A New Dawn for Israel Public Diplomacy

#Israel Diplomacy, #Media Advocacy, #Hasbara, #Gaza, #Iran, #Hamas, #Sderot Media Center, #Public Affairs, #Minister of Public affairs and Diaspora, #Yuli Edelstein #Operation Cast Lead, #terrorism, #Jihad,


By; Anav Silverman
Sderot Media Center
www.SderotMedia.org.il

18.11.09, Sderot, Israel: For the first time since Operation Cast Lead, senior government officials and Minister of Public Affairs and Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein, gathered together in Sderot to discuss the efficacy of Israel's current public diplomacy in a media forum organized by Sderot Media
Center.



Noam Bedein opened the conference by stating that the primary weak point during Operation Cast Lead was the lack of coordination between advocacy bodies to present the Israeli perspective with on-ground information at an official level.

International Media Advisor to the Deputy Foreign Minister, Ashley Perry, commented that advocacy bodies must think not only of tactics in the public diplomacy battle.

"Having a unified strategy in presenting Israel's case is critical. The other side has been working on delegitimizing the Jewish state of Israel for years with a well-thought out strategy especially in terms of the Internet," Perry said.


"When prominent people from all over the world believe that Sderot is a settlement somewhere and has no idea of the context of the Gaza conflict, we cannot assume that people outside of Israel know the basics," Perry added.





Minister of Foreign Affairs Deputy Spokesman, Andy David commented on the positive effect of Sderot Media Center as a grassroots organization. "SMC has the power to communicate the voices of Sderot residents in a way that the Foreign Ministry, a formal government body, cannot. Sderot Media Center's work in social networking, cultural projects and presentations to student groups are like diamonds in this advocacy field that need to be advanced further."



Government Press Office Director, Danny Seaman, agreed. Seaman stated that Sderot Media Center's Community Treatment Theater project "has been the best piece of hasbara that Israel has seen in a long time."

"Only girls who have actually grown up under rocket fire can perform a play about Qassam rockets as realistically as these high school actresses do.”

Sderot Mayor, David Buskila and and Director of the IDF Public Relations Branch, Lieutenant, Asaf Liberty also participated in the panel discussion.


Knesset Minister, Yuli Edelstein, thanked Sderot Media Center for organizing the media forum and for their advocacy work on behalf of Sderot residents. "SMC does a great job portraying the human side of Sderot and getting basic facts out to the world."

Bedein gave an overall summary of Sderot Media Center’s work during and since Operation Cast Lead.






"Our work here, as a grassroots media organization, is unique because of our close interaction with the residents here. Most of the SMC staff live in Sderot and have experienced the rocket attacks and alarms, as well as the relative ceasefires, along with the rest of the community. We are the only information source available here in the western Negev dealing directly with the rocket reality and its impact on Israeli civilians."

"During Operation Cast Lead and after, SMC has worked with hundreds of foreign journalists, political figures and college student groups, to communicate the situation of Sderot residents. When we visit the UN, Capitol Hill, the Australian Parliament and other governments and international organizations, we directly represent the people of Sderot,” said Bedein.


"The goal of this forum tonight is to find a way to utilize our work, our documentation of Sderot and Negev life under this rocket reality, in preparation for the next rocket war and media battle," Bedein concluded to the press.
“Tonight is a stepping point for public advocacy bodies to meet and find ways to cooperate towards a new dawn for Israel public diplomacy.”

Photos: Roy Borovski
Video: Tal Avitan

Support Sderot Treatment Theater, Therapy Balancing Gaza Story

#Theater, #Therapy, #Rockets, #Hamas, #Gaza, #Sderot Media Center, #Jihad, #Trauma, #PTSD,#terroism, #War crimes, #Goldstone report, #Iran,




"The positive impact of the theater therapy process clearly showed in the way these girls performed tonight--full of confidence and assurance."
Dalia Yosef, Former Director of the Sderot Resiliency Center for Sderot children and parents (Sderot performance, October 16, 2009)


In order for Sderot Media Center to continue the operation of the Sderot Community Treatment Theater, the project is in need of immediate financial assistance to advance its therapy services for traumatized Sderot girls.
We welcome you to view this short documentary of the year long drama-therapy process that has helped revitalize Sderot high school girls.

