Branding "Life in Shiloh/Binyamin" to Sell in Tel Aviv

Last week I attended a workshop/seminar run by our local "county," Mateh Binyamin, the Benjamin Regional Council, on how to deal with the media in all types of circumstances and market life in our small towns.

It was held in Yekev Psagot Visitors Center, which is set up to do more than just sell their excellent Psagot wines. As you can see there's a small auditorium. We were given the lowdown, behind the scenes reports on how some of the Binyamin communities coped with the deadly results of Arab terror attacks and reporting to the local and international media.

We live under a magnifying glass, and life isn't dull here. Every single community has some very tragic stories to tell, and we must know how to tell them in a way that shows that nothing will drive us from our homes. We also must protect the families that have been brutally touched by Arab terrorism.

The Regional Council has a professional public relations agency to assist, and one of the more amusing parts of this workshop was when it was mentioned that those professionals, who aren't local, had been transported to the Psagot Winery, just above Mirgron, only a few kilometers north of Jerusalem, by the council in a bullet-proof vehicle. Suddenly there was a big hullabaloo, with people shouting that the road was not considered dangerous, and "Tel Aviv visitors" didn't warrant such special treatment. The participants were arguing over the need for rock-proofing their windows, also, which the government actually pays for if one applies. BYW public transportation Egged Tavura uses ordinary buses to most of the area; only north of Ofra lines, like those to Shiloh, get the bulletproof busses. In all honesty, there have been shootings south of Ofra and even near Psagot, but Jewish residents of that part of Binyamin prefer to think of themselves in a safer place than Shiloh for example.

We were asked by the Public Relations experts for examples of ordinary and exemplary life in the yishuvim so that they could coach us in how to publicize it. And when I mentioned that there are home-grown players and the head coach of the Jerusalem Lions Big Blue Tackle Football Team, I was told that nobody in Tel Aviv would be interested in the fact that there's American football coming out of Mateh Binyamin.  They said that American football does not interest Tel Aviv. (Davka, last week's big victory by the Lions was over the Petach Tikva team.) That's when it hit me that I market (blog) to a different audience.

As everyone can easily see, I write in English, although I have no problem speaking Hebrew and understanding it. Therefore my audience is either abroad (Jews and non-Jews) or other Israelis like myself.

Apparently, the regional council has these workshops periodically, and I'll attend more to see what tips I can get from the experts. But I was disappointed that their focus is so parochial or short-sighted, especially when Israeli politicians and media keep touting that we must please the outside world.

What do you think? I'm curious; please comment, thanks.

Rebranding Won't Help Israel With Obama at the Helm

A good friend sent me this Spengler piece on U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama.  "Who is Barack Obama," by  David P. Goldman.  I wonder if Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Foreign Ministry staff have read it.

The Foreign Ministry, even prior to Bibi's election has been attempting "rebranding" to make Israel more "popular."  Israeli politicians and ordinary citizens are terribly naive and desperate for foreign approval.

United States President Barack Hussein Obama is not sympathetic to Israel, the opposite.  He's not susceptible to the arguments and urgings that worked and works with other American politicians.  Remember he was raised abroad by an extreme Leftist anti-American mother.

Barack Obama is a clever fellow who imbibed hatred of America with his mother’s milk, but worked his way up the elite ladder of education and career. He shares the resentment of Muslims against the encroachment of American culture, although not their religion. He has the empathetic skill set of an anthropologist who lives with his subjects, learns their language, and elicits their hopes and fears while remaining at emotional distance. That is, he is the political equivalent of a sociopath. The difference is that he is practicing not on a primitive tribe but on the population of the United States.


There is nothing mysterious about Obama’s methods. “A demagogue tries to sound as stupid as his audience so that they will think they are as clever as he is,” wrote Karl Krauss. Americans are the world’s biggest suckers, and laugh at this weakness in their popular culture. Listening to Obama speak, Sinclair Lewis’ cynical tent-revivalist Elmer Gantry comes to mind, or, even better, Tyrone Power’s portrayal of a carnival mentalist in the 1947 film noire Nightmare Alley. The latter is available for instant viewing at Netflix, and highly recommended as an antidote to having felt uplifted by an Obama speech.

