What Happens In Israel Must Stay In Israel

The latest bit of negative news creating worldwide headlines against Israel surrounds the mysterious death of a supposed member of the vaunted Israeli-intelligence service, the Mossad in an Israeli prison in December 2010. A 30-minute  Australian ABC prime-time special ran this week saying that a Melbourne-native was killed which stated that the man “was jailed for unknown reasons in early 2010, ten years after he moved to Israel and years after he was recruited into the Mossad.”

The segment further claimed his “..detention has been one of the most closely-guarded secrets in Israel in recent years, and that the Israeli media unable or willing to report on it and the security establishment has gone to extraordinary lengths to cover up his very existence in prison and the circumstances of his death.”

While the world remains largely in the dark about what transpires in Guantanamo Bay and at countless other American prisons worldwide, The New York Times already only hours after this “Israeli Mossad” story has broken ran a story which states “It remains unclear what Prisoner X might have done to warrant such extreme treatment — and such extreme secrecy, which human rights groups have denounced as violating international law.”

The tiny democratic nation of Israel is surrounded by enemies and has intelligence agencies to protect them. The ABC Report has now spread worldwide – and amidst heavy allegations, Israel as usual is held to a different standard than every other country.  Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Syria – and it’s far from headline news, yet in Israel every Palestinian Arab wounded by a rubber bullet after throwing rocks is worldwide headlines. How many secret prisoners exist with dead foreigners in every single Arab country which never see the light of day or the shine in the media? Israel is continually held to an unfair double standard.

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department memo was leaked and we learned that the most powerful man in the world, President Barack Obama can order American citizens to be killed if they are associated with Al-Qaeda, even if they aren’t actively involved in plotting terror against America.  Could one imagine the worldwide outrage if an Israeli official had these same powers? Indeed, America uses drone strikes to hunt down terrorists, and the leaked U.S. memo shows that un-named “informed, high-level officials” can establish one is active in Al-Qaeda and order them killed – without a trial or public debate.

Obama can order Americans to be killed without a trial – so why is it a surprise that the tiny country of Israel may have imprisioned a security official?

Indeed these stories have run worldwide with rumor and innuendos. Every single Israel-supporter should hope that Israel not provide any official collaboration to this story.  They don’t owe anyone an explanation for their survival. Israel is a nation at constant battle for its survival and their strong intelligence and military is a reality of survival in the tough neighborhood called the Middle East.

Owning a PR firm, I am well aware that sometimes it is fundamental to PR success – and much more important things – to simply keep quiet and keep secrets. What happens in Israel – in this case – should remain a secret in Israel.