Israel’s Public Relations Campaign in India
The Israeli consulate in Mumbai has launched a Hindi and Urdu version of their website called “Namaste Israel”. In addition the Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a web site called “Gaza Facts” which provides a lot of detail about “Operation Cast Lead”. This operation was undertaken by Israel in Gaza between December 2008 and January 2009. The Government of Israel has taken out prominent advertisements in the online versions of many well known Indian newspapers like The Hindu. This comes on the heals of the US government trying to win over the Indian Muslims by sending members of the US consulate to talk to Muslim groups in various cities in India.
India is the first non-Arab country in the world to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) authority as the representative of the Palestinian people. A PLO office was established in New Delhi in 1975 (full diplomatic relations started in 1980). India on the other had established full diplomatic relationship with Israel only in 1992. But there is no question that India’s relationship with Israel today is a very strong economic, military and strategic relationship.
The opinions of the average Indian on the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine was largely dictated by the media coverage of these events in India. For the most part it was anti-Israel until the late eighties. The primary reason for this type of coverage was because both Doordarshan (India’s only TV channel until the late 80’s) and All India Radio (India’s only radio station until a few years ago) were both government controlled. They did a great job of towing the official government line. All this started changing with the advent of cable and other private television channels around 1988. Around the same time Pakistan started the fourth war with India but this time using Pakistani trained terrorists in Kashmir as its soldiers of war. This was part of their bleed-India policy (this policy obviously did not work because since 1988 India has grown and become one of the biggest economies in the world). But by now most Indians clearly understood the predicament that Israel was in.
Israel’s campaign in India has had some success. Maulana Jameel Ahmed Llyasi (who is the secretary general of the All-India Association of Imams and Mosques has made an official visit to Israel in the past. He had some very good things to say about how Israel. He mentioned to journalists that “my impression was initially that the Israelis are certainly dominating Muslims out here. Once I came here, that impression completely changed. I saw the reality on the ground, the mutual respect Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews have for each other. Constant conflict is not the reality here”.
Although the government to government relationship has come a long way the question is whether the perception of Israel has changed inside India. The answer is yes and no. Clearly the opinions of the majority of the population have changed. Very few Indians are anti-Israel today. Many of them see the common threads that connect India and Israel. Both countries face serious threats from Muslim fundamentalists and unstable and undemocratic neighbors.
But the Muslim population in India is yet to be convinced. I am not sure whether web sites like Gaza Facts are going to change their perception. Many people outside of this conflict do not really care about the details of the conflict including who is wrong or right or who started it first (similar to the India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir). The important thing is what is Israel (as the leader and a dominant party in this conflict) doing to resolve these issues. The perception (the reality could to totally different) is that Israel is comfortable fighting an armed conflict but is hesitating to sit on the table and talk.
Israel can also learn a few lessons from India. Since the current conflict began in Kashmir in 1988 India has not retaliated against Pakistan. India has also not tried to economically isolate Pakistan from the international community. Although there are numerous attacks in India every year from militants trained in Pakistan, India always returns to the negotiating table with Pakistan. Negotiations in the long run might be a waste of time. But India has seized the advantage by taking the moral high ground. I believe that Israel should do the same.
Related posts:
- India and Pakistan: Freedom vs. Azad
- Is India or America Better At Tackling Terrorism?
- The Art of Blindfolding the Public
- My Shangri-La Beneath the Summer Moon
- Indian Government’s Propaganda Machine Is 50 Years Old
Category: News & Government
Hari
Interesting post.
However, your position on Israel is not clear. Do you support their occupation of Palestinian territories and their blockade of Gaza?
Anand
Hello Anand,
This post is about Israel’s PR policy and I deliberately did not want to get into the details of the conflict. As I mentioned towards the end of the post details and history are less important than what is being done to resolve it. Having said that I do not support occupation or blockade. But at the same time I recognize the right that Israel has to defend itself from terrorist attacks that are planned and executed from West Bank and Gaza. India used the same strategy of naval blockade and preventing “over flights” to “liberate” East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from Pakistan in 1971.
Hari.