How Israel's Propaganda Machine Works

As in past Mideast conflicts, both the media story line and political commentary here in the U.S. has closely followed Israel's talking points on the war. This has been an essential component in Israel's early success and in its ability to prolong fighting without U.S. pushback. Because it recognizes the importance of the propaganda war, Israel fights on this front as vigorously and disproportionately as it engages on the battlefield.

Here's how they have done it:

1) Define the terms of debate, and you win the debate. Early on, the Israelis work to define the context, the starting point, and the story line that will shape understanding of the war. In this instance, for example, they succeeded by constant repetition, in establishing the notion that the starting point of the conflict was December 19th, the end of the six-month ceasefire (which Israel described as "unilaterally ended by Hamas"). In doing so, they ignored, of course, their own early November violations, and their failure to honor their commitment in the ceasefire to open Gaza's borders. They also ignored their having reduced Gaza into a dependency, a process which began long before and continued after their withdrawal in 2005. Because they know that most Americans do not closely follow the conflict and are inclined to believe, as the line goes, "what they hear over and over again," this tactic of preemptive definition and repetition succeeds.

2) Recognize that stereotypes work. Because, for generations, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been defined with positive cultural images of Israel and negative stereotypes of Palestinians, Israel's propagandists have an advantage here that is easy to exploit. Because the story has long been seen as "Israeli humanity confronting the Palestinian problem," media coverage of any conflict begins with how "the problem" is affecting the Israeli people. As Golda Meir once put it, "We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children, but we can never forgive them for making us kill their children." And so, it was not surprising that, despite the disproportionate suffering of the Palestinians, media coverage attempted to "balance" the story, giving an extensive treatment, with photos, of anguished and fearful Israelis and the impact the war was having on them. Early on, when media treatment mattered most, Palestinians were reduced, as always, to mere numbers or objectified as "collateral damage."

3) Anticipate and count on your opponent's blunders. Hamas' stupidity played into Israel's strategy. From the outset, Israel could count on the fact that Hamas would launch rockets and issue the kind of threats that Israel could then parley into sympathy in the West. Knowing that these would most certainly come, and could be exploited, was an advantage in their propaganda war.

4) Be everywhere, and say the same thing -- and make sure your opponents remain as invisible as possible. Israel begins each war with a host of English-speaking spokespersons (many born in the West) available at any time for every media outlet (it's no accident, for example, that Israel has an "Arab" Consul General in Atlanta - that's where CNN is). The work of their propaganda operation, which spreads multiple spokespersons in venues across the United States with consistent talking points, guarantees success. At the same time, they are able to deny media access to Gaza, only allowing the Western reporters to operate near the war zone under IDF supervision, guaranteeing Israel the opportunity to shape every aspect of the story while removing the possibility of independent verification of the horror unfolding in Gaza.

5) Give no ground. Since half of the story will be determined by what political leaders say and do, the political apparatus in Washington is also pressed into service, ensuring that White House and Congressional leadership will "toe the line." Statements issued by Congress, therefore, reflect the talking points and, together, the Israeli spokespersons, the political commentators, and the Congressional statements serve as echoes of one another.

6) Deny, deny, deny. When events and reality break through, contradicting the Israeli-established narrative, creating stories that run counter to the imposed story line, the propaganda machine works overtime to deny, deny, deny (saying quite boldly, "Who do you believe, me or your lying eyes?"), and/or concoct a counter-narrative that shifts the blame ("We didn't do it, they made us"). In this instance, that means asserting that the death of Palestinian civilians is always the fault of someone else, or that reporters or their opponents are staging the photos of grief (as if to say, "Arabs don't really grieve like we do").

7) The last refuge.... When all else fails, point to a few examples of outrageous anti-Semitism, generalize them, suggesting that that is what motivates critics. It stings, and may be over-used, but it can silence or put critics on the defensive.

Comments

[exotic]

Thanks Mr. Zogby for a great article. The cnn's, msnbc's, etc.. should use you for reporting great insight.

[43P04T34]

This is the most useful, insightful commentary I have ever read on HuffPo.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[Infokronea]

A "retired" member of Israeli intelligence who now heads one of these pro-Israel PR outlets once cut me short when I referred to falsified data that was steering us into a war with Iran (not to mention the war with Iraq) as "propaganda". He said, "we don't like that word, we would prefer it if you wouldn't call it that". He didn't argue that I was wrong about my facts, but was haggling with me about what name we used to define his organization's lies, especially when we spoke to members of Congress.

Time & again, I've seen the same group of Neo-cons and their Israeli associates from the far right that lied us into Iraq tell me that Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims are monsters, terrorists, and that President-elect Obama is one of them. Fighting words, true enough. But don't allow yourselves to be distracted into yet another pointless debate. Look beyond the propaganda, beyond the language designed to distract you from the real issues, language designed to buy the far right more time to act. Look at the military industrial complex and its relationship with the far right in Israel and the US. Think about the impact of the end of the Cold War on such a specialized predator. Think about what kind of creatures rise to power when the economy is bad and the Middle East burns and yes, in classic Watergate style, follow the money.

