Israel's 'PR commando' takes on Hamas's 'explosive condoms'
Foreign Affairs Ministry decides to take a new aggressive approach in light of PR challenges and use unconventional Twitter and Facebook memes, explaining that young audiences 'have to be addressed in a catchy, clear manner and through concepts they know and can relate to.'
Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told Ynet, "We've decided to switch to more aggressive and sarcastic PR, with a bit more chutzpa, that provides a quick stark response (to negative PR of Israel)."
"(The young audiences) have to be addressed as equals, in a catchy, clear manner and through concepts they know and can relate to," a Foreign Ministry official said.
The Ministry's new creative team, headed by Nahshon, is responsible for the new PR project, which involves spokesmanship, contents production and digital media.
"The creative team initiates and provides fast reactions and is available 24/7. It's like a PR commando. We've only begun, and many surprises are still ahead," the head of the team assured.
The team has launched Hamas's "Condoms Terror Campaign," seeking to embarrass the terror organization for flying "explosive condoms" into Israel.
One of the Ministry's tweets shows a cartoon of a Hamas leader holding a creative team meeting. The leader asks the rest of the team how life could be improved in Gaza. The team suggests various options—incendiary kites and explosive condoms. One of the participants suggests the possibility of investing in Gaza instead of in terror and, as punishment, is thrown out the window.
The cartoon's caption reads, "Explosive condoms?!?! Much better ways to improve the living conditions of the population in Gaza."
Another tweet shows a young masked Palestinian who launches a kite affixed with an incendiary device.
"Whoever thinks that the incendiary devices of Hamas are nothing but child’s play is really high as a kite!!! Those are dangerous terrorists trying to kill and inflict damage on Israelis. They should be treated as such," the ministry tweeted.
Following some 45 rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel overnight Tuesday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry posted on Twitter a video depicting the sleepless night in the Gaza border communities.
"Night time, everyone is sleeping, you can only hear the crickets. Last night, 45 rockets were launched from Gaza by Hamas aiming to kill Israeli children, women, and men. How did you sleep last night?" the video said, with Code Red sirens sounding at the background as rockets are launched from Gaza.
The Ministry also prepared a series of memes about the "condom terror" which are expected to be posted soon.
One of the memes shows Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh with a shiny tooth and sparkling eyes with the caption, "I have explosive condoms."
Another meme shows the logo of Durex (a company that sells condoms) with an explosive thread captioned as "By Hamas."
In a third meme, a man asks his friends," Who are we?" They reply, "Hamas." When the man asks "What do we want?" his friends answer, "To improve life in Gaza." When the man asks "What do we do to achieve it?" his friends answer, "Fly incendiary condoms."
The change in the Foreign Ministry's PR approach commenced at the beginning of the month after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wrote a post on Twitter slamming Israel.
"Our stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken. Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: It is possible and it will happen," Khamenei tweeted.
The Israel Embassy to the US responded with an undiplomatic amusing tweet taken from cult movie Mean Girls: "Why are you so obsessed with me?"
The unconventional Israeli response gained tens of thousands of likes and many praises for being creative and clever.
The ministry calls on copywriters and the public who wish to promote the new PR campaign to send creative ideas for Facebook and Twitter memes, as long as they do not encourage violence and have no coarse or political contents.
