I read about this in the past, and recently read about it in Jerusalem post. With all the positive media coverage Israel continues to receive, their PR campaigns never end…”An Israeli company developed a type of software that functions like a beeper from one central place. They send alerts and anyone who downloads the software gets a pop-up with links to an activity. It can be to vote for Israel in a CNN survey or react to an especially nasty article. We still have a long way to go, but this is our future.”

Is there anything of such related to Arab/Muslim issues that I’m not aware of? We seriously should consider developing counter software that will work as an alert to all Arab/Muslim related issues in the Media. I wish I had the capability to do that, but all I can do is write up the specs for it.

Stewart Purvis, a journalism professor at London’s City University who also attended the Bar-Illan conference, wrote in The Guardian last week that following Gissin’s speech, he decided to check out the power of the Megaphone by logging onto [a support Israel site.] “It did not take long for an alert to come through,” he said. “A Foreign Office minister, Kim Howells, had issued a press statement condemning that day’s Palestinian rocket attack which killed an elderly Israeli and wounded other civilians. [The support israel site wanted its] users to ’show your appreciation of the UK’s response.’” One click took him to a prepared e-mail addressed to Howells and a slot to send a personal comment, Purvis said. He went ahead and did, later confirming with the Foreign Office in London that it had received the e-mails. When a poll noticed on albawaba asking whether the violence in Lebanon had been an Israeli provocation, it sent a message with a link to the poll to its members and soon the results jumped from an overwhelming yes to a resounding no.

Smart! This works as a very powerful PR tool that, as shown, can alter views to a particular side’s advantage. The media is full of negative portrayals of Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims. Developing something similar to this megaphone will be a good idea. I know we lack the commitment to actually make things happen, but it really is about time we change our mindsets. Seriously, it doesn’t hurt to try.

This Megaphone was introduced by the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) during this summer’s war with the aim of getting the pro-Israel community to respond in real time to developments on the Web. To attract users from around the world, the polls are translated into English, French, Hebrew and Spanish. Yonit Farago in The Times reported that “Israel’s government has thrown its weight behind efforts by supporters to counter what it believes to be negative bias and a tide of pro-Arab propaganda.
“The Foreign Ministry has ordered trainee diplomats to track Web sites and chatrooms so that networks of US and European groups with hundreds of thousands of Jewish activists can place supportive messages.” WUJS’s Jonny Cline said that Jewish students and youth were ideally placed to present Israel’s side of the Middle East story.

Do we even have such diplomats tracking the Arab and Muslim portrayal in the Media, on websites, chat rooms? Instead we have strict surveillance monitoring anything and everything that’s said in our own Media, in our own countries…and anything that may hint of some type of positive reform is perceived as an attempt to over throw our presidents, kings, governments…

“We’re saying to these people that if Israel is being bashed, don’t ignore it, change it,” Cline said. “A poll like CNN’s takes just a few seconds to vote in, but if thousands take part the outcome will be changed. What’s vital is that the international face of the conflict is balanced.” Gissin has gone as far as sending a letter (posted on the Israel advocacy Web site) that urges supporters of Israel to use the Megaphone. “Dear friends,” he writes, “Many of us recognize the importance of the Internet as the new battleground for Israel’s image. It’s time to do it better, and coordinate our on-line efforts on behalf of Israel. He says that they need 100,000 Megaphone users to make a different and urging people to distribute the email to all Israel’s supporters – now and for Israel.

If israel, with all the support, has a long way to go then what do we – as Arabs – have to say?! We really should start using some of the strategies israel uses…if used right, they can be just as effective for us as well. I seriously believe we can make a difference if we work hard and together…