Passover cleaning is more than ridding the house of bread crumbs.  We must clean the chametz, ghetto mentality from our minds.

We're Still Here!

Israel is a thriving country, so why have various map-makers wiped us off? Beware before buying globes and maps. Check carefully and boycott those which don't include Israel.

Rahel was surprised to discover "Palestine" on a globe in place of Israel at the International Book Fair.

Newsweek, never Israel's fan has also eliminated us from their map.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry should be working hard to protest these "slights." It seems like Rebranding's "Bimbos on the Beach" have drowned.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry's "Rebranding" Is The Wrong Medicine

Anti-Israel hatred on the US and world campuses won't be cured/corrected by Tsippi Livni's Foreign Ministry's "bimbos on the beach" advertising campaign. It's like putting a band aid on the skin over a cancerous liver.


The Arabs and all stripes of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic Leftists have been working a long time, and they are enjoying deep support for their policies. And their policies are dangerous for Israel.

Changing this requires lots of work in the media, campuses, Jewish communities etc. It can't be done by the Foreign Ministry hacks who believe that we can buy "peace" by giving our precious Land to the Arabs.

Nobody's Instructing Me What To Write and What To Post!

Hat tip IMRA

Am I part of an Israeli hasbara, information, effort?
"Yes!"

Am I getting instructions from some official or professional group?
"No!"

If you check my blog archives, you'll discover that I was also blogging during the "nameless" aka Second Israeli-Lebanese War. My posts didn't get as much play then as this time. It could be because nobody sent out twice-daily updates with links to blogs and mainstream media the way Jack has been doing this war.

One thing I must admit is that I have no doubt that Olmert, as wily a politician as one could find in this world, definitely gave orders to correct the government's and military's PR, Public Relations. I mocked his excuse that he should stay in office after the Lebanese debacle, because since he fouled up, he had to fix it. But Olmert's no dummy. If the blogging and twittering and youtubing look like an organized effort, it's because the government information office is working better.

Last summer I attended the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention, and one of the main speakers was from the Information Department of the Foreign Ministry. Yes, they do take us seriously.

And now the IDF Spokesperson has an English site and youtube.

I just wonder when and if this will all impact, the official and unofficial efforts, on world opinion.

ReBranding--We're Not Toothpaste!

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has hired an international pr firm to rebrand Israel. That's a euphemism for changing Israel's image. In principle it's a good idea, but like good intentions, the results may be the road to Hell.

When I was at the International Jewish Bloggers Conference, not very long ago, we heard Foreign Ministry official explain all about Israel's terrible world image.

Let's say, "agreed," we need an image change, but it should be done well. Israel isn't just toothpaste or cream rinse. The usual pr and advertising tactics won't make Israel a more popular place. It's not a matter of changing the packaging or color scheme.

First diagnose the problem. What are the symptoms? In the study described at the conference we discovered that ordinary Americans think of Israel as an unfriendly armed camp. They think we live in fear.

The cure has to counteract that. Bragging about our technological feats and strutting bikini-clad beauties won't do the trick.

Research should be done to discover when Israel was most popular. You can save your money. Israel was most popular just after the 1967 Six Days War. The world, Jewish and non-Jews, were in awe of the tiny state, who without a single ally, defeated three enemy armies in six days. Israel was proud and safe. Dangers came with each "peace" treaty.

I wish I could market myself as a public relations consultant. Think of all the money these pr experts are getting...

Why Dead Jews Again?

One of my long-time pet peeves about the Israeli Government's "must see" for foreign visitors is the fact that Yad Veshem is at the top of the list.

It's so obvious why foreigners think of Israel as a dangerous place. The Foreign Ministry's "rebranding campaign" will never be successful for as long as they take people to Yad Veshem. And they're doing it again.

Mayors from 40 Countries to Visit Yad VaShem

Go to our beautiful new cities, like, Maale Adumim and Ariel. Show off our technological innovations and hi tech industries like in Jerusalem's Har Chotzvim or in Malcha. There's also plenty to see in Israeli agriculture.

Show that we're alive and thriving!