Dec 30, 2008 3:00 pm US/Eastern
Israel's Online Ammo: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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The Israel Consulate used its Twitter account to hold an online "news conference" where users could post their questions.
CBS
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Palestinian youths holding stones flash the "V" for victory sign towards Israeli forces during clashes in the center of the West Bank city of Hebron on Dec. 29, 2008.
Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images
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An Israeli soldier rests on an armored personnel carrier (APC) where dozens of the vehicles have been deployed ahead of a possible ground attack against Hamas militants, on Dec. 29, 2008, near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip.
David Silverman/Getty Images
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Israel, Lebanon, Gaza locator map from AP, uploaded July 13, 2006.
AP
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The battle between Israel and Hamas has led to an international outcry to put an end to the violence. Both sides of the conflict are looking to shore up support around the world.
In Tehran on Tuesday, hundreds of students gathered to protest the Israeli military strikes, chanting, "Break the siege on Gaza!"
But the battle for public opinion goes far beyond just protests.
Among the fronts the conflict is being fought: YouTube, where the Israeli government is posting videos of its smart bombs hitting specified targets.
"As the media changes we're trying to change also," said Asaf Shariv Israeli Consul. General
Shariv says new media like YouTube is allowing his country to fight the perception that civilians in Gaza City keep getting killed by Israeli bombings. "We are showing from the air what the airplanes are filming and you can tell they are militants," he says.
The Israeli government is also using blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and Tuesday on Twitter it held a "news conference" where it answered questions from the public.
"We succeeded in that we showed reality in Israel. I think when people
see reality in Israel, they change their perception," says David
Saranga, a spokesman for the Israeli Consulate.
But Palestinians say parts of the world are protesting for a reason and that the Israeli public relations is only putting out what it wants the world to see.
"They're giving people parts of the truth, but not the whole truth," says Lubna Hammad of the Coalition for Justice for the Middle East.
Hammad says even the phone calls by the Israeli army warning Gaza residents their homes might be bombed is an attempt at good p.r., but is nothing but psychological warfare.
"In a sense it is to scare people, but also to satisfy the raging international public opinion of this that we are giving them notice, that we are not indiscriminately bombing civilians and residential areas," she says.
According to the Israeli military, some 640,000 people live within range of Hamas' rockets. The missiles are crude and inaccurate, but they wreak a devastating psychological toll on the civilian population there.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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