Defending Israel Against Claims of Excessive Force

Welcome to the new installment of Digital Diplomats.

With the media spotlight again focusing on the Arab-Israeli conflict as the top news story from the Middle East and around the world, the time is right to launch a new series of Digital Diplomats media-training initiatives.

Our first series of videos focused on teaching people how to be effective advocates for Israel. Feedback from the thousands who enrolled in the program convinced us to follow up by looking at several core issues with greater depth.

The new series will consist of slide shows that illustrate the problems and how we can all contribute to solving them. Slide shows allow us to present powerful information in an entertaining and visually stimulating way while giving the viewers complete control over the pace of the information. You can move backwards or forwards as you wish without losing the thread of the message.

Our first slide show examines Israel’s media image as an aggressor using excessive force against the Palestinians.

Too often, the media fails to distinguish between Palestinian aggression and Israeli self-defense. Media coverage often gives the impression that Israel initiated violence when in fact Israel was responding to a Palestinian provocation.

In the slide show, we identify three ways that the media makes Israel appear to be the aggressor in the conflict with the Palestinians:

1. Reporting on events out of order: News headlines often give the impression that Israel initiated violence when in reality, Israel was responding to violence against civilians initiated by Palestinian terrorists.
2. Leaving out context: The media often fails to report essential information that leaves people unable to understand the rationale behind Israel’s policy or actions.
3. Framing the news in terms of Israeli aggression: Reporters often speculate about how Israel will respond to violence, placing an aura of aggression around Israel even before Israel acts.

We hope that the information in our slide show will help Israel’s Digital Diplomats recognize how the media distorts the news and how to speak out against these distortions whenever they appear.

The Digital Diplomats program provides advocacy training and information to help people become effective advocates for Israel. Please share our materials with anyone who could benefit from them.