People around the world are smart enough to understand no matter what language even sign one as long as you tell the truth which is really hard for any israeli

...would gladly participate in the media war if given a chance. Many are ideologically committed, intelligent, educated, articulate, and would certainly give good interviews if given the chance to join Israel's "hasabara" program or if they are actively recruited. We are not exploiting one of Israel's greatest resources, namely anglo immigrants, professionals, and academics. Just as Israelis gladly point out that anglo immigrants often sound problematic on Israeli TV, Israelis must also recongnize that most Israeli representatives sound equally unimpressive on interntational TV owing to some of the problems indicated in the article (e.g., accent, vocabularly, and generally bad grammar, etc...), notwithstanding Bibi of course.

Exactly what I have been saying is the problem with our leadership here, they cannot speak English well and come across badly on Western Media. The only politicians that speak English well are BIBI and the former speaker for Sharon Mr Gissam I think is his name, the rest of them are lacking and it is embarrassing,yes Shimon Perez gets his words across well too, but the rest of them make themselves sound bad and it turns the American,british people turn away and not listen that is why we are losing the PR WAR and the Palest. are winning it because they understand the need for their representatives to speak fluent English at mother tounge level. I am suprised that with all the native English speakers resideing here in Israel that the gov, has not asked for our help in this time of need,we may not be politicians but we can certainly get the word out!

On the presumption that "Glasgow' means Scotland UK I would dare to say that the vast majority of the residents of this city are not qualified to pass judgement on the correctness of English grammar,the quality of the chosen word or the eloquence of the speaker.

For years we have lost the PR front because we are not articulate in English, we rely too much on broken Americanese and this shows up markedly when our people speak.

is always difficult and has limited success, if any. As you mentioned, there are eloquent and intelligent English-speaking Jews abroad who could make a difference, but most of them don't want to or simply can't promote a bad product. And while the English of Israeli politicians is not the best, one can hardly say that Arab politicians have better English. So it would be better to improve the product that is being marketed. When you're trying to justify the killing of hundreds of innocent people in order to save the lives of a few, you have already lost at the start. Maybe it wasn't always so but today's world climate doesn't have much understanding for the use of deadly force and that's why you should be more willing to solve your problems with the Arabs in non-violent ways.

Here in Israel we have a number of very fluent English speakers, who are well read, comfortable in front of a camera, able to write and speak coherently, and they are waging a PR of their very own, without the government. The people in the high tech area of social media in Israel fit the bill, and they are organized in the way that social media people do, through social media. Check out http://helpuswin.wordpress.org or look for people within 100 miles of gaza on twitter http://search.twitter.com/search?q=+near%3Agaza+within%3A100mi

First, I must get it off my chest that the last time I heard the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. all I heard was "Uhhhhh, mblgntz uhhhhh flgrnat gandulr uhhhhh..." If you included Jeff Dunham as advisor, Walter would be an infinitely preferable replacement. Or even a telephone answering device with a benign message. Instead of making the American ambassador a political repayment, replace him with Dan Gillerman. There's no place Bibi can do more good for Israel than carrying our message to American TV. The article is on the right track and I commend him. There are, however, implacable barriers embedded in our society and the IDF. Until these barriers are uprooted and removed, progress will be insignificant and success will remain unattainable. I turned down a position in the Tzah"l dealing with foreign dignitaries in English because the IDF doesn't even respect the position enough to make them an officer. It isn't me who suffered as a result. Americans don't (nor probably any other civilized country) disrespect foreign dignitaries by assigning privates to escort them. That implies the dignitary isn't worthy of an officer escort. No intelligent person volunteers for failure guaranteed by an intellectually (or culturally) blind leadership. This is only one example of a myriad of similar shortcomings that preclude our success. I could video-interview victims and put it on YouTube, but how do I find English-speaking victims without driving there first, looking them up and only then finding out? Why don't they speak at least some broken English? Look at the culture here: Russian and Arabic are approved languages while the international language is not -- forget stated policy, look at websties like HOT, Yes, Orange, etc. Further, unlike the Arabs, we do not, and cannot, have a uniform and consistent message. The reason for religious Jews being here is historically understandable and defensible to the international community but there is NO reason that is comprehensible to the international community for anti-Judaic (misojudaic) Europeans, Americans, etc. displacing Arabs from their homes based purely on race and, therefore, an apartheid regime. The non-Judaic element ensures that we cannot be successful and until we sort out a unified justification for being here we cannot project a unified message. So, who is our real enemy? Ok, shoot the messenger... again. Paqid Yirmeyahu Paqid 16, The Netzarim, Ra'anana, Israel Israeli Orthodox Jew (Teimani Baladi Dardai) Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews

