Tying Shoelaces

Twice in the space of 48 hours, Israel’s PR machine has come to the fore. Or, as the case may be, hasn’t.

The first was following a damning report by the State Comptroller into the events surrounding the so-called Peace Flotilla (which was anything but peaceful) and particularly the Mavi Marmara. Mark Twain said it best: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” In this case, the Israeli PR machine was still learning to tie its own laces. Simon Plosker writes better than I can on this subject. I heard our Foreign Minister speak on the radio last night, bemoaning the fact that government PR is in the hands of too many cooks. IDF spokesperson, Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister’s office and more. They all had a hand in the reporting of this case and each of them failed spectacularly. As a team effort, it was even worse. However, that’s all now in the past. I’m sure lessons will be learnt. Maybe.

The second case is much more current, but is one that hasn’t hit the foreign headlines at all.

We’re all heading towards the end of the school year, in the Northern Hemisphere at least. Schools and nurseries put on shows and parties to celebrate the end of another year and to show off their skills, talents and achievements.

This nursery in Gaza is no different. The children dressed up, put on a play, sang songs, and merrily went about showing their parents in the audience (some of whom, it is no surprise to find, are actively involved in the terrorist organisations mentioned) what it was that they have been taught. Nursery children. Four, perhaps five years old. This is what the Gaza “State School” system is teaching. It takes pride in inspiring terrorism, in promoting death as a way of eternal life, in advocating murder, mass murder if possible, as a chosen path.

This article is the ONLY one I’ve found in English. There may be more, but I can’t seem to find them. There have been several throughout the Hebrew press, which is important, but almost none that speak to a foreign audience. It is a story that highlights who our so-called partner for peace really is; what their ideology is, what they are teaching their children. Yet, the rest of the world knows nothing about it (or perhaps is too busy perfecting its continued personification of the three monkeys) and continues to lambaste Israel for its reluctance to move the peace process forwards.

The Foreign Ministry, according to one of the articles, is carefully examining the content for possible use in Hasbara, or PR, overseas. Possible use? Whilst the propaganda machine on the other side continues running its lies throughout the world?

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his team are still learning to tie their shoelaces.