Israeli Foreign Ministry taking battle over image online

Israeli Foreign Ministry taking battle over image online

JERUSALEM, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Foreign Ministry saidit is preparing for an all-out, online onslaught by pro- Palestiniangroups in the run-up to a possible United Nations General Assemblyresolution in September calling for a Palestinian state.

After an online campaign to rev up mass marches of thousands ofPalestinian protestors on Israel's borders on "Nakba Day" two weeksago, Israeli officials say they've invested time, money and manpowerin a rearguard action to gain control of key hilltops on the digitalbattlefields: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, blogs, chat rooms, andnewspaper talk-backs.

The ministry said it has been preparing strategic and tacticalresponses for more than six months, including entrees to the Arabworld offering an unmediated view of Israel.

"When it comes to Israel, they're interested," a ministryofficial told Xinhua on Wednesday. As well, "Deputy Foreign MinisterDanny Ayalon has a personal and very active Facebook page andTwitter account, and is one of the most involved Israeli officialsin utilizing this strategy," according to the official.

"It is vital that Israel's voice is heard in every corner of theworld and even more so amongst its immediate neighbors," Ayalon saidin a statement on the ministry's website.

Chaim Shacham, who heads the ministry's Information and Internetdepartment, told The Marker business newspaper that there is a groupoverseeing ministry websites in English, Arabic, Russian, Farsi, andHebrew. Officials are carefully monitoring what Israeli DefenseMinister Ehud Barak dubbed an approaching " diplomatic tsunami" inthe autumn.

"We have formulated some arguments that are relevant to what'sgoing to happen in September, even if we don't know exactly what itwill be," the Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

"We began disseminating these arguments and statements, backed bylinks to documents and articles, among the relevant bloggers andsocial media members. From our perspective we've already begun thebattle over publicity, though formally, nothing has begun," Palmortold The Marker.

"We are intensively preparing ahead of September," according toShacham.

Shacham said the ministry plans to soon launch Youtube channelsin Chinese, Russian, and Spanish, as part of its public diplomacyinitiative.