I am no fan of Livini but when I heard her speak in France (why she ran there in the first place is beyond me, but never mind) she articulated herself in English very well. She used the proper words and good words in the proper context. It is just that her accent is very hard. Two things. When other world leaders speak they speak in their own language which is translated to the said language of where they are speaking. Two and most important is the fact when you have a world who continually sides with OBVIOUS victimizers, meaning the terrorists this is where the problem lies. Has it always not been this way since time immemorial for us? The reason the world sides with terrorists has to do with our being Jews. Why will no one speak of this fact is beyond me for it is a fact etched in stone. Yes, there are those Israelis like Mark Regev who speaks beautifully but that is because Hebrew is not his first language. When Israel takes such crap from world leaders, EU, UN, US and the like the most perfect spoken English makes not a dimes worth of difference. When the world is selectively deaf what more can we do but defend ourselves. Example: The Vietnamese have forgiven the US for Viet Nam and even came to understand why we were there. This is why WE MUST DO FOR US, NOT THE REST OF THE WORLD. (who hates our guts do to old libels and innate hate within their hearts for you and me.)

I can agree in part, especially about the victims of rockets speaking oy]ut. The academics abroad are often jewish as opposed to Israeli, but this shpws an introspection lacking on the arab side when Israelis are critical of themselves. On the whole here in UK the Israeli people wheeled out have been very good. The UK ambassador and his aides have come across as reasoned and objective. Livni has been excellent. Barak comes over as pragmatic but lacks fluency in his English. All in all it's a better showing than usual in the media for Israel's people.One of the main obstacles here, as ever is the BBC. Even when Israel's ambassador was first interviewed the woman interviewing him kept interrupting yet a palestinian doctor from Gaza was allowed a nine minute rant, unhindered on BBC. No amount of training can ever overcome such bias and disproportionate airplay time.

Dear Esti Appelbaum, the quality of the English of Israel's spokepersons has nothing to do with this. The Israelis cannot defend themselves because what they are doing is simply undefendable!

i am sorry but yesterday night livni was bad. the israeli communication is not efficient & put us in diffilculties to push our thrue all over the world. the idf & the goverment communication should be give to people like bibi who learn that

he learnt english in london he got a GREAT english !!!see him on tv its great, and hes a powerful speaker

There are many native English speaking persons in Israel, as there are of all other languages. They are ignored and yet are a wealth of knowledge on not only their native tongue but also the various nuances and culturally accepted ways of behaving on TV. A training course in answering questions and on Israel's history is all that is required. It can be the perfect solution..

1. We need favorable Western opinion. Our country survival depends on their good will. If one day South-Africa-style sanctions will be introduced, our economy will collapse, the emigration will increase and we shall be finished within 10 years. 2. We can get the West to support us. Contrary to the popular Israeli myth the majority of Western Europeans are far from antisemitic, they just react to the news they see on the telly. Our case is not at all hopeless. A better explanation would compensate the slight anti-Israel bias in some of the European media. For example, how do you think the current operation will end? Obviously, it will end earlier than IDF would like beacuse of the "mounting international pressure". A better explanation is vital for our country survival.

The sense of the article is right, and I would like to observe that not only English is necessary for our hasbara. Roughly 500 million persons speak Spanish as their mother and only language, including most of their journalists. And they belong to more than 20 Countries that systematically vote against Israel, headed by incorregible pro-arab Spain. 200 million people understand only Portuguese. At least 200 million only Russian. More than 120 million prefere German, 100 million French, 60 million Italian. We in Israel have people speaking nativ, fluent all of these languages, people that would be happy to do his part in this non-ending war. I'm one of them and there are lots like me, just look around you people from our Government.

My English is fluent (mother-tongue); I have the relevant university degrees and knowledge of the situation, I know how to appear on TV, I am female. I've been wanting to do this job (PR for Israel) for years, but don't know who to contact. Any help would be appreciated.

and disband Israel for the sake of Jews' lives. Decision to rollback history and give the land back to once expelled minority proved to cause more harm to both sides than everyone thought. Such a bad decision is comparable to returning Washington or New York to Native Americans.

