Hasbara meeting in London

I attended a meeting on 13th September at the Norris Lea Synagogue in London. The matter for discussion was "Media Bias against Israel". The panel was a mixture of people from politics, journalism, Zionist Federation, Board of Deputies and the Israeli Embassy and was chaired by Dominic Dyer, Executive Director of the American Institute, a non-jew who feels strongly towards Israel and its people.

Of the three hundred or so people in the audience it quickly became obvious that they all felt very impotent, particularly since the recent war in Lebanon. People were generally despairing of the fact that during those weeks they did not know what to do or who to turn to in order to have the media report in a more balanced and unbiased way. Someone had called up the Embassy, but got only a recorded message, others had contacted the Board of Deputies to see what they were doing but their sole input was to have arranged a "rally" at the Jewish Free School in N.West London. This rally was attended by approx two hundred people waving banners.

The BoD said this had garnered media interest and was to show Israel that we were concerned and supporting them, this comment practically had him booed off the podium.

No-one had seen or read any coverage of it other than in the Jewish Chronicle. As the evening wore on, this gentleman was turning green at the gills and it became apparent that there was a great chasm, indeed a technological chasm between the people and the Board who seemed to be living in another time zone. Melanie Phillips the author of "Londonistan" and a journalist for the Daily Mail said that the British press and the BBC consistently told the story where Israel was always the perpetrator and the wrong doer, never giving either a balanced report or a detail of the history and events that had preceded the war - a fait accomplis.

Shmuel Ben Tovin the economic minister (ex PR person) from the Israeli Embassy said that UK Jews should respond more to radio chat shows and make their voices heard instead of remaining silent. He also suggested rallies or demonstrations taking place outside the Iranian and Syrian Embassies, which would show our feelings and of course attract TV cameras. You have to remember here, that the British public, including Jews, are very passive and polite and just let events wash over them, which was clearly demonstrated throughout the weeks of fighting.

Dominic Dyer spoke of bringing Jews and non Jews together, something which I always advocate when I am disseminating articles and information over the net. It is absolutely no use speaking to the converted, we need Christians and Church leaders and there are many who love Israel and hate what is happening to it. To that end, a member of the audience was an Anglican minister , and he spoke of inter-faith meetings being created in a much bigger way.

Another panelist Gavin Gross, was a mature MA student who took it upon himself to email Sky News during the bombing campaign and asked them "Do you want to talk to families in Northern Israel"? "Yes" they replied, and Gavin fixed it up for them! That very night three Jews and three Arabs were interviewed on Sky and the Northern Israel story was brought into the discussion. The media is looking for stories says Gavin, so lets just arrange it for them!

This is an extraordinary and wonderful stance by one individual and has started me sending my information directly to the stations and journalists. GG also said that young people take their news from the blog sites and the woman who runs EUreferendum stood up and verified this. "We put out the truth about what was happening at Quana" she said.

At question time a documentary film maker stood up and said that he shoots footage in Israel/Palestine/Lebanon which is edited to reflect a balanced point of view and has to date sold all his material to the BBC.

Then Richard Millard spoke. This guy takes it upon himself to sit in on Arab meetings from different camps such as The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. Mainly he wants to hear what dogma and untruths they are promulgating. Sometimes he queries a statement, all the while not identifying himself. He is trying to build a picture of what is going on. He has invited me to attend a meeting and as soon as I return to London, I'll be there like a reluctant shot!

By the time I finally got the mic in my hand my question was more salient than it had been when I drove there and planned what I might add to this discussion. I turned to Shmuel Ben Tovin and said "You are an ex PR man, I am an ex advertising person. It seems to me saliently obvious that what is needed here, what everyone is grasping out for is an Advertising Agency like Saatchi and Saatchi or a strong PR machine to act on behalf of Israel, to evaluate what is being printed and reported, to educate the media and the world with articles on Jewish history, with articles about what has taken place in the past fifty years, and more importantly to create a more professional dialogue with the news media in the form of consistent spokespeople in Israel when we are in crisis situations. The funding for this would be easy to acquire either from we Jews in the Diaspora, or the likes of Steven Spielberg or many other concerned Jewish people in the arts/media etc".

Ben Tovin told us that "Brand Israel" which was up for consideration as a PR arm a few years ago, was now being resurrected. This does not placate me one iota, because I know intuitively that we need the heavy weights. Just look at how Hizbollah have demonstrated their media savvy to the point of "directing" dead bodies of children to the camera and having the world's news media buy it without question. Hizbollah own banks, Insurance companies, travel agencies, TV and radio stations in Southern Lebanon. They are conveniently handing out millions of dollars to rebuild peoples homes.

They are so clever and we, we the Jews have all the education and none of the nouse. It beats me! Anyway, it was a very interesting evening and I am in touch with some of these people and look forward to moving forward with them in a greater show of unity and action. To understand that ICJS is unique amongst world Jewry is a great compliment to those of you who started it and continue the long slow battle.

Shalom. Elaine