Ha'aretz

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Washington - If there is one subject that American Jews have been losing sleep over in the last year, it is Israel's public image as reflected in the American media and as it is absorbed by public opinion. This subject surfaces again and again at Jewish gatherings, in synagogues and in private conversations, and the overall sense is that more can be done to improve Israel's image.

Over the past year, American Jews have tried almost everything in an effort to influence public opinion - from organized boycotts of media outlets, which the boycotters felt provided slanted coverage of Israel, and public demonstrations of solidarity to a concerted effort to influence decision makers in the American administration and on Capitol Hill. Still Jewish activists are frustrated and fear they have not succeeded in the battle over public opinion.

A new poll sponsored by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) indicates that there is reason for the activists' fears. Although the base of support is still strong and Israel's situation in terms of public opinion is infinitely better than that of the Palestinians, in recent months there has been some erosion in support for Israel and an increase in the number of those taking a neutral position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This poll also led to some practical results. Jewish organizations in the U.S. are about to launch a nationwide television advertising campaign relating to Israel. The first Israel-related ad is scheduled to air coast-to-coast in two weeks or so. This is deemed a significant step both in terms of the support it is intended to evoke and the huge financial investment it entails.

The American public opinion survey in July was conducted by a strategic team working under the auspices of the AJC that includes Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic party political strategist who has worked in the past with Ehud Barak; Jennifer Laszlo-Mizrahi, a political consultant and also a Democrat; and Frank Lunz, a poll taker identified with the Republican Party. The poll reviewed attitudes toward Israel among the overall American population, among Jews, among students and among different ethnic groups within the population. The purpose was to ascertain how the American public reacts to different messages relating to Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in order to sharpen the message and the desired emphases in pro-Israel lobbying efforts in the U.S.

Mum's the word

The poll takers are keeping most of the findings confidential and say that it is a survey for the internal purposes of those involved in the field and not for public release. Detailed results were published only in regard to the positions of the Jewish and student populations (both groups voiced strong support for Israel), although the general conclusions of the overall poll did seep out.

The main conclusion is that the passage of time is not working in Israel's favor in the U.S. Although support for Israeli issues is still high in the U.S. and there is no sign of Americans who support Israel switching over to support the Palestinians, the continuing violence and bloodshed on both sides are leading more and more Americans who in the past voiced support for Israel, to adopt a neutral stance that sees both sides as responsible for the situation, and maintains that both parties must make an equal effort to find a solution.

Tired of both sides

The American public is simply starting to tire of both Israelis and Palestinians. "We haven't lost the people, but they're becoming less involved," says Kenneth Bandler, the AJC's media director, who was one of the prime figures involved in the project. From the perspectives of Israel and its U.S. supporters, an increase in neutrality among the American public is not considered good news.

An increase in this trend may be expressed in a reduction of public pressure on Washington to support Israel's positions and may expose decision makers among the American leadership to pressure from the other side. Beyond being exhausted with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the American public is also expressing outright support for the idea of a Palestinian state, to a large extent because of President Bush's stated policy regarding this matter.

After it became clear to all that more intense activity was needed in order to halt the phenomenon of fence sitting when it comes to Israel, the question remains of how to do it.

The poll takers tried to check what could influence the public to reinstate its unequivocal support of Israel and found two main messages that work well on American public opinion. The first is that Israel is a democracy just as the U.S. is, and like it, Israel supports in practice, freedom of expression and equal rights. This message, it turns out, reinforces the connection between Americans and Israel and manages to differentiate between the State of Israel and its Arab neighbors and get the public to move away from its balanced position regarding the conflict.

The second message that was found effective was to highlight as a country actively seeking peace with its neighbors and reference to the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan as well as Israel's willingness to pay a price for peace if there is a suitable partner on the other side. "We have to provide a sense of hope for the future without bashing the other side," says Bandler.

These messages will serve as the basis for the television public relations campaign, which in the first stage will feature a 30-second ad that should be completed this week.

