August 04, 2012

Hasbara not working says UK's ambassador to Israel

The Jewish Chronicle and The Guardian are both reporting how the British ambassador to the State of Israel, Matthew Gould, has expressed concern over Israel going down in the estimation of the British public and politicians:

Harriet Sherwood at The Guardian alludes to Gould's mention of hasbara:

"Anyone who cares about Israel's standing in the world should be concerned about the erosion of popular support."
The shift was a result of Israeli government policies, Gould said, suggesting that it could not be countered or obscured by hasbara. The Hebrew word for explanation refers to efforts by the Israeli government and its supporters to promote a pro-Israel agenda and challenge what it sees as negative media coverage.
It's interesting that he mentioned that Israel uses hasbara to "obscure" what is going on but he did, in some way, pay tribute to hasbara:
"Israelis might wake up in 10 years' time and find out that the level of understanding in the international community has suddenly changed, and that patience for continuing the status quo has reduced," he said.
Imagine.  It could take ten years before enough people start, just start, to wise up to the true nature of the State of Israel for Israelis to be concerned.  Hasbara is starting to fail but it's had a remarkable innings.

No comments:

Post a Comment