You're dealing with a world that hates based on what's trendy and popular. Do you really admire Western Europe and their condescending criticism of anything anyone else does? Because frankly, they never do anything. Israel is going to be hated because of their association with the USA. When did you ever expect to see so many people support Russia? It's because Georgia is associated with the USA. Don't give in to this hatred and blackmail, or even think about changing just to be loved. Our survival is at stake, the real defenders of the Western world.

I am so sick of Israelis and Jews using the word "failure" on one topic after another. Israel is very very far from a failure. Take credit for the effort you've put into building such a fabulous country and say nice things about yourselves and to each other. I don't agree at all that Israel is losing some imaginary PR battle. Unless people want Israel deleted (and that is generally nothing to do with PR and everything to do with anti-semitism or alignment with Arab interests or plain murderous envy of Israel's successes), then they admire Israel. Martin Sherman, if you can't come up with something positive to say, then just go do something else and keep your depressing opinions to your self.

What a load of conspiracy theory horse hooey! Martin Sherman appears to have no qualifications at all to make any analytical comments if he hits us with beauties like this one: "It requires little analytical acumen to identify...." Well, Sherman shows how little acumen he has. His $64000 answer is worth less than 2 cents. If he knew anything about "official Israeli establishment" he'd understand that it is the Prime Minister's Office (capital O on it as an institution) and the Foreign Ministry that have screwed things up. If Sherman was correct about who shapes public opinion, than nobody on the right wing would ever make it to high office. That obviously is not the case and shows that Sherman is waaaaaaaaaay off track. All the talk of secret elitist cabals controlling our thoughts and minds and votes is a load of crap. The hasbara screwup starts at the top with the Prime Minister and works its way down, not vice versa. The elites do not control the Government Press Office, that used to have a much larger staff for dealing with the foreign press. Those headcounts were seconded to the PMO to get cushy jobs for "media advisors"...another method of using public funds to provide fat jobs for party hacks loyal to the PM. The hasbara failure is because the leaders of the country are at odds with each other on how to do it. That is why there's no consensus at the top as to who is responsible for it. The PMO says they are. The Foreign Ministry says they are. Cooperation and coordination between the two? Of course not. From that, Sherman concocts his 'elitist' conspiracy? Oy.

Whatever Israelis do whenever it goes to a foreign land reflects on The Country. Every Israeli that travels is a non-commissioned DIPLOMAT. So every proper conduct is expected but every misconduct reflects back hundred fold. Don't blame it to the army, in fact most people all over the world have only admiration for the Israeli army and deep down understand what the army is doing. After all, one way or the other, they have encountered a similar problem in their own turf.

By Israelis and Jews.You just have to go on any web site to see the vitriol that is hurled at Israel.The Guardian has a weekly chain of anti-Israel articles written by Jews and Israelis.Israel can't or won't react till it is too late.Fighting a war of words is cheaper than fighting with weapons,and much more effective.

Looking for someone to blame is futile. Pull the finger out (in this case pull both hands out) and start doing something.Lets get the spin meisters and their spin machines spinning,after all aren't the Jews the ones that control the planets media. Lets prove them right.

World opinion these days is shaped mainly by sentiment. The public can be manipulated by an emotive photograph, cartoon or biassed news report which depicts graphic images of a glimpse of the conflict. The problem lies in the publics own vulnerability to be manipulated by the media which is largely driven by blood and gore as opposed to the facts on the ground.

Charge those who defame Israel of complicity in a genocide attempt would be very efficient.

get better publicity . This is just as much a PR war , and the Arabs are winning ...

Most nations live within missile range of another...doesn't give them the right to steal their neighbors land.

People hate Israel because they want to hate Israel. I am an African American saying this. Israel is no worse than any other nation. Yet, Israel gets vilified for everything that goes wrong in the Middle East. And Jews get blamed for everything that goes wrong in the world. Israel is ok. And I agree with Israelis if they just say "screw world opinion." All Israel needs to do is do what is right, and they will be fine. Quit trying to please all the people of the world.

Israel is losing the battle in PR because of the Foreign Minister. She HAS RUINED the ministry 100%. Just take a look at the people sitting in our embassies.........if they do not speak the language of the country that they are serving in - how can they explain our position.?? IT'S A DISGRACE that in Germany our Amb. speaks only English and our Amb. in Italy is fluent in German...........Does this make sense????????? There are also people in our embassies that do not even speak Hebrew correctly. .

