In an article in the Swedish Christian newspaper Dagen, he describes, at great length, how Israel is conducting a kind of propaganda warfare in order to gain the world's sympathy after the boarding of the Ship to Gaza flotilla and the killing of nine of the Turkish extremists who assaulted the soldiers. Drawing on his own experience as an instructor of so-called “psy-ops” (psychological operations) at the army garrison in Eksjö, Sweden, he describes at length how Israel, with the help of its “information ministry” [possibly referring to Yuli (Yoel) Edelstein, the minister for Information and Diaspora], uses these psy-ops to convince the populace of other countries to see things from the Israeli point of view, or at least to sow confusion regarding what has truly happened.
These psy-ops are said to often be aimed at specific groups of people, in which case it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of the group one is trying to influence. Braw mentions political groups and members of free churches as examples. Concerning the former, the best, most effective method according to Braw would be to paint Israel as a progressive democracy, while in the case of the latter, it would be better to speak of G-d's chosen people. Apart from this, Braw says, psy-ops also make use of carefully selected pieces of information, chosen for being advantageous for the case one is trying to make. One may also use false eyewitnesses, tampered videotapes and documents etc. If this is not enough, there is also the option of trying to shift focus to something else. In this case, he writes, since it is obvious that Israel has committed an act of piracy, it would be to their advantage to shift focus to the question of whether the activists “defended themselves” using wooden bats or iron bars.
Braw paints a truly frightening picture: reading his article, one gets the impression that Israel has access to a vast bureau of propaganda, whose only purpose is to spread lies and misinformation regarding Israel's misdeeds. In that case, however, one serious question presents itself: if Israel has such a powerful juggernaut of propaganda at its command, why is it still losing the battle for opinion?
Rather than describing Israel as a progressive democracy, Swedish political parties are uniting in their hatred for Israel. Rather than describing Israel as the nation of G-d's chosen people, a representative for the Social Democratic Christian movement Broderskap claims that “Israel's worst enemy is Israel”.
Oh, but there is some talk of the Chosen people. Swedish politician Veronica Palm, Social Democratic MP, is wondering if there are others wondering “who the Chosen ones will burn next”, the Chosen ones being, naturally, the Jews.
Also, one should take into account that hardly a word is said in the Swedish press concerning the seven Israeli soldiers that were wounded during the boarding, which certainly suggests that the activists were not merely “defending themselves”; had the Israeli soldiers been the ones who began the violence, it seems unlikely that there would have been a single Israeli wounded, as the soldiers, with their side-arms, had the advantage of range. For there to be any wounded Israelis, the activists would have to be very close indeed in order to beat at them with iron bars, something which would have been difficult to accomplish if the Israeli soldiers had been firing at them – unless, of course, the activists were armed with firearms from the beginning, which would prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that there was never any peaceful intent whatsoever behind the flotilla.
Braw's argumentation is flawed, but he is right when it comes to one thing; there is an unstoppable juggernaut of misinformation at work regarding the conflict, but it is not being operated by the Israelis. It is under the control of the Hamas and their supporters, the various useful idiots of the West.
The text was written by
guest blogger Adam Eberhag
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