[ministe van agitatie]

We worden hier verondersteld om geen beelden te plaatsen die de realiteit in Gaza zichtbaar maken. Het zou mensen onnodig kunnen shockeren.

Ik ben het daar niet mee eens: het is namelijk onmogelijk om in deze kwestie mensen 'onnodig' te shockeren. Het omgekeerde is waar: het is dringend nodig om mensen te shockeren. En dat lukt niet altijd met woorden.

De kwestie gaat nog een stap verder. Het Israëlisch 'Public Information Directorate' stelt dat het de 'War of the Words' in de media aan het winnen is door het planten en herhalen van sleutelbegrippen in de wereldpers en door het gebruik van moderne propagandamethodes. Die moeten zorgen voor een consensus in de publieke opinie die niet in vraag gesteld kan worden.

Ze geven echter ook expliciet toe dat ze, als het op beelden aankomt, de strijd niet kunnen winnen, omdat de beelden voor zich spreken.

Het is ook daarom dat het Israëlisch leger geen journalisten tot Gaza toelaat, ook al verplicht het Israëlisch Hooggerechtshof hen daartoe. Ze lappen gewoon de wet aan hun laars. Zoals ze dat met internationale wetten ook doen, trouwens.

Het is dus onze verantwoordelijkheid om ervoor te zorgen dat zoveel mogelijk mensen de weinige beelden die uit Gaza komen, toch te zien krijgen.

Vandaar de suggestie om hier de links te plaatsen. Zoveel mogelijk links naar zoveel mogelijk foto's van zoveel mogelijk slachtoffers.

Over de manier waarop Israël ons tracht te hersenspoelen, nog een interessante analyse uit The Guardian:

The hasbara brigade strikes again! You always hear about Israeli attempts at media manipulation. Everyone knows it's going on but usually the process happens through cyber insurgents like those involved with Giyus (and its media monitoring software, Megaphone). Now, we know that the Israeli foreign ministry itself is orchestrating propaganda efforts designed to flood news websites with pro-Israel arguments and information.

A reader of my blog has received the following email which documents both the efforts and the agency that originated them. The solicitation to become a pro-Israel "media volunteer" also includes a list of media links which the ministry would like addressed by pro-Israel comments:

Dear friends,

We hold the [sic] military supremacy, yet fail the battle over the international media. We need to buy time for the IDF to succeed, and the least we can do is spare some (additional) minutes on the net. The ministry of foreign affairs is putting great efforts in balancing the media, but we all know it's a battle of numbers. The more we post, blog, talkback, vote – the more likely we gain positive sentiment.

I was asked by the ministry of foreign affairs to arrange a network of volunteers, who are willing to contribute to this effort. If you're up to it you will receive a daily messages & media package as well as targets.

If you wish to participate, please respond to this email.


My friend did so and received this official communique from the ministry with talking points about Operation Cast Lead which s/he was to use in her/his propaganda efforts. Among the links was was a Peter Beaumont Cif piece. The following were identified as "target sites": the Times, the Guardian, Sky News, BBC, Yahoo!News, Huffington Post, and the Dutch Telegraaf. Also targeted were other media sites in Dutch, Spanish, German and French considered critical of the invasion.

Locally, here in Seattle, peace activists held a rally at our federal building attended by 500 protesters. In the foreign ministry communique issued the next day, activists were directed to comment in the Seattle Post Intelligencer's article about the demonstration. The comment thread for the article is riddled with clear hasbara "plants" who distort the balance and tone of the discussion with their programmed arguments, making it much more favorable than it otherwise would be.

Here the foreign ministry's coordinator describes a meeting he attended at the government's offical office:

Hi all,

I had a meeting in the ministry of foreign affairs today, and was very happy to hear that their metrics show that Israel's position in the internet is getting better every day. It means that you're doing a good job! MFA are concerned with the biased public opinion in Europe. So please focus your efforts on European media.

What can you do to help?

- Identify internet battle-grounds in different languages, and let me know
- Comment/post/vote in the listed links and others; you can use the material attached below
- Write letters to authors and editors. Identify yourself as a local resident
- Have your friends join this activity


This message was meant to encourage the pro-Israel activists in their work:

World governments are still patient with Israel's justified operation in Gaza. The [sic] public opinion, on the other hand, is impatient, to say the least. This gap will soon close – it always does.

It is our goal to shift the public opinion, as conveyed in the internet; avoiding, or at least minimising, sanctions by world leaders. We need to buy the IDF enough time to achieve its goals.


Besides the talking points provided by the foreign ministry to the pro-Israel web activists, they are offered online pro-Israel material to link to in their comments ...

En ook het volgende is interessant, want het is een strategie die we ook op politics.be terugvinden: 'vreemdelingen' die pas geregistreerd zijn en die telkens dezelfde of gelijkaardige vier, vijf volzinnen neerpoten met alle vooroordelen en propaganda die Israël graag verspreid wil zien, zonder te argumenteren, zonder bronnen, zonder achtergrond, zonder meer.:

...

How effective can it be and how many can be convinced? By the way, I've even noticed the hasbaraniks in my own blog. You can see them a mile away because they've never published a comment before yet write something like: "I've enjoyed your blog for a long time, but anyone with a brain in their head knows that Hamas is out to destroy Israel blah, blah blah." Pretty formulaic stuff. Also, you can Google a few phrases of the comment and if you find it appears elsewhere on the web you know you either have a hasbaranik or someone who has repetition compulsion.

de rest staat hier