[cinemaven]

It helps to destroy the infrastructure and media outlets of those you attack and also deny them electricity. I know that the Gaza bloggers I've been following have had a horrible time trying to get access to enough power to get their messages out but that doesn't help with my fears that they've been killed when they miss a day of blogging.

http://gazalinks.blogspot.com/

These are links to some regular bloggers in Gaza including the blog of a Canadian medic and a 23 year old journalist.

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

Sadly these basic truths are just the tip of the iceberg. Contemplating what's submerged is quite distrubing.

[evekendall]

Dr. Zogby, thank you for this important post. It should be a lead story.

[maddie0001]

Nice article. I'm just glad in these days of the Internet I can go to Al Jeezera or Al Arabia and see for myself.

The media constantly complains that Western media is not allowed into Gaza. I think that's a smack at the Arab media, who are doing a fine job.

[MagisterLudi]

Examples of propaganda:

In 1984 Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass published a book called 'The Matzah of Zion' which claimed that Jews had killed Christian children in Damascus to make Matzas (see Damascus affair). His book inspired :
"Horseman without a Horse," Egyptian TV series.
[BBC] "The television series has been appearing on both Egyptian and other Arab channels for the past two weeks,
Egyptian human rights group has rebuked the state broadcasting authority for showing a television series widely criticised as anti-Semitic. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2493613.stm

The " Horseman" inspired a spin off, The Diaspora, aired by Lebanese international TV, al-Manar

BBC reporters who watched the series, The Diaspora "note that it quotes extensively from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious 19th century publication used by the Nazis among others to fuel race hatred."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3581514.stm

Any comments Mr. Zogby?
The French broadcasting authority (CSA) took al-Manar to court over the drama,The Diaspora, which it described as "intolerable".

[Horst]

Mein Kampf and the Protocols of Zion in hotels and airports throughout the Muslim world...even "modern" Turkey. Let's face the Arab world is in a death spiral...overpopulation, lousy education, lack of civil rights for women, massive unemployment, and almost universal corruption. None of this would change if Israel ceased to exist tomorrow.

[karmafriend]

BRAVO!

[MagisterLudi]

Official governmental and religious sources in Islamic world resorts to most crude and despicable portrayal of Jews including: Mass publishing and sales of Protocls of Elders of Zion, repeated translations of Hitler's Mein Kampf, teaching school children the concept of blood libel,
wholesale Holocaust denial,
Some samples of hallucinatory propaganda:
In 2002, Egypt's government-sponsored television aired a miniseries based on the Protocols.

".... The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" did not ignore the importance of using propaganda to promote the Zionist goals. "The second protocol reads: 'Through the newspapers we will have the means to propel and to influence'. "In the twelfth protocol: 'Our governments will hold the reins of most of the newspapers, and through this plan we will possess the primary power to turn to public opinion.' Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, January 25, 2001

"Israelis have built their state upon a collection of myths with no truthful basis. Hence, the Zionist organizations were struck with fear when Roger Garaudy wrote about the myth of the extermination of Jews in ovens by the Nazis in World War II."
Al-Akhbar, July 24, 1998, by Wajya Abu Thawkri, staff journalists.

[MagisterLudi]

Human Rights Watch:
Becuause the Palestinian groups fire these weapons at populated areas and the rockets are too inaccurate to aim at military targets with any degree of precision, the attacks violate the international humanitarian law prohibitions against attacks that target civilians or are indiscriminate.
Furthermore, the groups have launched rocket attacks from locations close to populated areas in which they failed to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians under their control against the effects of the attacks, including by not deploying military targets near densely populated areas.

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/10911/section/7

[FatherKindly]

It says a lot about Hpo that this article can't get a lead headline. America needs to wake up about what is really going on in the ME.

[MagisterLudi]

It can't become lead headline it is a fairly one sided and highly biased opinion. Without any credible references. The statements in quotation marks are personal generalizations, not attributed quotes.

[SanFernandoCurt]

"Statements issued by Congress, therefore, reflect the talking points and, together, the Israeli spokespersons, the political commentators, and the Congressional statements serve as echoes of one another"...

Evidently, the non-exixtent Israeli lobby cited by Walt and Mearsheimer has, at least, SOME phantom power. And last week's Congressional resolution, apparently typed up at Likud headquarters, bears that out. There is, however, one other element in the Last Refuge: Play the victim. Those bestial Gazans forced poor li'l Israel to pulverize them. No wonder more and more Americans are beginning to question this whole corrupt process.

[ahmed777]

very true.Israel been lying in America for years, and killing and destroying in the middle east.I was sad to hear President Bush calling war crimes and sloughter self defence, not a word of sympathey for the hundreds of children killed.Israel is criminal state.how many countris u know use F-16 to attck civilans?

[ravenrock]

There are a few Michaels in Canada as well. Brainwashed citizens speaking out. "

Go towards the light Michael.