union at the IDC opened a 'Hasbara Room' on Thursday – the first day of Operation Protective Edge – with the purpose of providing factual information about the situation on the ground to people around the world, as well as countering the misinformation and lies being disseminated on social media sites. 'Israel is not very strong at hasbara, while Hamas and the Palestinians are very good at spreading the word in the media,' said volunteer coordinator Karen Yoseph, a 27-year-old masters student at the IDC. 'We are trying to combat that and we are trying to expose that a lot of times Hamas is lying.' ... According to Yoseph, since the launch of Operation Protective Edge some 400 people have volunteered in the hasbara room and hundreds more have offered their assistance and support. Currently their operations encompass activities in 31 languages in 62 countries and have so far garnered some 6,000 followers on Twitter and some 55,000 likes on Facebook. They have also opened a dedicated website available in 13 languages, with informative texts, videos, pictures, and testimonials – www.Israelunderfire.com. ... One of the challenges facing Israeli hasbara has been the constant stream of fake photos and images of dying and oppressed children – many of which are old pictures from the conflict in Syria being misrepresented by Hamas and others. Some are even pictures straight out of Hollywood films. ... Asked whether hasbara is making a difference, Yaffe said he believes that public opinion is more on Israel’s side than in any previous operation, while De Benedetti [Emanuele De Benedetti, a 21-year-old undergraduate at the IDC from Rome] replied that he hadn’t been convinced, at least not until recently."
Israel student union sets up “war room” to sell Gaza massacre on Facebook - Ali Abunimah, electronicintifada.net: "As the death toll from Israel’s savage bombardment of Gaza continues to climb, Israel has once again turned to students to sell the slaughter online. Although they haven’t been called up to the army yet, they’ve decided to enlist in a civilian mission that is no less important – Israeli propaganda [hasbara],’Ynet’s Hebrew edition reported about a massive initiative organized by the Israeli student union branch at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC Herzliya), a prestigious private university. ‘Hasbara,’ literally ‘explaining,’ is the term used in Israel for government propaganda aimed at overseas audiences. ‘The goal is to deliver a very clear message to people abroad – Israel has the right to defend itself,’ Lidor Bar David told Ynet. Bar David, a student, and one of the organizers of the ‘war room,’ adds, ‘We want people abroad who don’t know our reality to understand exactly what is going on here.’ … Last year a ‘covert’ Israeli government initiative came to light which planned to pay students for spreading propaganda online. ‘The whole point of such efforts is to look like they are unofficial, just every day people chatting online,’ Israel expert Dena Shunra told The Electronic Intifada. ‘But in fact, these are campaigns of organized lying, orchestrated with government-approved talking points and crowdsourced volunteers and stipend recipients,’ Shunra added. According to Ynet, ‘The war room was opened in the afternoon of the first day of Operation Protective Edge,’ one week ago, by the IDC Herzliya student union, and currently has more than 400 volunteers active in it, all students at the institution. See also.
Hamas propaganda programme targets Israelis and Palestinians: Inspired by Hezbollah, Hamas is waging propaganda warfare and seeking to prepare ground for myth of victory- Sara Hussein, Middle East Online: "The music video opens with Palestinian Hamas fighters in fatigues building, transporting and then firing rockets at Israel -- but the triumphant lyrics are being sung in Hebrew, not Arabic. 'We prepare a generation of warriors who cling to death like the enemy clings to life,' the words run, with Arabic subtitles. 'A (nation) state of weakness and illusion can't hold out during wars,' it continues, referring to Israel. 'They fall apart like spider webs when they meet knights.' The five-minute video is part of a slick propaganda programme designed by Hamas and its armed Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades wing. It can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiUWgWjL24U&feature=youtu.be. The programme is intended both to rally divided domestic Palestinian opinion behind the group during its current conflict with Israel, but also to address the Israeli public directly. The music video, entitled 'Shake Israel's Security,' is a Hebrew remake of a song that the group released in Arabic in 2012, during its last conflict with Israel. It appears to be the first time that Hamas has released a song in Hebrew, but it builds on a broader strategy of delivering its own message to Israelis. ... The message is a mixture of threats intended to create fear, and attempts to turn Israelis against their government. It also mirrors Israel's media operations, which include military spokesperson Twitter accounts in multiple languages -- including Arabic, and video footage intended to illustrate the 'targeted' nature of air strikes. The Israeli army even distributed lollipops in part of the West Bank recently, offering 'a little sweetness' to counteract the 'bitterness Hamas has brought to your lives'."
Gaza: Turkey increases aid to Strip through Israeli crossing - ansamaed.info: "Turkish agencies have been flowing aid into Gaza worth a total of USD 2.5 million and most of the assistance is based on local procurement, daily Hurriyet online reported quoting a Turkish official as saying. The rest of the Turkish humanitarian assistance, food and medical treatment provided from Turkey, has been delivered into Gaza through Israeli crossings in line with the earlier practices between the two countries, the official added. The Israeli Embassy in Ankara contacted the Turkish authorities late July 11 and offered assistance with the coordination of delivering aid to the Gaza Strip, according to embassy officials. The Turkish Foreign Ministry received the offer, but has initiated further cooperation with the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Ankara considered the Israeli embassy's initiative as part of their public diplomacy efforts because the delivery of Turkey's humanitarian assistance is already provided in coordination with the Israeli army, which controls the border crossings, and the Palestinian Authority director of border crossings."
Public diplomacy a central front of ongoing military operation - Lahav Harkov, jpost.com: "The Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry have been hard at work spreading Israel’s message in Operation Protective Edge for the last week in an effort that is mostly paying off, experts on public diplomacy in and out of the government said Sunday. 'We see [public diplomacy] as a war front like any other,' Foreign Ministry Deputy Director-General for Communications and Public Diplomacy Arthur Koll explained. 'It’s a different kind of warfare, not one where missiles are flying or gunshots, but there is great importance to words, feelings and the sympathies people develop. It’s important to our national security. In this operation, it’s a central arena.' National Information Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry, together with the IDF Spokesman, work together to explain Israel’s side of the story, coordinating messages and talking points. Director of the National Information Directorate Yarden Vatikai explained he has representatives in meetings at the highest levels so public diplomacy goals match the decisions made in the security cabinet. On traditional media, Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Mark Regev, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor and the IDF Spokesman gave television, radio and print interviews. At the same time, Israel’s 102 ambassadors and consuls gave interviews to the media in the countries in which they are stationed. Cabinet ministers are also briefed so they can relay Israel’s message in a manner consistent to how it is being given around the world. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also appeared on traditional media in the US, talking to Face the Nation on CBS, Fox News Sunday, and State of the Union on CNN. 'The prime minister invests in public diplomacy and deals with it all the time,' Vatikai said. 'Netanyahu and the Security Cabinet are currently dealing with four fronts: Military, diplomatic, the home front and public diplomacy.' The Foreign Ministry has websites in five languages and websites for each of