Many people who are informed about what's actually happening in the Middle East constantly wonder why Israel fares so badly in the information wars. The following example gives us a pretty good idea why.
Jawaher Abu Rahmah, a 'Palestinian' activist, died on January 1st. Saeb Erekat, the right fork of Yasser Arafat's tongue, claimed that she died during a demonstration in the 'Palestinian' town of Bil'in, killed by "poison" contained in tear gas fired at the demonstration by Israeli soldiers after it deteriorated into what could best be termed a riot.
'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas called Abu Rahmah's death a "new Israeli crime carried out by the occupation army against our helpless nation."
She was given a martyr's funeral as a victim an Israeli "war crime", with crowds of mourners and the usual Palestinian stringers who work for the dinosaur media in attendance.
The story was almost instantaneously reported around the world as fact by the AFP, the Guardian, The AP, The Independent, UPI, Voice of America, and even the Jewish Telegraphic Agency among others, while TIME's resident Israel basher Tony Karon got off a piece celebrating this as the occasion of an alliance between 'Palestinian' activists and Israeli Leftists.
The real story? According to the IDF, there's no evidence Abu Rahmah was even at the Bil'in demonstration, nor does she show up on any of the videos. There's no evidence that she died from inhaling tear gas ( if it was in fact 'poisonous' why weren't there other deaths?) and the death certificate shows the cause of death as "Inhaling gas of an Israeli soldier according to the family."
This is an indication that no doctor actually examined Abu Rahmah, but that the death certificate was simply filled out by a nurse or orderly. And the accounts of her actual health are contradictory.
Was Abu Ramah the victim of an honor killing exploited by the PA? It certainly wouldn't be the first Pallywood production we've seen.
And really, none of the facts matter at this point.
Run with me for a second.Let's say that evidence surfaces that Abu Ramah was never at the demo, and that this was an honor killing rather than death by teargas. What changes?
By the time the truth comes out, the Palestinian propaganda machine and their allies have already publicized their version, it's gone around the world and the media has already gone on to the next story. The Muslim world will certainly never hear the truth, Israel's enemies in the West will simply take the Pal version as factual and the media circus has moved on
And that's the core of the problem.
Jews culturally are geared toward parsing facts and evidence, which is one reason so many of them are attracted to the legal profession. Anyone studying the Talmud or Gemara (commentaries on Jewish Law as given in the Torah)essentially receives a legal education in miniature.
But what happens when you're up against people that care nothing for facts and everything about impact and propaganda? What happens when you fight an information war against people who care nothing for the truth and merely want to consume your flesh?
In today's media climate, you're left foundering trying to decipher the facts while the other side has already made its impact.
This is the sort of thing that happens when you play defense instead of offense..the other side controls the game and you're limited to reacting.
That's why Israel has been losing the information war.
Israel would be far better off going on offense by publicizing the Palestinian Authority's inherent corruption, the status of women and homosexuals, its official endorsements of terrorism against Israel's civilians, and its refusal to make a single concession in any negotiations
As for Abu Ramah, instead of reacting to the 'Palestinian' narrative with frantic attempts to dredge up facts, Israel would get a lot further by going for impact and simply calling out Erekat and Abbas for lying, challenging them to prove Abu Ramah was there and that the IDF killed her, and reminding the world of all the other fairy tales the Palestinians have spun over the years.
Cross posted at American Thinker and Big Journalism.
3 comments:
In as much as this is about media bias, I see a strong connection to the issue of Palin bashing I mentioned below. Facts apparently aren't important to the media anymore, the conclusion is important. I think Dan Rather proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt. You are quite correct in your analysis, and Israel must do a better job waging a propaganda war. But I am not holding my breath...
The lies of the Pals are not information and therefore it is not
an "information" war.
It is a war on airtime and media exposure and the answer must be planned attacks on topics that they were not expecting [with real information]
Oh I agree entirely anonymous. As I said in the article, offense, not defense.
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