Interesting theory however probably erroneous in certain aspects. Budget wise its true, Hasbara is not funded enough however the legal establishment (although very strong) does not interfere necessarily with all political processes and does not block every decision taken by the government. Quite the contrary many of the decisions made by the government are not blocked and the cited reason for it is because it came from the government. I will not even mention the academia since it is ridiculous to believe that they have any real power to change primer ministers Sharon's mind all of a sudden. While the media in my point of view portrays much more right wing views than left wing views contradicting your theory almost entirely. Political processes are mostly conducted by the primer minister, the knesset and to some extent (and more than in other countries) the legal establishment. However there is no such policy movement from elite groups as you speak about. there maybe interference and they might add weight to certain opinions but they surely did not convince Sharon of changing policy 180 degrees nor did they convince Rabin of the same. Both realized this by themselves.

The Supreme Court's refusal to simply acknowledge Israel's duty to defend its citizens was made clear by its handling of the anti-Zionist Left's 2001 petition to bar the IDF from conducting targeted killings of terrorists. Although the measure is perfectly legal, the court took five and a half years to issue its ruling that the IDF is in fact legally entitled by customary international law to target terrorists. Why there was even a question that the IDF has the right to target illegal combatants engaged in an illegal terror war is unclear. Yet even in its self-evident ruling, the Court invented limitations on the tactic to demonstrate its concern for the well-being of terrorist mass-murderers. More at : http://xrl.us/kj6sj

at the end ... right is right and wrong is wrong .. even with or without good pr second israil depends on history before 3000 years to tell its right ... palastinians depends on daily behavior of israil to tell their right ... as in gaza seige and naileen wall

Hundreds of Israeli academics are involved in politics rather than research or teaching. They found that defaming Israel is more profitable than doing you job at the university. Ask Ilan Pappe, ask Neve Gordon? Are they disclosing all the moneys that they got directly or indirectly/? What about Be'tselem? They admit these "donors":According to B'Tselem, their donors include:[10] British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Christian Aid (UK) Commission of the European Communities DanChurchAid (Denmark) Diakonia (Sweden) Development Corporation Ireland EED (Church Development Service, Germany) Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ford Foundation (USA) Foundation for Middle East Peace ICCO (Interchurch Organisation for Development Co-operation, Netherlands) International Commission of Jurists, Swedish Section Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation New Israel Fund (Israel) Norwegian Foreign Ministry Shefa Fund SIVMO (Netherlands) Stichting Het Solidariteitsfonds (Netherlands) Trócaire (Ireland) It is quite possible that Israeli academics are getting huge moneys from Israel enemies who use their greed to defame Israel. About 400 Israeli academics signed a petition of "solidarity" with Palestinians. This is what they want:Boycott Israeli goods and services Boycott Israeli cultural and sporting institutions who do not condemn Israel's ilegal occupation Boycott Israeli academic institutions and academics who do not condemn Israel's ilegal occupation Promote a campaign against tourism in apartheid Israel Promote divestment from companies who invest in apartheid Israel or profit from Israel's occupation and apartheid policies To camapign against companies who invest in apartheid Israel or profit from Israel's occupation and apartheid policies To persuade businesses to stop trading with apartheid Israel To campaign for an end to European Union and British government trade agreements with Israel To campaign for UK and EU sanctions against apartheid Israel until it complies with international humanitarian law To promote initiatives to decrease the isolation of the occupied Palestinian people and promote ethical, fairly traded Palestinian goods. Israel parents! Do not send your kids to Israeli Universities and colleges. Do not donnate money to Israel Institutions. Israel should stop accepting the destruction of the Jewish state as free speech or academic freedom.

Martin Sherman gives some excellent reasons why. However, apart from the fact that our diplomats and paid shlicim were appointed for many years on the basis of connections and not abilities like language skills, we do have an active and effective ambassador currently in the UK, Amb. Prosor and he has made a difference. As one of a large number of private citizens writing letters of protest to international news media when they report biased material or frequently blatant lies about Israel and Jewish or Arab Israelis, I think we are doing the larger part of what should be a job by trained goverment staff.

This perennial state of outrage & wounded sensibilities in the courts, the media, and academica is hardly confined to Israel. Being rather cynical & wary by nature, I usually dismiss conspiracy talk out of hand, but I cannot disregard what my ears & eyes take in on a weekly level for the last no. of years. This sour, utterly pompous agenda of frowning dissatifaction(low-grade hysteria?) with reality, and fixation of "gonna make the world a better place, whether they like it or not!" is shared by all 3 groupings in a loose sense of views & behavior. Disturbing as Hell to see ever more of this "my way is best" and "all or nothing" attitude shared in each arena, untempered & unbalanced by any concerns over pragmatism, how events actually unfold, any meeting of opposing minds, or even simple logic & sheer necessity.

