[iwar] Israel PR 'an operational failure'

From: televr (yangyun@metacrawler.com)
Date: 2002-04-01 10:08:07
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Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 18:08:07 -0000
Subject: [iwar] Israel PR 'an operational failure'
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      "Arafat's isolation does not promote military goals; it 
       promotes the goal of his isolation," opined Channel
       One's military analyst, Ron Ben-Yishai. 

The vapid comment demonstrates the fog that envelopes Israel's policy,
a military operation which in recent days has produced a public
relations failure and caused serious damage to Israel. 

The Israel Defense Forces chief of staff has branded this image
mess-up "an operational failure."

The death of Britain's Queen Mother at the stately age of 101 relieved
some pressure that has been exerted against Israel on Britain's
television news reports. But this interlude was brief, and limited to
Britain.

The attitude toward terror in the world media does not resemble what
Israeli commentators predicted after the September 11 attacks in the
U.S. Yasser Arafat has proven that it's all a matter of image. There
are satanic terrorists (e.g. bin-Laden), and there are "terrorists who
are under siege" (that is, woebegone, persecuted terrorists), as one
of the CNN broadcasts put it. Faced with such coverage, it is doubtful
that the IDF has a chance of vanquishing terror.

CNN's man in Ramallah, Michael Holmes, has a bullet-proof vest and a
helmet, and he loves to be photographed in this gear, with his hair
being blown by the wind.

Yesterday he had "an extraordinary experience" in Ramallah's compound;
and he described it in great dramatic details to the news presenter in
the CNN studio, one of the network's staff members whose
unpronounceable name adds to CNN's global chic - and who appears not
to have the slightest clue as to what's going on in the Middle East.

Together with the 23 "peace activists," the CNN correspondent managed
to navigate his way into the PA Chairman's office, without, he
boasted, being deterred by the IDF's warning shots. The interview
which he conducted with Arafat was a sheer public relations job. It
was outright propaganda, with the selfsame "peace activists" being
rewarded with warm kisses on the forehead from the PA chairman, whose
woes Holmes finds to be so stirring.

Arafat can be interviewed, as CNN's Christiane Amanpour demonstrated;
but it is also possible to send adventurous tourists like Holmes
around the world, people who got into the media business mainly for
the adrenaline rush, and who get their kicks by waving white rags in
front of soldiers' rifles and then telling the world about it.

Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem: "Terror! Terror! More terror!" exclaimed
the prime minister, as he angrily slammed his fist to the desk, in a
staged gesture so contrived that it was ridiculous. Addresses to the
nation are not Sharon's forte, and his performance yesterday was
particularly wretched. "Terror! Terror! More terror!" He wants to come
across as an authoritative leader, but looks like an angry stuffed
bear. "Don't show me that," he growled, responding to a clip broadcast
by accident by Channel Two shortly before his speech. "Get that off"
the screen, he said. He came across as a pathetically confused and
pressured figure in this moment.

Troubled and neurotic, he had his text memorized, and recited it while
keeping his hands perched in a labored gesture of composure. The
atmosphere was dreadful. To express pity for the performance would be
futile. The hour awaited a speech, and instead it received a telegram
from hell. For when Sharon addresses the nation he doesn't see it;
instead his eyes focus on television cameras, which he loathes. After
the speech, when he waited anxiously and impatiently for the broadcast
to end, he threw a suspicious grimace at the camera, as though he
wanted to say "stop looking at me like that."

That's probably not how he wanted the performance to end, but Sharon
is a politician who doesn't know how to lead via television. In the
television age, this fact means that communications between the leader
and the people are pre-programmed for frequent misunderstandings.
By Roger Alpher, h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m , Apr 1 2002



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