I think that Mansdorf perfectly highlights the problem with Israel's attempts to project itself in a more positive light when he talks about the fourth geneva convention not applying to settlements (it does) and Arabs having the right to vote (the ones allowed into Israel do; the ones expelled in the Nakba don't). The problem Israel faces in the West is *not* that it is misunderstood or misrepresented, but that it is *correctly* understood, and its attempts at Hasbara are, by and large, misrepresentations at best and outright lies at worst. The only way to improve Israel's image abroad is to change the product not the packaging. If Israel wants to be regarded as a legitimate (from the Latin for "law")state then it must abide by international law and withdraw to its own borders, including in Jerusalem.

Hartman Institute is beginning to work on this. See commentary on Hartman.org.il by Donniel Hartman

The average "Joe" has no ready (and good) answer to the statement "Israel is an apartheid state" (as an example) There are many, many good answers to this, but not every one will work. Anyone who wants to get involved should get training, either by attending programs such as HonestReporting, awesome seminars, Standwithus, etc who teach activists how to think on their feet.

One reason for our t failure is that we do not show the murderous nature of our enemies - how the suicide bombers' mothers took such pride in them, their kindergartens that educate towards killing Jews, and how they named their streets and football teams after the murderers, and the like... But the main reason for our failure is that Israel has abandoned the hasbara [public relations] front. Shimon Peres said after Oslo that hasbara is no longer necessary in Europe... To understand what really hapend consult : http://xrl.us/bi3f7

The hasbara challenge has been met on the left in the US for several years. It is an equal rights argument based on human rights. It is catching fire just like the civil rights argument in the 50s and 60s. Israel's right to exist is already conceded. The world does understand.

In fact, determining Israel's "legitemate" borders, as Jacob apparently believes he has done, also leaves much confusion. As an example, does that mean that Israeli Arabs, currently residing within Israel proper, have no rights to the land? Does he mean that 300,000 Israelis residing in Shomrun and Yehudi (Westbank) have no rights to their land? Does he mean that Israel proper should include Israeli Arabs but that Shomrun and Yehudi should be "Judenfrei"? Possiblt Jacob would like to take part in an educational discussion so that all of us would be in a position to earn some enlightenment. As it stands now, once Jacob's statements are probed, his seemingly simplified version of justice just doesn't render much understanding, and, in fact, actually confuse the issue.

Irwin they hate you just because you're a Jew, it doesn't matter what you explain or don't explain. Get ready for the imminent war which must be fought to make up for the last two deliberately bungled ones. Get rid of the deliberate war losers in leadership and then you'll be doing something useful for your country.

Maybe we ought to learn from the North Koreans that there is no need to explain. To hell with the world !!!

I teach public relations at university level. You can't spin facts beyond a certain point. Israel has a bad image because a lot of people believe the facts show it behaving badly.No amount of reframing will alter that.

No matter what shade of lipstick you try, the pig is still the pig.

Israel's right to exist as an independent Jewish State. If that's what you are looking for, I can tell you it will never happen. If you are interested to know why, I can tell you.

The problem is time. Israelis including the Anglos want everything to happen now, but it takes time for the Israeli message to be repeated to the world over and over again until the world starts understanding it. There is also the issue of Arab Oil clout in the world. As long as they have so much oil, they will be listened to, no matter what the facts are or what Israel does or doesn't do. Over time the importance of oil will diminish and Israel's success in explaining itself will increase. Another time related factor is the Muslim Jihad that threatens the world and blackmails it in accepting their position on the Middle East problem. As time goes on this will be not tolerated any longer by civilized humanity and Israel's status will improve. More than once I heard the saying Arabs in the Middle East use: "The winner is not the stronger but the one who can last longer" This is the game Arabs play and if Israel understands it and has patience, it will be able to outlast them.

I always get a laugh when Israelis claim that the cell phone was invented in Israel when everyone knows that it was invented in 1947 by a US company called Bell Labs well before Israel was even a state. It may be true that some of the design work done on miniaturization of existing cell phones to create a handheld version was done within Israel, but even that was done by the American company Motorola and not by an Israeli company.

Jacob, Thanks for proving the author's point! It is shocking to believe that there are otherwise intelligent people have bought into the current Arab propaganda that the Arab-Israel conflict has anything to do with borders! I could write a whole thesis on this, but I will have to content myself with the following few points. 1) The Arabs were trying to destroy Israel prior to the war of June 1967, in which Israel occupied these lands. Please conduct a detailed study of this history. 2) During the 1948 Arab invasion of Israel, the Jewish quarter of East Jerusalem was conquered by the Jordanians, and the area was ethnicaly cleansed. What does international law have to say about that? Why is it apparently silent on this? 3) The withdrawal of Israel from Gaza was a pilot project on how well the Palestinians could behave if given territority. Had they behaved in a peaceful, civilized manner the area could have thrived and become a new Singapore. Instead, Hamas took over, and sent rocket after rocket into Israel, causing Israel to blockade the region. What did international law do to stop the rocket fire? (By the way, Israel does not really blockade anything. There is no reason that more aid cannot flow through Egypt, which also borders on Gaza.) 4) If your 'thesis' were correct, then one would expect a huge outcry from the world community about China's occupation of Tibet; an occupation that was taken in a deliberate war of conquest. China has a purposeful program of settling Han Chinese in Tibet, which is against international law, right? Tibet is a much larger region than the West Bank. Instead of a huge outcry, there is only a wimper. Meanwhile, China sits on the Security Council, presiding over your wonderful international law, and people flock in droves to buy Chinese products. I think that is all I need to say for now.

do the voodoo they always do so well and it will be the best counter Arab PR one can ever wish for. Europe is already slowly rising. Just sit back, relax and let Nature take its course.