This is it seems to me a largely accurate analysis. We have now reached the point where it is universally believed that Judea and Samaria are 'occupied territory' and that from Israel's side the failure to relinquish this territory is the major barrier to peace. I also agree that the Left does make an effort to make the Enemy appear better than they are. But I think it is exaggerated to say that the world as a whole does not see the backwardness, the failings of much of the Islamic and Arab world. This is a subject which goes way beyond the boundaries of Israel. In any case that we are in deep trouble because our 'intellectual and media' establishment does not know how to be for us- is a painful truth and a real danger.

This Sherman character sounds as if he has just stepped out of the Orwellian 1984

Dear Suncountry, I totally agree with you that there is much positive to admire about Israel – as I point out in my opening paragraph, which I hope you bothered to read before responding. The question then is: Why this image is not the one being projected and perceived? In answering, just think of who are among Israel's major – and most severe and damaging - critics at home and abroad – see Talkback #18. Israel manifestly has a serious PR and public diplomacy problem. Pretending it does not exist ,or that it should not be addressed is both short-sighted and dangerous. Finding a remedy requires thorough and frank analysis – not denial

1. You write: "If Sherman was correct about who shapes public opinion, than nobody on the right wing would ever make it to high office." Well it is true that since 1977, the overwhelming majority of elected governments have been headed by allegedly "right wing parties" (Likud). Yet while the "right-wing" frequently wins elections, it never seems to acquire any substantive power. Indeed, when the Likud first took over power in 1977, Israel controlled the entire Sinai peninsula and any talk of leaving the Jordan Valley, evacuating the Golan and certainly of dividing Jerusalem was considered near treasonous. Compare this with today's realties!!! Who has caused this dramatic shift? See what I mean by election results being irrelevant to the realities on the ground? Lest you offer "international pressure and US pressure" as an answer let me remind you that while this clearly exists, it does not explain why the Israeli leadership of - its own volition - enthusiastically endorses and embraces much of the tenets the policy of foreign entities who allegedly exert this pressure; rather than - at best- resist these pressures - or at worse - accept them under demonstrable duress and public protest. Moreover neither international US pressure - this cannot be invoked to explain either OSLO (which caught Washington by surprise (where in fact the PLO was still defined as an illegal terror organization until the very advanced stages of the process) or the DISENGAGEMENT (which the US initially opposed and eventually only supported because of ...Israeli pressure and persuasion). 2. You write: "If he knew anything about "official Israeli establishment" he'd understand that it is the Prime Minister's Office … and the Foreign Ministry that have screwed things up." Indeed I agree with you regarding the "screw up" - as you so colorfully put it. But isn't this merely a SYMPTOM of the malaise I diagnose rather than PROOF OF ITS NON-EXISTENCE? Remember who the permanent staffs of these institutions – rather than their transient elected "masters" – are, and who molds their world view. Certainly not the general voting public! In this regard, perhaps it would be instructive for me to refer you to the BBC's "Sir Humphrey" in "Yes (Prime) Minister"

How many times have I written about our Herzelist elite that controls the money, the courts , the media and all other positions of power. As soon as anyone with different ideas gets to the top he just gets included into this clique through bribery and other incentives, everyone has his price. Because of the rotten secular foundation of this state do we have a bad public image and it will not change by staying on the same course. The more this clique will force its ways of assimilation into the world’s current culture, the more hatred will come our way.

Interesting to see that Mr Sherman, a representative of Israel's only 'academic' institution in the occupied territories, attacks exactly those institutions that still somehow bear the main burden of guarding the democratic character of the Jewish state. There is one part of Israeli society that is mostly responsible for Israel's bad image abroad: the politicians. Why does Mr Sherman not attack them? Maybe because without their support the occupation would have ended long ago. That without that occupation and with a real long-term foreign and interior policy it would be much, much easier to sell Israel abroad is a detail lost on anti-democratic supporters of an occupation that ruins Israel from within.

No amount of Hasbara can overcome the bad POLICY decisions of the current Israeli government. Actions are more important than words. Israel has surrendered to both Hams and Hizbullah and continues to pretend that Fatah is her friend. Don't expect any other country to take a stiffer stand than we, ourselves, do.

... to show the state of Israel in a decent light. Apart from a complete change of political direction you might as well spend the hasbara money on building more segregated buses and supplying the settlers with new persian carpets.