Watch the video from the show in Sderot

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"Once the girls began to express their feelings of the fear and loneliness, they began to realize that they were not alone--there were others like them who were experienced the same trauma and panic induced by constant strain of living in a rocket environment."
Debbie Gross, Jerusalem psychologist who worked with the Sderot theater girls. (Sderot performance, October 14, 2009)


"It was fantastic. The girls' ability to weave humor within their personal stories, and then deliver the punch lines was amazing. No government official could tell the story of Sderot the way these actresses did tonight."
Danny Seaman, Director of the Israel Government Press Office (Jerusalem performance, October 26, 2009)


Over the next six months, Sderot Media Center plans to have 12 performances in different cities and communities across Israel and the Knesset.

In this project the Sderot Media Center's goal is to promote the concept of providing residents with self-expressing media tools that work to treat the traumatized population, while using the product to advocate the Israeli prospective through the human story of Sderot.



With the diverse audience members and plethora of media coverage, this theater project will impact public opinion not only on the Israel-Gaza conflict but also on how the world views the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.
Theater Project Media Coverage:
YNetNews , Jpost Video, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Channel 1+2, weekend edition of H'aaretz, Frontpage magazine, Jewish policy Center


*Articles about the performances:

"SMC Theater therapy program changes lives of Sderot's traumatized girls"

"Jerusalem Audience Awed by Sderot Girls' Treatment Theater Performance"




Recognized by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Israel Government Press Office, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Israel Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (IICC), SMC represents the daily threat of missile attack that now 1 million Israelis live under.

THE THEATER THERAPY PROJECT IS FUNDED SOLELY BY PRIVATE DONATIONS
Your contributions help continue our work

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Contact Us - www.sderotmedia.org.il , info@sderotmedia.com

The Significance of Memory in Israel: Sderot Remembers its Qassam Victims

#Sderot Qassam victims, #Israel rememberance day, # #Collective Memory, #Jewish History, #Gaza, #Iran,


By; Noam Bedein
Director
Sderot media Center
http://www.sderotmedia.com/

"Today we are in the midst of the third cease fire in the last two years. During each of these periods, hundreds of rockets have been fired towards Israel. Iran has become part of the equation in the Gaza-Sderot conflict and is very close to home - right in Sderot’s back yard. When we do not remember, our consciousness is the recipient of the routine reality, a routine that provides legitimization for terror, and raises the question of our basic right to live as Jews and Israelis freely in our country."

The 10 Sderot victims of the Qassam rocket attacks have become insignificant statistics when comparing the numbers of those killed in Gaza. Oshry Oz, Shirel Friedman, Afik Ochaion-Zehavi, Yosifov Michael, Kas’houn Yuval, Binsah Dorit-Gento, Ella Abukasis, Yaakov Yaakobov, Fa’ina Slozker, and Roni Yechiye, were all killed in the past eight years by indiscriminate rockets launched from Gaza. Here in Sderot, these people are not forgotten.



The eve of Israel’s Memorial Day 2009, as opposed to previous years, is deeply significant to the unique character of this nation’s collective memory. In a remembrance ceremony that took place in Sderot in marking those who fell in the various battles in Israel and those killed in terrorist acts including Qassam attacks, one can understand the importance of memorials. Sderot resident, Chanan Yaakobov, a mature 15 year old, spoke in the ceremony of his father who was killed by a Qassam rocket that exploded in a chicken factory just one week before the first cease fire in November 2006.



“I barely remember you...” Chanan says of his father to the audience. “Days have gone by and I am growing up without a father, I barely remember what you look like, and it is only the photographs that remind me of my childhood with my father, and that is why we have a memorial day in order to remember, and not to forget...”



The children of Sderot understand the importance of memories and their special significance. In the Memorial Day ceremony that took place in the Alon Science School, the children asked in their naiveté, “Is the siren that will be sounded in the city on Memorial Day the same siren as the red alert?” How can one expect a nine year old child that is born into the reality of rocket fire and doesn’t know any other reality to understand that the siren for Israel‘s Memorial Day is different from the Color Red siren warning of rocket attacks.



There was an exemplary silence during the Memorial Day siren- the children stood at steadfast attention; no voice was heard; there was no chirping or giggling.
Leora Fima, the school principal, related later on that “the children in first grade today understand that the deaths in Sderot and of those soldiers killed in Israel’s wars emphasize the importance of life in our country in general and life in Sderot in particular.”



The critical significance of the holidays in the past month is the basis of the fundamental collective memory in the various periods of Jewish history: Passover, where we remember the Exodus from Egypt, the Exodus from slavery to freedom; Holocaust day, with the memory of millions of Jews that were killed for merely being Jewish; Memorial Day, for the victims of Israel’s battles, who with their heroism enabled us to go on in the state. In their merit we live today in the state of Israel.



