it is the Jews who need PR. That's is very obvious after the deterring image of the Jews has been lately tarnished.

"'We had expected that endeavors to cross the Canal would be undertaken by the infantry to secure the bridges, and that the tanks would not appear until at least six hours later. I am sorry to say that in the past, whenever our tanks appeared, your infantry soldiers either fled or were crushed by our tanks. But in 1973, we found an infantry that fought fiercely, resisting the tanks with their own bodies and with anti-tank "suitcase missiles" carried by single infantrymen. This also seemed contrary to common sense and to what we had been used to from the Egyptian forces. Any army preparing for war would necessarily have a strategic reserve of equipment and ammunition or would be supported by an ally to supply its needs, but you had no strong ally since the West was not on your side, and you had expelled the Russians from your country before the war. Worse still, you did not have a single factory to supply you with even one tank, one plane or one armored vehicle, yet you fought and won." http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/archives/67-97/sup4.htm

Yes Israel was surprised but for Dayan to claim Egypt had "won" in 1973 beggers belief. The two Egyptian armies were completely cut off, the Egyptian air defence was wiped out. Their tanks were wiped out. There was no army between the IDF on the western bank of Suez and Cairo. The only reason the Egyptian army didn't cease to exist is that the superpowers intervened. Goes to show there is no situation that the arabs won't claim "victory" after.

we need peace and we need to look at the mirror to see what we have become because of the settlers.

The Prime Minister's daughter and wife call the IDF war criminals and murderers. No amount of PR will help when the Arabs have such great propagandists on their side

Israel did not start any war, Israel did lose any. You make so good PR to the extent that you yourselves believe it; what a competence in doing the work. And you say you need more PR!

Israel occupied the territories and called it "freeing our land". Then, Israel realized that if the territories were its, then a perplexing question would arise: "why Israel would wait the occupier to wage the war in order to free its land?". A final phase was reached by calling it "disputed territories". Sometimes hypocrisy works.

This type of PR is an empty US and Islamist tactic to divert energies and finances to nothingness instead of to doing the right job the right way.

or that Israel started the war in 1973 then I am afraid you need to read a history book rather than a government propaganda mouthpiece. Did you really think Al-Ahram would have Dayan quoted as saying "in the end we kicked the sh*t out of you"?

KVATCH.

The details in this essay are reasonable, but the problem is that high officials and their families make the case for the enemy. Indeed, the entire language of the Israeli elite makes this case. And it's not "just" comments like those of ilmert's wife and daughter. When you have a PM talking about "occupied territory" (e.g. Sharon), you have already lost the moral and legal claim to the territory. When you have idiots like birdbrain Livny (who apparently is only slightly more articulate in Hebrew than in English) constantly advancing apologies for the Jewish state rather than (correctly) pointing out that all of Yesha is legally Israeli, no PR machine in the world will make any difference. And even though the Israeli voter does not have the political influence that voters in most democracies have, they still voted for someone whose wife and daughter are anti-Jewish-Israel, and whose son's have left the country entirely. In other countries, such things would disqualify a candidate from the highest office.

on the Internet supporting Israel. During the 2nd Lebanon War we found innacuracies and bias in media reporting and responded to them. The effort is ongoing. We are not waiting for the next war.

ُُُEgypt did not need Israel to start the 1973 war to free the occupied Egyptian Sinai. On the other hand, Shortly after Israel occupied Sinai in 1956, Israel annexed Sinai and declared it Israeli land!.

in 1956 - and Israel didn't annex sinai - Ben Gurion wanted to claim it, or rather the portion around the straits of Tiran, but in the end didn't. In the end we withdrew in return for promises from the UN which - and I hope you are sitting down for this shocking news - turned out to be worthless. I know!!!!! who could have thought such a thing possible?????

little video camera that snaps onto their helmets. There are huge hard drives nowadays that are as small as your finger. Think about it....a finger sized camera on every helmet. A finger sized storage device. After an engagement the men could go back over the actions from different perspectives. This would be ideal for training, it could also deter enemy propagandist by having video to refute their bogus claims And there should be a pr wing that works better then the one in place. The danger is however that the more "professional" they become, the more people will question if the release was propaganda or not.

