'Targeted killings make PR difficult'

Israeli ambassadors to Europe say the credibility of the IDF is being damaged.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
targeted hit gaza 88 (photo credit: )
targeted hit gaza 88
(photo credit: )
Officials at the Foreign Ministry are worried about the public relations failure of explaining the IDF policy of targeted killings in Gaza, Army Radio reported on Friday. In the last few days Israeli ambassadors to Europe expressed doubt about whether it was possible to change public opinion on the continent about the killings. "Israel is being criticized due to the number of civilians -among them children - killed in IDF operations in the last few weeks," the diplomats told Army Radio. The ambassadors reported the matter to the Foreign Ministry in Israel, and they stated that due to the large amount of innocent adults and children killed in the botched IAF operations, the credibility of the IDF is being damaged and because of this, the Israeli PR message was not being accepted by their colleagues abroad. "It is hard to expect people to feel empathy towards the children of Sderot when the news pictures being sent from Gaza every day show children being killed or wounded in IAF operations," one of the ambassadors said. Even Nachman Shai, nicknamed "the national PR man" is having a hard time doing PR for Israel abroad: "It is not possible to explain what happened here and receive support for it". Shai stated that no one knew how to explain the fact that so many civilians had been killed by the IAF lately. The director-general for media and public affairs at the Foreign Ministry, Gideon Meir, said Thursday in an interview with Army Radio that the view on the situation in the Middle East from Europe was predetermined. "Europe judges everything that happens in the Middle East through its colonial past. Having said that, there has recently been a significant improvement in our relations with Europe. I think that in the long run, our image in the minds of the public is better than it has been in the past. For example US public opinion hasn't changed since the Six Day War," he said.