The words “freedom,“ “liberty,“ and “national Jewish and Israeli pride” take on a special meaning here in Sderot, where for over eight years rockets have terrorized a civilian population. In a reality that would be regarded unacceptable in any other part of the world, these words hold great meaning for the residents of Sderot, the western Negev and approximately a million citizens that live in the south of Israel.



The last time that the city of Sderot looked like a city that celebrated Independence Day was during the period of Operation Cast Lead that began on the 27th of December and continued until January 18. The entire city-- every alley, street and neighborhood was decorated with Israeli flags. Except for the fact that the streets were empty, parks dormant, and people remained inside in bomb shelters, it felt that the residents of Sderot were celebrating Independence Day early.



Dr. Adrianna Katz, the director of the Mental Health Center in Sderot, diagnosed hundreds of trauma victims during the battle period in Gaza and assigned a “new” syndrome to Sderot victims of PTSD- “optimistic anxiety”. The optimistic anxiety victims were diagnosed as having no anger. Dr. Katz explained that this was the first time in eight years that the residents of Sderot felt as if they were part of the state of Israel. They were beginning to experienced the feeling of potential independence from eight years of rocket shooting.“There was finally a feeling of euphoria - for the first time the residents saw the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Katz. This feeling continued for three weeks - during the entire time of the battle.



Tonight the State of Israel celebrates 61 years since its founding. Four months have passed since the fighting in Gaza where more than 200 rockets have been shot at Israel; hundreds of tons of ammunition and weapons have been smuggled into Gaza through underground caves; Gilad Shalit has not been released and the legitimization of the Hamas terror has increased worldwide. As a result, the feeling of independence as a national autonomous and legitimate state today carries a question mark.



Our conscious memory of the Sderot and western Negev rocket reality, as Israelis living outside of Sderot, is almost non-existent. Because there is relative “quiet”, with only some individual deaths, we have forgotten the fact that we disengaged from Gaza based on the formula of “land for peace”. Yet, since that day, more than 7000 Qassam rockets have been fired at Israel. At least once a week since the ceasefire, Sderot residents experience the Color Red siren.



Today we are in the midst of the third cease fire in the last two years. During each of these periods, hundreds of rockets have been fired towards Israel. Iran has become part of the equation in the Gaza-Sderot conflict and is very close to home - right in Sderot’s back yard. When we do not remember, our consciousness is the recipient of the routine reality, a routine that provides legitimization for terror, and raises the question of our basic right to live as Jews and Israelis freely in our country.

To the Three Clowns that Showed Us the Durban Circus: SMC Invites you to Sderot

#Durban conference, #Ahmadinejad, #Iran, #Grad missiles, #Sderot Media Center, #United Nations, #Israel,

http://www.sderotmedia.com/
By • Jacob Shrybman

Dear Rafael, Jonathan, and Jeremy, I would like to thank you and extend an open invitation for you to come visit Sderot, Israel so we can thank you in person for opposing the United Nations’ institutionalized anti-Semitism and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s diabolical diatribes.

We here in Sderot and southern Israel are living under the execution of the ideas Iranian President Ahmadinejad professes.

It is no secret that Iran supplies and largely finances the terror that the world has been witnessing in southern Israel for over eight years now but Iranian President is still invited to promote his beliefs on America’s university campuses and United Nations conferences on human rights. Dressed as clowns to object to Ahmadinejad and the Durban conference itself you demonstrated exactly what countless objectors around the world believe- it’s a joke and a circus.

Yesterday I took a group around Sderot to give them a sense of what it is like to live under the daily threat of missile attacks from the Gaza Strip. I took them to see the remnants of grad missiles that Iran directly supplies and qassam rockets that Iran finances to help plague the city. We then went atop a hill next to Kibbutz Nir Am, right outside Sderot, to a viewpoint of the Gaza Strip less than a mile away.

In clear view of the Gaza Strip cities of Beit Hanun and Jabalya from which missiles are fired, one can see how southern Israelis are not living hundreds of miles away from Iran but living with Iran right in our backyard.

After work yesterday evening I rode to the coastal city of Ashqelon, about 20 minutes northwest of Sderot, to sit on the beach and enjoy the sunset. As my buddies from the Sderot Media Center and I sat on the sand watching the peaceful sun lower over the calm water, we couldn’t help but discuss where we would run for shelter if the Tzeva Adom (Color Red) alarm sounded warning us of an incoming missile attack.

The grad missiles that have a capability of over 40 km and have tormented the city of Ashqelon which sits just over 20 km from the Gaza Strip have been and are still provided directly from Iran. You three were kicked out of the United Nations conference on Human Rights for what UN human rights spokesperson Rupert Colville described as “unacceptable behavior.”