The first order of business would be for Ynet to get someone who knows about PR, rather than "hasbara" (explaining -- which tells it all), to write its columns about PR. PR is NOT confined to "moves that are being done or have already been done." In fact, that is the secondary role of PR. The primary role of PR is input before action to consider all the ramifications of an action, including media and world opinion, in order to more accurately judge the best outcome. My daughter, now in the Tzahal, recently competed in the European Debating Championships in Turkey, along with other teams from Tel Aviv Univ., Hebrew Univ., etc. One Israeli team made it to the quarter finals and another almost made it. These debating teams, along with those representing Israel at the World Championships, are where Israel will find the most articulate English speakers who understand Western culture, values and thinking -- the only compelling persuaders of western opinions. But none of them can significantly improve anything because #6 & 12 have it exactly right. I think a digital videocam specialist is no less essential to a unit than its radio specialist. Not only is it essential to occasionally prove our point, it would often be helpful to commanding officers and brass in assessing effectiveness of tactics, equipment, training and the like, for suggesting improvements, etc. I'm persuaded that if we could have provided timely digital video to friendly cyber-warriors across the world, the al-Dura episode would have backfired all over the Gazan Arabs who, as some of the still photos prove, shot the boy. To be effective, the information has to be nearly real-time, unedited and absolutely free of propaganda that could sabotage the credibility and reputations of our cyber-warriors. My daughter serves Tzahal working in a hospital lab. If she were invited to work in PR she isn't interested (we've discussed it occasionally over the past several years). Even if she were tempted, I would do my best to persuade her to decline for the same reasons given by #6 &12. The point is that those who know how to persuade also know the value of having truth on their side, not having the information hidden from them. They cannot compromise truth, whether by deceit or wishful claims in the absence of credible information, because to do so would sabotage their credibility, reputation and effectiveness. When I was in Tzahal I declined a similar low-level "ambassador-type" position for these same reasons. No one had ever declined the position before -- which says something about the qualifications level of those who agree to fill such fail-by-design positions. PR can neither be the sole consideration nor its ramifications excluded from the overall equation and calculus of defense. Until that Minister is in place, low-level PR efforts will merely waste both the personnel and their cost -- like the ineffectual traffic safety campaigns. When it comes to PR no less than fighter planes, however, reorienting the Tzahal to modern warfare is not a matter of applying a patch to a tire. It is a matter of fundamental redesign, a part of tailoring the Tzahal for future warfare, to incorporate PR as one of the essential elements of decision-making from the top down to the smallest ground unit. Israel needs a person heading up PR that is not only professionally qualified -- not an advocate of primitive "Hasbara" -- but sitting in a position no less (and no greater) than an Assistant Defense Minister; able to exert real power in ensuring that PR is an integral part of the overall defense strategy and all ministerial-level tactical decisions cascading down to the unit level. Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

