Israel needs good press, speaker says

Former Israeli Defense Force (IDF) spokesperson Jacob Dallal discussed Israel's attempts to avoid negative foreign press during a lecture at the University's Center for Jewish Life Thursday afternoon.

Dallal, who previously worked for the Jerusalem Post from 1995 through 2000 and was a captain in the Israeli army, also discussed how the recent death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the upcoming Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might affect future media and policy developments.

The IDF has grown more media-savvy in the last few years, Dallal said to a group of about 20 students.

"At the start of [2002], the IDF was insufficiently prepared to deal with the press," he said. "When we would conduct an operation in Palestinian territory, the army wouldn't comment [to the press] until hours afterward. By that time, the Palestinian side of the story would already have been running for hours."

Now the IDF updates wire services within minutes after conducting an operation, Dallal said. During a major operation, the army also allows reporters into the army's war room to "see in real time what's going on," he added.

Still, the way Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah operate makes it difficult for Israel to always project a positive image, Dallal said.

He said such groups "take advantage of the civilian environment in which they operate" in order to paint Israel in a negative light.

"If they fire [at Israeli troops] from a densely populated urban area," he said, "then images from the scene will be very harmful to us if we return the fire."

But Israeli-Palestinian relations have grown more hopeful since Arafat's death, he said.

"As long as Yasser Arafat was alive, we were going to be stuck and the Palestinians were going to be stuck," he said. "The terror would never, ever end. . . [But now] Palestinians like [Arafat's successor] Abu Mazen have come to disapprove of terror attacks, if only for temporary and practical reasons."

Dallal was optimistic about the imminent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, saying that it would further the possibility of peace between Israel and Palestine and would "pull the rhetorical rug out from under" critics of Israel.

"They can't criticize the occupation in Gaza if there is no occupation in Gaza," he said.

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Dallal acknowledged that the situation in Israel is complex, and stressed that he isn't advocating pro-Israel media bias.

"If [reporters] portray the situation with all the gray area around it, then they're doing a good job," he said. "We're not looking for pro-Israel articles — just honest, good articles."

Students who attended the talk said they were impressed with Dallal's speaking abilities and depth of knowledge.

Katie Hampton '06 said she still hasn't made up her mind whether she agrees with Israeli policy, but was glad to hear Dallal's point of view.

"I might have been able to make up my mind better if there had been a dialogue with someone from the other side," she said. "But all in all, I think I learned a lot."