The UN seems to be quite confused and mistaken on what is unacceptable. What is unacceptable when discussing human rights is that Israeli civilians have been targeted for over eight years by this terrorizing missile fire.

What is unacceptable is that the President of the country which funds and supplies the over 10,000 missiles that have been fired at Israel is continually invited by the United Nations to promote the beliefs that we in southern Israel witness him carrying out.

What is unacceptable is an entire generation of Jewish youth like you growing up having 15 seconds to run for their lives in this daily reality, not knowing life other than with these missiles. What is unacceptable is that the UN did not invite anyone from cities in southern Israel like Sderot and Ashqelon to speak about the over eight years of human rights abuses involved in the firing of these missiles at innocent civilians.

This past week we honored Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, believing in the slogan “Never Again.” In Sderot I watched online as Ahmadinejad made his case to the world against this popular slogan. By depicting how this UN Human Rights Conference is a circus giving the floor to someone who works to wipe the Jewish people off any map, you three truly stood up and said “Never Again.”

I would be overjoyed if you would visit Sderot so you can see how more of your Jewish people live day-to-day with human rights abuses that the United Nations ignores. I thank you again and am sure if you were to visit Sderot more people here would love to personally thank you.

Never Again,

Jacob Shrybman

Holocaust Remembrance Day: The Tragedy of Silence

#Holocaust, #Silence, #Iran, #Sderot, #Remembrance Day, #Nazi, #Jews

http://www.sderotmedia.com/
By • Anav Silverman

Today Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day. Standing on a street in Sderot, I listened quietly to the siren sound, remembering the tragedy of 6 million Jews killed in Nazi Europe, my great grandparents, uncles and aunts from Poland among them.

I’ve become used to sirens sounding in Sderot during my past two years here-the click of the intercom, followed by a female voice that calmly repeats Tzeva Adom, Tzeva Adom, or Color Red. The scenes that unfold usually entail people dashing into shelters-racing for 15 seconds that may mean the difference between life and death.

But now at this moment, the Holocaust siren gives me a moment to reflect. I watch passerby’s stop, Ethiopians, Russians, Uzbekistanis, Moroccans, Persians and the like; Israeli Jews from countries around the world who make up Sderot’s colorful cultural tapestry. We stand together to remember the tragedy of silence that cost the lives of so many innocent people in our nation.
It is this tragedy of silence which probably strikes hardest here in Sderot.

Eight years of Qassam attacks have wounded over 1,000 Israelis, destroyed hundreds of Jewish homes, and have left thousands of children psychologically traumatized. Today close to one million Israelis in southern Israel live under the threat of Palestinian rocket attack thanks to the financial aid and embedment from Iran.

Who will speak up for these Israelis who continue to be the targets of radical Islam in the form of Hamas rocket terror?

Sderot is targeted not because it is a city outside the 1967 green lines, nor because of an army base located in the city. Sderot is part of the UN Partition Plan of 1948 with a civilian population of 19,000, where over 5,000 residents have been forced to flee since Palestinian rocket fire began on the city in 2001.

Sderot is targeted simply because it is a Jewish city on the frontlines of Israel-an easy target for Palestinian terrorists who seek Israel’s destruction.

THE greatest testimony that the world is once again returning to its apathetic state of silence that defined the era of Nazi Germany was revealed no less ironically today at the Durban II conference when Iranian President Ahmadinejad was invited as a guest speaker. Moreover, Hans-Rudolf Merz, the president of Switzerland, a country that declared its “neutrality” during the Holocaust, agreed to meet with Ahmadinejad, who is a fervent Holocaust denier and has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel.

According to an Associated Press report, the Swiss president defended his meeting with Ahmadinejad and said that the criticism of the meeting was unjustified, stating that “Switzerland is neutral and not part of any alliance.”

Ahmadinejad’s presence at Durban II is symbolic in that there has been no overwhelming international outcry against his views or the fact that he was invited to speak at the UN conference on racism.

Iran is considered the greatest threat to Israel’s survival. Although Iran, an oil-rich country, continues to claim that its nuclear program is meant to produce electricity, it remains clear to Israel that Tehran is intent on building nuclear weapons that could potentially cause massive destruction to the state.

SDEROT residents have been the silent targets of Islamic terror for too long. Last year on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, 13 rockets fell upon Sderot. Although rocket fire has significantly decreased since Operation Cast Lead, close to 200 rockets have still been fired at the western Negev region. If Israel does not effectively stand up for her citizens at home, who will stand up for Israel in the world?

