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

Director's update on SMC's activities during ceasefire

#Sderot Media Center, #Cease fire, #British Ambassador Tom Phillips, #US Congressmen Brian Baird Keith Ellison, #Israel advocacy, #Operation Cast Lead, #Noam Bedein

June 9, 2009
www.SderotMedia.org.il

Greetings from Sderot,

This letter serves to update Sderot Media Center's supporters on the current activities of the center during the ceasefire and SMC’s present and future place in Sderot/Israel advocacy.


Noam with Canadian Embassy Political Officer, Gregory Galligan in May.

Current SMC Activities: In the past six months, since the military operation in Gaza, over 212 rockets have been fired at Israel during this ‘ceasefire’ period, the third ceasefire in the past two years. It is in these days of relative ‘quiet’ that material and information from Sderot Media Center becomes even more in demand. The number of groups and officials who have visited Sderot with SMC in the recent lull has increased dramatically since the war ended in January.


British Ambassador, Tom Phillips visits Sderot Media Center in June.


On June 4, the British Ambassador to Israel, Tom Phillips visited Sderot Media Center to learn more about our organizations’ activities and the impact of the recent rocket fire on the community-specifically the post-trauma symptoms affecting both children and adults. Check out the British Embassy's coverage of the the visit here: http://ukinisrael.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/?view=PressR&id=18889861.

During recent months, Sderot Media Center's Meital Ohayon has been working with top international film producer, Liane Thompson, on the first feature-length documentary on Sderot. Thompson has produced for the National Geographic Channel and Discovery Communications Inc. Visit the project's website for more information on the Sderot documentary: http://www.childrenofmissilecity.com/. The calm has also given us the opportunity to refocus our organization’s goals. On our website’s homepage you will see the three areas in which we work to generate global awareness to the Sderot story: media outreach, education, and social media projects.

With rockets and without rockets, Sderot Media Center is active in all three of these areas. More detailed information is provided below.

Media Outreach: Although SMC engages more intensively in media outreach during rocket escalations, we continue to provide regular updates and articles to Israeli and international news websites, newspapers and magazines. Jerusalem Post, YNet News, Front Page Magazine, Bangor Daily News of Maine, The Jewish Advocate of Boston, and are a few examples of news journals and websites that have carried SMC articles
during the lull.

SMC has also conducted media outreach on behalf of the Sderot trauma facilities, which are facing potential closure due to financial budget cuts. Sderot Media Center has been pressuring and corresponding with Knesset members to secure further funding for the trauma facilities , alongside Dr. Katz and Dalia Yosef, directors of the trauma facilities. Out of the NIS 6 million needed to keep five trauma centers in Sderot and the western Negev open, the Knesset has thus far provided NIS 1.5 million which will keep the centers going until December.

Education: Sderot Media Center has increased its education activities during this period of quiet. Because of the decrease in rocket attacks, the number of student groups and organizations visiting Sderot has dramatically risen, and have included visits from US and Canadian college students participating in Aish Hasbara, Young Judea, and Israel Experience programs. Since Operation Cast Lead, over 500 visitors have come through Sderot Media Center including diplomats, foreign press, governments officials and student groups.

During the quiet period, the following officials have visited Sderot with Sderot Media Center:


Noam with US Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) at the Sderot Police Station in February.

*Canadian Embassy Political Officer, Greg Galligan

*US Congressmen Brian Baird and Keith Ellison


*British Member of Parliament, Jeffrey Donaldson


*British Ambassador, Tom Phillips

Social Media Projects: Sderot Media Center has continued in full swing with the Sderot Community Treatment Theater project. A script based on rocket life in Sderot has been completed and the Sderot high school girls participating in the project will be reay to perform the play this August 2009 across Israel and eventually in the US, Canada and the U.K.

Advisory Board: As we are now officially a non-profit organization, we have established a respected board of directors and advisors who include the president of the ZOA, the head of the Israel Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a former Israeli foreign ministry envoy to the US, a Boston University history professor, and a Hillel campus director in Vancouver, among many other respected individuals.

SMC at the Present

In the past three years of its existence, Sderot Media Center has built trusted relationships and connections with Israeli Knesset members, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Jewish Agency, the Israel Government Press Office, and top correspondents from the New York Times and the UK’s Sunday Times, among others. These bodies rely on our center to provide reliable and up-to-date information on the security situation and the lasting traumatic impact of the rocket attacks on the Sderot and western Negev region.

SMC in the Future

With the Sderot Community Treatment Theater, SMC has developed a new concept in social media-combining therapy, self-expression, and documentation/presentation of Sderot life. The fact that it will take years to rehabilitate the traumatized population of

Sderot means that the human story of Sderot will continue. The social media tools which SMC provides to the Sderot community (which helps residents cope and express their traumatic experiences) will continue to serve as a vital source for Israel advocacy. Through the media art like drama, Sderot residents have the opportunity to present the Israel perspective to the world, which in the long term will balance the Gaza narrative.

In other words, the Sderot-Gaza conflict is not over yet.

We appreciate the financial support and feedback that our supporters have provided Sderot Media Center thus far. Your support has enabled Sderot Media Center to implement Sderot global awareness in the ways mentioned above. Your continued support will enable the center to continue operating and providing the residents of Sderot and the western Negev with a voice in the global media and in international policy making.
Sincerely,

Noam Bedein,
Sderot Media Center Director