Your own description of 1948 is telling. It is so simplistic, so one dimensional. No Arab invasion with the intent to commit genocide, no Palestinian leaders collaboration with Nazi Germany, no Palestinian massacres, no ethnic cleansing of Jews from Jerusalem's Old City, no destruction of the Old City's Jewish Quarter, no forcing of nearly one million Jews from their homes in Arab countries, no Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism. The "orthodox" Palestinian "narrative" takes no responsiblity, offers no self-reflection, continues with its rejectionist rhetoric and actions, and tells its own share of lies and half-truths. Jacob, you may think you are peace campaigner, but true peace makers don't demonize one side of a conflict, but rather try to understand both sides' hurts and grievances, and then act a s bridge between the two parties.

First, exactly on what grounds do you assert with such conviction that Israel's hasbara is "misrepresentations at best and outright lies at worst"? Actually, that sounds like a fairly accurate description of the news you get from the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, France 2, El-Pais, and the rest of the neo-liberal European media regarding Israel. Evidence is ample on their heavy bias against Israel. Second. When the international community will hold the Arabs accountable for one-tenth of their numerous violations of international laws, be it against Israelis or more frequently, against their own people - that's when the international community will have the moral authority to preach to Israel. Until that happens, and until Hamas, Jihad and Hizbullah would fight according to international laws, we will fight these terrorists in a way they understand. Third. On what grounds do you assert that Israel should "withdraw to its own borders"? Who are you to determine what Israel's borders are? If you ask most Arabs, especially Hamas and Hizbullah operatives, they'll say Israel has no borders, because ALL of it is considered 'occupied Palestine'. Tel Aviv isn't more Israeli than East Jerusalem. However, a more sensible answer that should be adapted by moderates, is that Israel's borders haven't been set yet. The '67 green line signifies nothing political, and has nothing to do with the Palestinians. It is merely Israel's former border with Jordan. Since Jordan lost the war it started with Israel, they lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and hence have no legal authority to give this area to the Palestinians. Israel won this territory fair and square, and thus Israel is the only one to decide how much of this territory would be given to the Palestinians for their future state. The Palestinians could either continue to riot, shoot rockets and send suicide bombers, or they could sit down and negotiate for a peaceful solution. We've been quite generous in the past with them, not so sure we'll continue this policy, after our peaceful offers were answered so many times by bloody terror. Fooled us once - shame on them. Fooled us two, three, four times? Definitely shame on us. Well, so much for your own misrepresentations and outright lies.

iam with you .i could understand your point but if i want to make it in my simple english i would say ... if the jewish state will harm the noughbors .the palastinians or arabs or will hurt the me. stability or the world security ..all of the world will be against its existance .. so the last paragraph of this article still a jewish or more correct an israili thought even its right you can not give it as a tablet or as spoonful of medicin ..it is not becouse the time is changed but logic benifits do not say that

If people knew the real facts (as opposed to the distortions shown in much of the European media), the good makority would support Israel. A completely false image of Israel exists in Europe and Israel needs to commit some serious money (say $250mn pa) for a professional PR campaign to let people know th way things really are.

While I believe it was time for someone to say this openly, I believe he misses a fact: any Arab country, and the palestinians are no exception, behave like animals: harems, gay killings, lapidation, genital mutilation, Saudi slaves... This all has to be dennounced. And this won't be PR, but must be done.

Israel could improve its image by proving that it respects everyone´s human rights. But to prove it, it would have to actually do it. Focusing on image instead of actually taking a self-critical insight on Israeli discriminatory policies is actually living on denial, and it doesn´t go anywhere.

Israel should try to develop Zionist video games for children. This way they can connect to Israel as the "Good Guys". They say the "Exodus" book by Leon Uris in 1958, was very good at turning Americans and other people to be more sympathetic to Israel and its early struggles. I think people would respond to a work of entertainment that puts Israel as the "Good Guy" fighting for survival and justice and it's enemies as the clearly vilainous "Bad Guy". I chose video games because they seem to be very popular today. You can have games from the "Six Day War", "Entebbe Raid", things that are positive and good about Israel.

In order to gain legitimacy and change Israel's view / perception in the world and change it to a more positive one , Israel has to stop mistreating /killing Palestinians , set them free and insure their well being. It is only then that Israel's image will change. No more words but deeds.

"ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST AS AN INDEPENDENT JEWSIH STATE" "The issue is not settlements, not the Golan, not Gaza and not even Jerusalem" *** HOW CAN WE MAKE ISRAEL TO BE MUCH REAL IN ISRAELI EYES ? "FORGET ABOUT THE GAZA FORGET ABOUT THE SETTLEMENTS, FORGET ABOUT GOLAN, FORGET ABOUT JERUSALEM" lets just try to remember that ISRAEL HAS BEEN LIVING AS AN TRUE INDEPENDENT JEWISH STATE FOR 62 YEARS BUT A BANANA REPUBLIC ! am not I right ? understand and save me :)

"The issue is not settlements, not the Golan, not Gaza and not even Jerusalem. The real issue and the only one that means anything is Israel’s right to exist as an independent Jewish state, a nation state where its people, the Jewish people, exercise self-determination. That is the message, and that is what our citizens and the world need to understand." STOP STOP. DONT MAKE ME CRY. OR SAVE ME TO UNDERSTAND YOU.

wow ! I again hit the nail.

THANKS FOR THE JOKE....I need for a bit of laughter This morning