An instructive op-ed in Haaretz by media consultant Gilad Heiman that offers the Jewish state some advice that will probably be ignored:
Israeli public relations stems entirely from the Zionist Israeli narrative, without any genuine attempt being made to learn the language of human rights, which is dominant in international public discourse. We expect the world to support us because we are more liberal, educated and democratic than our neighbors, without understanding that those very qualities cause the world to judge us more severely. The very fact that we are so similar to the Western countries leads the public in those countries to criticize us harshly, as to them we constitute an ugly reflection of themselves, as South Africa did in the past.
The time has come to change our behavior. In the contest to see who is more unfortunate, and which children are suffering more, those in Sderot or those in Gaza, we will always be the losers. Instead, we have to try to adopt the Western discourse on rights and back up what we say with deeds. The boycott of the Goldstone Commission was a mistake. Now we have to see how it can be mended.