to blame Israel with anything under the sun

is this if you have to pay someone to say something good about you? This should be voluntary, not paid. Stupid idea

Rona. Time to let Israel defend itself. You're certainly not going to do it.

So marketing a better image of Israel is suspect to Lefitsts, but open marketing of free sex is perfectly ok. Huh?? This effort is nothing more than ensuring Israel's side of the story is heard, which is no different than the industry that employs millions of marekters, advertisers, PR agencies, and feeds the leftists TV channels revenue for disseminating their own biased reports. Besides, the Arabs employ this tactic ad nauseum, to point of even creating fake situations and running narratives that have no basis in fact. And you Leftists support their right to do it. Hypocritical? No, just your MO the world over.

Rona nicely follows the Leftist ideology that would have her dig her own grave (and mine too, thank you very much). She cites the Loyalty oath, the Nakba Law, and others as bans on free speech when infact, these were enacted because of the violence used in that "free speech". The cries to destroy the very country that Rona and I live in. Not sure if death is on Rona's agenda, but I refuse to condone violence no matter where it comes from. A wonderful article written by a Persian woman on the hijab ban in Europe stated this well - she said the democracies openness actually enable the brutality of Islam and decrimination, control to take hold in Western countries....all because they demand equality, though they don't give it. I'm all for free speech - but if those demanding free speech for themselves refuse to honor my free speech, or refuse to pay taxes or do service in a country in which my taxes help them...then it is no longer equality...it is descrimination and hegemony and that must end now!

You certainly have the credentials for these publications.

And I will go on doing it for free. Yalla Israel!!

Ms. Rona is not very sympathetic of Israelis, only of our Arab "cousins." Good thing her "truth" is not ours. We can find a lot about Israel to praise and defend. I'll do it for free, but if the FM wants a dedicated cadre, it's OK if they pay.

One good thing the article does is highlight how pathetic is the funding for this "internet warfare squad" - $150k?! That about covers the salary of one Google engineer.. its hardly going to do much to defend the nation. Also pointing out the project managers view that "adults don’t know how to blog" shows how ignorant that manager is of reality online and ultimately does not bode well for this initiative. The govt. needs to take the "internet battlefield" a lot more seriously. Clearly it is failing at every step now.

After looking at the list not only did you ruin my evening but you gave me a stomach ache. How sad.

'You can't reason with a drunk." You can't reason with an anti-Semite either.

appear in Arab publications?

Few people present a better thought out analysis of a situation than Terry. We hear way too little of him on the pages anymore and we're all the poorer for it.

I'm doing this anyway

can you lend us some of yours for 30% commission.

Me too, gladly!

First of all, you apparently argue that there are two camps: 1) People 2) FMA bloggers, as opposed to "real people". I'm confused. Did the FMA recently develop a technology that transmogrifies applicants into a non-human form of blogger? Secondly, I would like a better explanation of how people expressing themselves online is somehow a limitation of people expressing themselves online. Third, You admit outright that an effective blogger only needs to care about the subject he writes about. So... are you suggesting that people that don't care about Israel are going to pursue a job caring about Israel? Next you propose another false-choice argument: that PR cannot make "occupied territories prettier". This is a classic logical fallacy (on TWO levels). I'm encouraged that not all TB'rs here are sucked in by it. But you reveal your malicious heart in this: (quote) "...the Palestinian public relations monster. Yet nothing can be done to defeat it..." Why don't you continue that thought? Because the only logical conclusion is: "The battle is lost, Israel must acknowledge defeat." It is hypocritical disingenuous agenda driven doublespeak like yours that is not simply a threat to free speech, but indeed FREE THOUGHT, and a perfect example of why FMA should double the budget for this effort.

I agree 150k is inadequate. I posted previously that FMA should double that, but after reconsidering, I think really 1.5million NIS would be a good starting point. Of course I will continue to post and defend Israel for free, but it would be nice to get a paycheck doing what I love full time.

However, any efforts at PR by the Israeli government should really be on a straight forward basis. Have these talkbackersidentify themselves as government spokes people. If the internet as exposed one thing, there is no shortage of people holding opinions on every subject willing to discuss it into the dirt ad-infinitium, including pro-Israeli talkbackers (as can be seen here on Y-net). So the issue is the medium, not the lack of participants that is the issue. The government can use the medium as it does with other spokespeople (TV, radio, talk shows, news, etc.). From an efficiacy point of view, government sponsorship doesn't lesson the information, but trying to pass off as 'just another person' doesn't hold water and is just counterproductive. Rona's idea that this is something that must be countererd though, because its the venue of 'thought police' is more a chicken little reaction than actually thinking through the subject.

Really how old are you? This is teenager material. Freedom of speech is the ability to have all sides express their point openly, therefore government actors or also welcome in the public discussion as equal actors. Your article tragically defeats its own purpose from a rational philosophical point of view because it is arguing against the freedom of all actors to express themselves equally in the public arena - the definition of free speech!!!

I have not arrived at my support of Israel without considering both sides, and that is an ongoing process. If I saw something that I thought was wrong, committed by Israel - I would say so, and do. Unfortunately, many Israel detractors dont operate the same way - Israel is the root cause of every malady ever to afflict Mankind. Its unchanging in their views. Israel must prostrate itself - period. Of many aspects involving this 'media war' is the lack of an appropriate response or representation of Israel's position. It seems that vital information that equalize or nullify opinion about any given situation involving Israel is not heard in places where it should. Many of the things said about Israel beggar belief and when ever examined, many accusations simply do not withstand scrutiny. These findings are rarely trumpeted with the same vigor as the initial accusation. Its wrong. I feel very sorry for you Rona, I really do. I'm glad that I dont share your opinion. While those like you ignore the disgusting behaviour of Israel's enemies - which is more akin to the "police-state" situation you refer to - you will never convince an effective majority that your judgment is correct.

I do not get it why Y Net even publishes such drivel. I already see it being used on public forums against Israel in the US. Why does Y Net help Israel's enemies to destroy it's credibility by publishing the lies of a self hating Israeli?

weakness. The Occupation Magazine

OK so the Israeli govt. thinks it can defeat the "Palestinian PR monster" - by hiring talkbackers around the world? How exactly? This ridiculous assumption that you can sway global public opinion to side up with the world's champion of state terrorism? This is laughable, only confirms that Israel is in fact being defeated and it's only the beginning!

I say and repeat; We are a middle eastern country and as such, we should represent ourselves in the foreign media. When a bunch of Polish MBAs and Romanian bought PhDs speak to the world in an artificial diplomatic language, it irritates the hell out of me. It looks and feels cold, heartless, unremorseful and it does not inspire sympathy. We have over half of the population originally from Arab countries. Perfectly capable of putting on the most dramatic show that will put any Hamas or Fatah woman in her place. Just visit a cemetary & see how a Mizrahi funeral is conducted compared to an Ashkenazi one. And these are the heart breaking images that the world is moved by. If we displayed dolls covered with blood and claim they are babies as the Arabs do, our PR would also have worked. The Arabs don't have the "PR' they put all their dramatic skills to work and are not afraid to show the world bloodstains.

No one wants potential scewed opinion... Hamas and the liberal left puts out enough of that....

The article is chock full of lies!!!!!!! There are no starving Palistinians. Ridiculous!

I bet the average age of the respondents to this strange article is over 45!

The hate on the internet sickens me. We as Jews need to take back the word Zionist and take it away from those that hate us. It's being used in a truly ugly way. And people are also saying that Zionists and Ashkenazi Jews are not real Jews.