MIRROR IMAGE

Ami Isseroff takes aim at Newsweek's Michael Hirsh who recently wrote about Israel's bad "image" and, at the same time, used it as an opportunity "for another round of (relatively mild) Israel bashing" - ISRAEL'S BAD IMAGE: BLAMING THE VICTIM.

Books could be, and should be, written about the failings of Israeli public relations and press management. It is under-budgeted, inept, unresponsive and sometimes seems to concentrate on alienating the entire foreign press corps. All that is granted. But all the PR expertise in the world, and all the budget in the world will not solve the problem of Israeli public relations. According to Hirsh for example, it is Israel's fault that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian dictator, upstaged Benjamin Netanyahu when they were both in New York. Israel was at fault because the press found it better infotainment to give fawning interviews to Ahmadinejad, where only the right questions would be asked - the ones he wanted them to ask. Israel was presumably also at fault when Columbia university, having coincidentally gotten a $100,000 bribe from the Alavi foundation, a front for the government of Iran, invited the Iranian dictator to express his views about the Jewish problem, gay rights and democracy.

This article sums up Israel's alleged PR failings perfectly. They are certainly not anywhere near the fault of the Israelis.