On the 29th of December 2008, in the middest of her operation in Gaza, Israeli Defence Force Spokesperson’s Unit launched own YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk?ob=1). So far, 31 videos including clips from the front line as well as comments from officials were uploaded, and the channel was accessed close to one million times world wide. All videos are either recorded or subtitled in English which implies the expectation of non-Israeli viewers, especially from the US and the UK. What is the intention behind this channel? Moreover, what would be the effects and consequences?
Viewing some video clips of the so-called “smart bombs” or pinpoint strikes, one can easily stepped into the memory of the Gulf War. In 1990 and 1991, national broadcasts in the US aired the battle scene day-by-day. The picture of the US missiles flew into the dark sky over the Gulf to defeat “evil” Saddam Hussein called for American patriotism and provided high degree of dignity and legitimacy of the mission. If Israel could obtain such legitimacy on her operation in Gaza, she would gather supports and sympathy regardless of the reality on the ground (amorally speaking). Further strengthening this argument, the Israeli spokesperson appeared on the video emphasizing that Israel is not targeting the Palestinian people but the Hamas terrorists.
On one hand, it could be seen as propaganda, but on the other hand, it could be seen as Israel’s demand and necessity of supports from international community more than the US backup in the UN Security Council. While the Arab countries are obviously not in favor of this operation, Egypt, for example, is not yet willing to commit anti-Israel campaign led by Hamas. Rather, some Arab elites seem to worry about the Hamas-Syria-Iran axis being strengthened if Israel retreats early. If Israel could obtain some degree of dignity described above, it would be easier for non-pro-Iran Arab leaders to be silent to observe Hamas getting weakened.
In 2006, Israel attacked Hezbollah bases in Lebanon. This ground operation caused serious damages on local infrastructure, and thus Israel paid some moderate sum of money to Lebanese government.. However, before Lebanese government’s aid reached to the local community, Hezbollah, allegedly supported by Iran, distributed considerable amount of cash directly to the local people in exchange with the support for Hezbollah. This was a catastrophic PR failure for Israel, and hence, this mistake led her to consider more populist PR campaign such as the YouTube channel.
YouTube is, after all, utilized in the political scenes in the US even during the presidential election of 2008. Speeches of Obama, Clinton, McCain, and others (and parody of them) frequently appeared on it, and millions of Americans obtained political information from it. Particularly, young generations who strongly supported Obama are the core of the YouTube users. Israel, who already has a strong political lobby in Washington, may dream to strengthen her influence on the next US administration by establishing positive relationship with such young Obama supporters.
After all, uploading video clips on YouTube does not cost anything. So, one may easily ignore the possible effects on inter-state or international affairs (the so-called “high politics”). Yet, this PR campaign of Israel, probably targeting young Americans, could result in the shift of the US public opinion of the young generations from anti-war liberal to more center neutral. Although it is almost impossible to predict exact consequences, this PR campaign is worth to try for Israel.
The leaders of Europe and the US must be careful because any pro-Hamas organizations can successfully provoke such shift in public opinion. Of course, we cannot regulate YouTube and other Internet directory due to the freedom of expression. Nonetheless, we need to obtain/provide unbiased information regarding the conflict before the coincide Israeli-Hamas PR war stirs up the mind of our voters.