Another key message that is surprisingly absent is denigration of Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. This idea was the basis for pro-Israel ads aired several months ago on some television stations in the Washington, D.C. area. In these ads, Arafat's image was replaced by clips of Osama Bin Laden, shown in slow motion calling out: "Jihad, Jihad, Jihad." These ads attempted to make an association between Arafat and terrorism and between Israel and the U.S. as victims of terrorism. Now public opinion researchers believe this message is not effective, both because it presents Israel as egging on the conflict and displaying hostility and because it is simply superfluous. When the U.S. president appears in the White House and calls for Arafat's replacement while accusing him of supporting terrorism, there is no need to repeat this in a pro-Israel ad. This message has already been absorbed.

The ads will initially air on the cable news stations - MSNBC, Fox News and CNN - based on the assumption that they are the news sources for the population segment that is involved in American political life. It is possible that in the future they will also be aired on public broadcasting stations. The organizers refuse to provide details on the cost of the pro-Israel campaign, but the estimated cost of a nationwide television ad campaign is in the millions of dollars.

Some of the funding comes from the AJC and some of it from donors belong to the Israel 21C group, which unites contributors to Israeli causes in America with high-tech people from Silicon Valley, some of them Israelis, who are promoting technological cooperation between Israel and the U.S. Jennifer Laszlo-Mizrahi and her political consulting firm have been charged with preparing the ads.

No success for Saudis

The state of Israel has no role in this ad campaign. A delegation of people involved in the project including Greenberg, Bandler and Laszlo-Mizrahi recently visited Israel and updated officials in the Prime Minister's Office and at the Foreign Ministry on the status of American public opinion and the emerging campaign, but Israel is not an active partner in it. The organizers stress that this is an American initiative with American planning and American funding. They do not want to be perceived as an arm of the government of Israel.

Organizers expect the launching of the pro-Israel campaign to open a new front in the battle for American public opinion. The Saudis have long been trying to break into the television advertising market, so far unsuccessfully. Despite considerable investment in information campaigns in the U.S. and hiring the services of a prestigious public relations firm, the Saudis were unable several months ago to convince the large cable companies to air their ads, which stress that Saudi Arabia is a friend of the U.S. and is combating terrorism. It is expected that as the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, the Saudis will again try to launch a public relations campaign in order to preempt attempts to criticize the kingdom. The Palestinians and their supporters in the U.S. are for the moment not making use of the television ad option, primarily because of the high costs that are beyond the reach of pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S.

The television campaign is kicking off without sponsorship from the large American Jewish organizations and without having gone through the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations or the Union of Orthodox Jewish Communities of America. This campaign, on the fringes of the American Jewish establishment, to a certain extent also reflects the different views of various figures in the community. While the large organizations adopt the government of Israel's line that calls for a focused and strong action against Arafat, the current campaign, which is expected to be the most notable one in the coming months, adopts a different, softer line that tries to highlight the hope for peace and reduce the impact of the negative message.

Alongside the large organizations' efforts to influence public opinion, groups of American Jews vigorously continue their fight against the large media outlets, which they claim do not provide objective coverage of events.

Jewish groups in New York organized a campaign to cancel their subscriptions to The New York Times; in Los Angeles, a boycott of The Los Angeles Times was arranged and in the capital, a boycott of The Washington Post was organized. The phenomenon recurred in almost every city where there is a substantial Jewish population. Now the sights are aimed at television stations such as CNN and ABC and of course the public radio station, NPR, which many American Jews consider the most anti-Israeli of all.

The group's activities includes boycotts and readers' strikes, contacts with newspaper editors and letters to the editorial offices. After several months of activity, many of those involved reported some success. The voice of the Jews was heard and newspaper editors are showing greater sensitivity to the Israeli position, they say. According to several activists, from the moment the editors and newspaper owners realized that the lack of sensitivity could lead to cancellation of a subscription or a protest outside a paper's editorial offices, they have thought twice when they cover the Middle East.

[By courtesy of Posy McMillen, Fort Worth, USA.]

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Scholars for Peace in the Middle East is dedicated to combating the increasing mis and disinformation about the Middle East situation and addressing the increasing number of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incidents on colleage campuses and is dedicated advocating that Israel has the right to live within safe and secure borders at peace with her neighbors. Contributions can be made through to the Susquehanna Institute, 624 Sandra Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17109-5818. For more information go to www.groups.yahoo.com/group/SPME.