Israelis see Nasrallah as their source of truth
9/4/2006 5:22:00 PM GMT
The Israeli public relied on reports from Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Nasrallah
"We reached a really crazy situation," Dr. Udi Lebel, a Ben Gurion University professor told Voice of Israel government radio yesterday.
In a recent poll entitled "the management of Israeli PR during the second Lebanon war," by professor Lebel, six groups of people were asked to watch video recordings of Israeli PR and that of abroad, and then answer questions.
The survey found that there was problem for Israel's public relation.
Since the end of the bloody conflict Israel initiated in Lebanon last July, the Israeli media focused on two main issues: The need for an account of the failures by the Israeli leadership, and media criticism and nature of reports, according to Ynetnews.
Professor Lebel carried out numerous polls in the past on various issues including strategic press, political psychology, and army-media relations.
But his latest poll shed light on an important fact which is that Israeli PR was so lacking, to the extent that in many cases the public was forced to rely on information from the leader of the Lebanese resistance movement; Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.
According to Lebel, a good media leader relies on three aspects, gripping the audience, being watchable, and giving the feeling of certainty.
Asked about Hezbollah leader’s authenticity in comparison to that of Israeli spokespeople, not one Hebrew spokesperson received high authenticity marks.
"We reached a really crazy situation," Professor Lebel said.
"A psychological situation which seems inconceivable: Instead of the Israeli public watching our national spokesman who tells it what is happening every day, who will minimize the chaos and who will be seen as believable, something unprecedented happened: The public perceived the enemy leader against whom we fought as having those characteristics, and waited impatiently for his speeches."
"Nasrallah contradicted the Israeli spokespeople more than once, many times contradicting the minister of defense, he was the first to announce the deaths of Israeli soldiers and the sad circumstances which led to them,"
"This isn't the first time that a bereaved mother found out the truth of the death of her son in recordings released by Hezbollah, where a totally different picture is shown to what the 'IDF' and its spokespeople have provided," Dr. Lebel added.
The poll finding highlights a serious crisis of Israel leadership.
"It's not important if objectively the leadership did its best – now the public perceives it as cut off, unprofessional, and boastful. It won't follow the leadership to the next confrontation," Dr. Lebel said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/rev...rvice_ID=12008
Kidman