Israel 'strikes' world opinion using new media
Foreign Ministry, Israeli embassies around the world circulating photos of major capitals under rocket attacks on and social networks
The latest conflict with Hamas has brought about an upgrade in Israel's PR around the world - instead of seeking empathy by asking people to imagine their hometown under fire, the Foreign Ministry shared photos showing it.
Thanks to Photoshop, pictures of New York, Berlin or Mexico City hit by rockets have been circulated over the media, including on Facebook and other social networks.
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This move was preceded by the sitribution of maps of Israel next to maps of big cities around the world, while indicating on both maps the same scale range of rockets threats.
Buenos Aires 'hit' by rockets
Israel's Embassy in Berlin posted a map of Berlin with areas under "rocket threat" on its Facebook page. The page was shared and commented on by hundreds.
Maps posted by Israel's embassy
These PR efforts were clearly evident on Tuesday, as one of Berlin's most popular newspapers, the Berliner Zeitung, included these maps in its main story, under the headline, "What life is like in a country hit by hundreds of rockets for years. If Berlin were Israel…"
Berliner Zeitung's front page
Another hasbara gimmick by the New Media Unit of the IDF Spokesperson's Office is designed to deal with fake photos showing IAF strikes on civilians, including children in Gaza. The unit produced three video clips titled, "Hamas statements – We know the truth", exposing Hamas' lies regarding the conflict.
The IDF Spokesperson's Office and Israel's embassies around the world posted the videos over social networks, reaching thousands of viewers. The most popular video registered 125,000 views.
London 'hit' by rockets
Dublin 'hit' by rockets
Mexico City 'hit' by rockets
One of the leading videos exposed Hamas's doctored photos of an IDF jet downed by gunmen and fake rocket hits on the Knesset and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Surprisingly enough, the video clips were broadcast with Arabic translation over several TV channels in Gaza, including the Al-Aqsa channel controlled by Hamas.
The current estimate is that the IDF's psychological warfare unit used technological means to plant these videos in Palestinian networks.
