Israel’s Foreign Ministry Borrows From the Settlers for Its Propaganda
Image by Via Youtube
Gal Beckerman July 27, 2011
Israel’s deputy foreign minister and Twitter warrior, Danny Ayalon, recently released a video over YouTube that is doing quite well — posted on July 11, it now has nearly 180,000 hits. In it, Ayalon tries to explain why he thinks the West Bank should not be referred to as “occupied” and that settlements are not in effect settlements.
“Israel’s presence in the West Bank is the result of a war of self-defense and should not be seen as occupied territory; because there was no sovereign body there before, it should be called disputed,” Ayalon says in the video. “Please, let’s stop using the terms ‘occupied territories’ and ‘’67 borders,’ they’re simply not politically correct.”
Debate his history and the validity of what he’s saying — as most any reasonable observer of the conflict can do with a hand tied behind her back — but at least you have to admit that the presentation sure is slick. The video was created by filmmaker Shlomo Blass, who was responsible for the less slick and casually racist “We Con the World” video following the flotilla raid last year.
But Bass and the foreign ministry seem to have gotten lazy since, as the Jerusalem Post first pointed out in a glancing reference, Ayalon’s video is identical, image for image and in large part word for word, with one he made in May for the YESHA Council, the organization that represents and lobbies for the settlers. Here’s that video, called “The Territories: Who Do They Belong To?”:
It got far fewer hits — only a couple hundred. But Bass told the Jerusalem Post that it was after viewing this work that the foreign ministry asked if he could make them a version.
Should we not be concerned when the foreign ministry of Israel is using the same propaganda as the settlers? Or should we just assume that their interests are one?
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
