That Israeli Information Machine in Action: Overlooking the "Bloody Conflict"

There has been an exceptional amount of media fluff about the wondrous Israel information/propaganda/hasbara effort in the Gaza conflict. Yet, for all the acknowledged prowess of Tel Aviv on televisions-talkboards-YouTube-Twitter, here's a rule-of-thumb: the dead, cold reality of civilian deaths, sooner or later, will overtake your use flashy, hot new media.

Here's an example:

David Saranga, the Israeli Consul for Media and Public Affairs in New York, was quick on the Twitter this morning about an article in The Guardian of London on Israel's efforts: "Winning the Media War". Rachel Shabi notes that the coordinated hasbara effort has "got world media repeating the Israeli government's core messages practically verbatim".

So what's the problem? Well, Saranga might have done well to check the secondary headline on The Guardian piece before hitting his "Send" button:

Twitter, YouTube, blogs – Israel has proved a master of networking. Shame it's being used to promote a bloody conflict

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[Give me a break]

Iraq Palestinians see hypocrisy in Maliki denouncing Israel's Gaza attack
By LEILA FADEL
McClatchy Newspapers

The roads are strewn with trash, and sewage fills the gutters in Baghdad's Baladiyat district, which for decades has been home to Iraq's biggest Palestinian community. Banned from holding Iraqi citizenship, even if they were born here, Palestinians lost some of the few rights.

Palestinians aren't wanted in Iraq.

"All of my life I have had no passport, no ID, and I'm sitting here living on barakat (blessings)," said Huda Saleh, 39, who runs a small Palestinian children's club.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's public denunciation of the "major crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza" evoked a bitter laugh from Saleh as she riffled through pictures of Palestinians thought to have been killed by Iraqi Shiite Muslim militias and National Police commandos during the height of sectarian violence.

"When Maliki talks about Gaza, I ask, 'What are you doing to us?'" she said. "When Iran talks about Gaza, I think, 'Who killed us? Wasn't it your people?'" she asked, referring to Iraqi Shiite militias supported by Iran who targeted them for their supposed allegiance to Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party. "God created us to be beaten, and wherever we go we're abused."