As countries across the world show alarming acceptance of a blatantly anti-Semitic figure like Ahmadinejad, demonstrated in Durban II, the state of Israel and the Jewish people cannot allow silence to become a national policy in the face of anti-Semitic terror, be it rockets or rhetoric, at home or abroad.

The Iran-Hamas Connection and President Obama

#Iran, #Hamas, #Obama, #Gaza, #Israel

http://www.sderotmedia.com/
By • Anav Silverman Fri Feb 20 2009

As US President Barack Obama makes historic overtures in attempting to foster open dialogue with Iran, the rest of world watches in optimistic anticipation. The UK's Guardian recently reported that Obama's administration drafted a letter to Iran "aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks."

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has welcomed US overtures saying that:
"The new U.S. administration announced that it's willing to bring about a number of changes and is now taking the course for dialogue. It's quite clear that the real change should be fundamental, not just tactical change, and it is quite clear that the Iranian nation will greet real changes." (CNN, February 10)

'Obama in Sderot July 2008'

Change or no change, residents of southern and northern Israel have reason to be wary of Iran, a country that continues to fund Hamas and Hezbullah terrorism operations.
Thanks to Iranian-produced Grad missiles and technology, Hamas now holds rockets that place close to 1 million Israelis within target range. During Operation Cast Lead, Hamas was able to strike Israel's fifth and sixth largest cities, Ashdod and Beersheba respectively, along with Netivot, Ofakim, Qiryat Gat, Yavneh, and Kiryat Malachi.

Hamas now has aspirations to target other Israeli cities, particularly Tel Aviv. Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV recently proclaimed on a program: "Tel Aviv, all our options are open." (Al Aqsa TV, January 10, 2009)

But it is not only the rockets which are worrying.

Although the Obama administration is keen on turning a new leaf with Iran, the fact remains that Iran is the "central banker" for Middle East terrorism, as former US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice aptly put when she spoke to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Iran's role in supporting Islamic terror in 2006.

The Iranian nation is a leading financial supporter of three terror networks; Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. Iran transfers several hundreds of million of dollars a year to Hamas, financing the movement and its military wing, Iz Al-Din-al Qassam Brigades. When Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2006, Iran awarded the regime with a $50 million bonus (BBC report April 16, 2006).

The Hamas website reported on December 11, 2006 that the Iranians had given $250 million to top Hamas official and fundraiser, Ismail Haniya, of which $100 million was used to cover the salaries of Hamas employees in the social, labor and cultural ministries for a six-month period in 2007. (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center report )

According to the IICC, Iran regards Hezbollah and Hamas as two important sources of power which Iran uses to promote its strategic goals, that of regional hegemony.
“Using Hezbollah, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, the Iranian-Syrian axis can increase its influence in the Arab and Muslim world, pose a serious challenge to Mahmoud Abbas, harm the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and export the Iranian brand of radical Islam to other Sunni countries, especially Egypt. From the Iranian point of view, its sponsorship of Hamas is considered as a means of establishing an Iranian foothold in the heart of the Sunni world.”

Iranians themselves fully identify with Hamas’s goals to destroy Israel, as most recently indicated when more than 70,000 Iranian student volunteers registered to carry out suicide bombings against Israel to support Hamas during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. (AP January 5) The rush of volunteers transpired when Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a religious decree stating that anyone who carried out an attack against Israel would be considered a martyr.

Iranian schools, like Hamas, contain children’s textbooks which teach Iranian schoolchildren to hate and fear Israel. IMPACT recently published a short volume on The War Curriculum in Iran, which exposes the way in which Iranian textbooks connect the Islamic Revolution in Iran to the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.

Children as young as eight years of age learn in Iranian history textbooks that
“God willing, the day will come when all Muslims will be united, liberate Palestine and save Jerusalem from the hands of the enemies of Islam.”
Social Studies, Grade 3 (2004) p. 56

And finally, Iran’s perception of the West is just as hostile. Iranian school books equal the United States with “the Great Satan.” Westernization receives a special label in Persian, known as Gharbzadegi, which literally means being smitten with the West in a way that corrupts the soul. “Westernization is treated as an ominous danger targeting Islamic identity.” (The War Curriculum in Iranian Schoolbooks p.162)

Is it any wonder that Iran and most of its population of 74 million residents determinedly supports the Hamas regim? After all the Iranian national education system and religious institutions for the past thirty years has indoctrinated a hate education against Israel and the West.

The question is-- what will President Obama be willing to believe of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should he engage in direct talks, as Iranian financial aid and rockets continue to strengthen Hamas and Hezbollah.
And will Israel be pressured to talk to Hamas in the same fashion?