There are a lot of us already in the "no cost" cyber-reserve. Since we don't wear a uniform in cyber-space, however, we're handcuffed without governmental support through some database of official recognition and referral plus real-time updating that we can count on being accurate -- absolutely filtered of any propaganda. I'm not publishing anything on my website that I can't confirm as true and I suspect that more than a few cyber-warriors feel similarly. Sticking uncompromisingly to truth is the FIRST step toward effective PR. The columnist's idea of "contingency plans, and every 'fighter' knows what to do when he or she receive the sign" is as wrong-headed and contra-PR as it gets. Just get a software program to do such ridiculous and foolish rote. The world is smart enough to spot and dismiss such tripe in an instant. What's needed is to arm thinking people -- 'living room warriors" I call them -- who believe in Israel with the information they need in a timely fashion. Let them do the rest instead of expecting an army of robots to all mouth the same line, with the combined brainpower of a single software program and which the world would instantly dismiss as such. It will apparently surprise your columnist to learn that the major media outlets don't routinely take the word of some obscure blogger or website for their news. Unless some gov't spokesperson's office points them to the website or blogger as a legitimate source, most living room warriors have no significant weight in the media. How effective is an army of "cyber-warriors" who "write unto themselves"? Yes, they can be trained to write letters to editors. But newspapers, magazines and TV news editors are notorious for adhering to their usual biases rather than breaking their self-mold to publish some blogger or website they've never heard of before and disagrees with their own editorial bias. You will have to sacrifice "standard gov't line" to obtain support from thinking, compelling and effective cyber-warriors; choose between robots who can be simulated by a software program and thinking living room warriors who need recognition and credible and timely information to be effective. To be effective, cyber-warriors must be living thinking people, not robots or lemmings; and thinking people aren't going to support Rabin when he makes a ridiculous declaration like "Break their bones" or some MK makes an irresponsible statement or decision. The world would rightly and summarily dismiss any such cyber-lemming. As for hiring Israeli advertisers, I did a couple of marketing projects for a leading Israeli company -- and they didn't know squat about relating to America (but, at least, they listened; most are too arrogant to even listen). Nothing would be more counter-productive than that. The idea of cyber-warriors doing a major campaign with no funding is hilarious. Why do you think election campaigns begin by raising money? PS: the most popular Israeli Jewish newspaper not publishing candlelighting times on Erev Shabbat and Erev Khag in its on-line counterpart is a disservice to Jewish readers and a disgrace to Israel. Even ha-Aretz publishes candlelighting times. Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

Why did it take almost seven years for Israel and the IDF to challenge the al Dura blood libel? Why did it take the blogosphere to challenge the lies promoted during the last Lebanon conflict ("missiles on ambulances", "chemical munitions", doctored photos, etc.)? Where was Israel in all this beyond apologizing for unintended consequences? There's hardly a significant US campaign office that lacks a "rapid response" team to challenge the assertions of their opponents, to provide a public "reality check". Where are the Israeli personnel who will show the lies of their opponents to be just that - lies. It's time to put those opponents on the defensive, to challenge their murderous intent, to push for *their* representatives to be charged with war crimes. And it's time Israel stops indulging a bigoted press. For this, one doesn't want or need those with "advertising" experience, who only know how to frame or spin an issue. This past week I read Ruth Wisse' insightful "Jews and Power". One sees how Israel's leadership, despite talk of the New Jew of long ago, still evinces weakness towards those in power, still seeks their indulgence, still acts guilty for just being. Theirs is the mentality of the ghetto or shtetl, of the second class citizen. Enough already.

pr is words .. no one won the war by words .. but by words you can increase the faith .. i think faith may help in winnig any war and media needs faith in the right principle of war or peace

Your thinking outside of the box is a good thing. Issuing minicams to all IDF soldiers, however, raises the probability of a tape falling into enemy propagandists, in the case of a kidnapping or fallen soldier, to 1 (i.e. 100%). A bit of creative editing and our enemy would have "an authentic IDF video" appearing to "prove" Arab charges. There's also the issue of such minicams capturing classified info that then falls into enemy hands. The notion that professional PR people are suspect is nonsense. The largest, most profitable and most influential companies on the planet, who are the most effective on the planet in persuading the masses, use the most professional PR people they can find. Professional PR people, instead of today's amateur "hasbarists," is precisely what we need. It's the "hasbarists," pseudo-PR propagandists, who misrepresent PR and have played no small part in putting us in the detested position we're in now. Learn the difference between public relations and propaganda -- which is what "hasbarists" deal in. PS: the most popular Israeli Jewish newspaper not publishing candlelighting times on Erev Shabbat and Erev Khag in its on-line counterpart is a disservice to Jewish readers and a disgrace to Israel. Even ha-Aretz publishes candlelighting times. Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il