Israel is losing the PR war. From The Times Of Israel
A new ‘bridge’
Last Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry’s Public Diplomacy Division created an initiative called Gesher – Bridge in Hebrew – to bring the IDF Spokesperson, Israel Police, Prime Minister’s Office, Strategic Affairs Ministry, and Government Press Office together in the same room.
Gesher is “creating the messages, coordinating the media appearances, coordinating digital activity, and giving answers to our embassies and consulates abroad,” Lior Hayat, Foreign Ministry spokesman, told The Times of Israel.
This is not the first time an overarching office has been established to coordinate the work of relevant government bodies, but the scale of coordination is unprecedented, said Hayat. The National Information Directorate and the National Hasbara Forum in the Prime Minister’s Office were established after the 2006 Second Lebanon War to coordinate between government bodies.
The National Hasbara Forum is no longer coordinating Israel’s foreign messaging. The Prime Minister’s Office – specifically Arabic-language spokesman Ofir Gendelman and senior adviser Mark Regev – and the Foreign Ministry are the main bodies crafting the messages, Hayat explained.