I know there are excellent new people doing a training profesional year in the FA ministry who are academics, fluent in several foreing languages and Israel loving. Why not to propose to them an special training for PR?It is only a matter of political decision;

Folks- let's not dream - the battle of hearts and minds can't be won. No matter how coarse and incorrect my numbers are, they're just indicational. Taking a pretty cold look at the matter. So let's consider that: 1) close to a 3rd of the world distrusts us down to pretty severely hate us (many of the Muslims) 2) another 3rd has its own (arguably sometimes even bigger) problems to deal with and couldn 't care less about this 3) the remaining 3rd is what we're aiming at . In that 3rd, 25% is die hard commited, 25% is die hard against, 25% kind of positive, and 25% kind of negative. Best we can do is to make sure the 25% kind of positive does not turn negative. Now why would it be so hard ? Again - let's consider very rough numbers . 1) Sderot has a population of 20000 people I believe - they have been under constant attack from Qassam's and now Grad's. Impossible to live there - would struggle hard with the thought of my children at school there. But comparatively few "physical" victims - luckily (apologies for the word comparatively - which i hate here). This situation now extends to a potential 750000 people in the South of Israel. But compared to Burma, to North Korea, to Zimbabwe, to East Congo, to Darfur, maybe to Cuba, to Haiti, to G... knows where else, .... the average Joe in the West (and that means the average civil servant and parliementary in the West) will still rank our problem with the threat of missiles relatively low on a "biggest world problems" list 2) Now consider Gaza. 1,500,000 people. Arguably pretty low ranking in any world report on "quality of life and development possibilities". In other words (pardon language) - a sh... hole. Most people don't know why - can 't remember why, or don't care why. Assume maybe 15,000 Gazan's or maybe even 30,000 are Hamas, assume maybe 150,000 Gazan's are active Hamas sympathisants => still leaves well over 1,000,000 people (call them passive Hamas sympathisants or neutral or non-sympathisants) who take a collective battering from some of the most sophisticated weaponry in the world. Now tell me - do you REALLY think we can win the battle for hearts and minds ? Let's just hope we can win the real battle. Take the public opinion punishment and move on. And mostly - that out leaders would be smart enough to know when is the best time to stop

not fluent in English, & we dont care about this, becouse Red Army last summer, for couple days, put down Georgian punk's ( & your instructor's ) - & as ALL know - Winner take it all...Your IDF quite a week "explain" bad weather, luck of English, e.g. & now people begining thinking that IDF a group of cowards, who's can't "take it ALL" & decidedly end existen terrorist from Hamas...

other story about restrain it is the fly on the face so hit it with a bomb .destroy the fly and the face but the amazing is the fly will be fly away from the face and the israili is the angry with broken face

Training is beneficial for everyone that is called upon to be a spokes person for Israel and the Jewish people. It would be very benificial for those that attempt to explain Israel's situation. Israelies present the facts from the heart...words of truth. The Hamas & Arab spokes people lie and do not tell the truth to the world. They know that the average person does not know the history and much about the past. The Arabs train everyone that speaks for them to repeat the same lies over and over. After so many years of lies they sound crisp.

English, Spanish, German, Russian, Urdu, Chinese, italian? When you are conducting a war where international support is vital, then learn the languages. Israel properly prides itself on being properly equipped for war. Language is a weapon. It takes little expense, can be easily deployed, large numbers can be equipped and coordinating it is straightforward. Plus, it does not cost Israeli lives to utilize this weapon. Israel has fallen down badly on this part of planning. Now is the time to start building up the arsenal of language. it will pay off in worldwide support and save lives.

Tzipi spoke extremely well in english last night. Whoever said she didnt is just taking a political stance.

state of israel need real leader!!!!

...we, Israelis, speak good English! And until that happens, I ask that Jews abroad come to realize that Israel is a tiny state with less than six million Jews, most of whom are from the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. If Israel is so dear to you, get up and start promoting its cause by using your knowledge of English, Spanish, French, even Norwegian. But don't expect only Israeli Jews to do all the work that needs to be done in sustaining our national home, and it is after all the national home of a people, of the Jewish people, yours too!

Having watch and listened to many Israeli commentators over many years I agree with these comments, however no matter how good your English, when you start from a perception, rightly or wrongly, that one side is occupied and the other an occupier, there is a mountain to climb before you even start. Israel has many good spokes men/women. Mark Regev comes to mind, Bibi Netanyahu. We do not see enough of the people who are good at their job and too much of people who know English but have not got a clue how to talk to the camera. So in short, get the cameras smart people working for Israel.

Israel fought and won a war in 1948.