BY EMRE USLU
TODAY`S ZAMAN- The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel`s Ministry for Public Diplomacy and the Diaspora, days before the Free Gaza Flotilla, set up a contact center for the Jewish community abroad to keep them informed about the incidents and defend Israeli actions in the media.
Details of the report indicate that the Israeli government set up a team to contact the Jewish community and another team to contact the media. The aim of these efforts was to win over the public through sharing the Israeli version of the story. The public diplomacy center set up various websites and opened accounts on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc., to defend the Israeli government`s actions. Media stories aid the Israeli government didn`t want to identify these sites as official sites.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan castigated some Turkish media outlets for their pro-Israeli coverage of the story. Some Turkish journalists also accused Hurriyet, the most influential daily, of taking a stand with Israel. I`m sure that Israeli officials from the contact center reached out to the Turkish-Jewish diaspora to defend Israeli actions. What I`m not sure of is how much of Turkish media reporting is influenced by the Jewish community in Turkey.
When it comes to the mechanics of the Israeli PR campaign, it seems that they will win a positive outcome. With this strategy the Israeli government could win some support from leaders as well. Yet when it comes to the language of the PR campaign, Israel isn`t on the side of the winners. There are a few problems in the Israeli PR language.
First, the Israeli government is trying to paint the Turkish human rights activists as terrorists. I have been closely monitoring the activities of the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH), who cannot be labeled terrorists. Such claims only help al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups justify their actions. In fact millions of Turks consider the IHH to be a humanitarian organization and wouldn`t buy such an argument. If a country like Israel or the US starts accusing organizations like the IHH of being a terror groups, this would automatically make people think: if the IHH is a terror network, who are the terrorists? Not distinguishing the IHH from terrorists would harm the US war on terror around the world as well.
Second, the government of Israel, thanks to Erdogan`s angry rhetoric, is trying to portray the flotilla incident as if it were a problem between Turkey and Israel. But this strategy won`t benefit Israel, because the continuing confrontation between Israel and Turkey will benefit the Erdogan government and make it stronger than ever. It means that Israel could have to wait four more years to have normalized relations with Turkey.
Third, continuation of the crisis is building pressure to have normal relations with Israel. As the confrontation continues, the Turkish press is digging into the history of bilateral relations and finding tons of absurdities in favor of Israel. The deepened relations during the Feb. 28, 1997 coup period are especially full of absurdities. For instance, the Turkish press has found that Turkish military facilities were open to Israeli soldiers. In a normal country this would seen as part of a common procedure but in Turkey, noncommissioned military officers and many Turkish citizens aren`t allowed to enter those facilities. If the Israeli government thinks that Israel could afford to lose Turkey, they should continue to use the tone they`ve been using over the last two weeks. But if they think that at any time in the future Israel may need Turkey, they should reconsider their rhetoric and try to tone it down.