By Monique Lester Israel News Agency
Jerusalem ----- 3 January, 2008 ....... As the first Israel Defense Forces air strikes raged down over Gaza last week, the war on Hamas terrorism from Gaza also began on the Web. The launch of the largest pro-Israel support group on the Internet was created only two hours after the first defensive IDF strikes took place last Saturday.
The group entitled: http://www.facebook.com/home.
In the week since the creation of the Facebook group, the number of members has rapidly grown to over 38,000.
Joel Leyden, an Internet media, SEO, PR pioneer and an IDF veteran founded the interactive group, said: "The Internet has become the most important and most powerful media to reach the global masses. Everyone has Internet at home and in the office. One can access real time news 24 / 7."
Leyden, the president of the Leyden Communications Group and London SEO Marketing Ltd, with offices in Tel Aviv, London and New York, continued: "Facebook is the number one watering hole on the Internet. It is a very friendly application to communicate with."
Leyden, who co-created the first commercial Website in Israel in 1995 and published the first on-line news organization from Israel - Israel News Agency, believes that the reasons for the abundance of activity in the Israel Facebook group and the successful ongoing debate are because the Israel, Jewish and Christian moderators are allowing open, democratic forums and freedom of speech, while not allowing racist remarks, incitement, personal attacks and threats.
The SEO optimized Facebook group has become the voice for Jews and Israelis worldwide. Diaspora Jewry, who may not have previously found it easy to be heard in the media, is now using the group to be heard. Israelis are now opening conversations with Arabs. Jews, Arabs and Christians are making the content of the forums both colourful and educational.
Online MediaPost quoted Leyden: "Crossing international boundaries in a world where the Internet has become a tool to reach people also requires professional marketers and public relations advocates to remain sensitive to other cultures and how people respond to various political campaigns. "
Leyden told the Brazilian newspaper, Correio Braziliense: "I believe that the Western media is finally seeing the truth here. Israel wants peace. We left Gaza 3 years ago but Hamas continues to attack us as they are waging a Holy War not just against Israel but against every Jew and Christian as they see us as Infidels. Islamic terrorists do not like the Western media but use it as a weapon to destroy democracy and freedom. Once they have used the Western media for their goals they will disregard it and even murder journalists such as Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. "
The IDF has neither the manpower nor the money to do this work alone. This Israel group is being manned entirely by volunteers, which is a demanding and constant effort. None of the group administrators are earning money whilst they are putting in the hours needed to ensure the group remains open and functional.
For the first time ever, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has used 'YouTube' as a way to get a video messages to the public. Never before has the PR message from Israel been so strong.
Leyden told the Jewish Week in New York: "Public opinion has a direct affect on lives on the ground and a direct affect on the morale of Israel's soldiers. It also has a direct affect on the morale of the citizens and on our government leaders as well. [Israel is facing a deluge, a tidal wave of criticism, for defending our very basic right to exist."
When asked: "Do you think nowadays the news media have more Palestinian supporters than Israel supporters?" Leyden responded: "I know that there are more Arabs than there are Jews. As such they can make more noise than us and create bias in both the media and various governments who cater to them for oil. But journalists need to be objective. They need to check out facts and take quality over quantity. Most are doing this today."
Leyden said the Facebook group has three missions: to act as a support group for Jews, Christians and Israelis, to disseminate information and to create dialogue, tolerance and peaceful bridges between Israelis and Palestinians.
"As the media changes we're trying to change also," said Asaf Shariv, the Israel General Consul in New York.
Shariv says that new Web 2.0 media like YouTube is allowing Israel to fight the perception that civilians in Gaza City keep getting killed by Israel bombings. "We are showing from the air what the airplanes are filming and you can tell they are terrorists," he says.
The Israel government is also using blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and Tuesday on Twitter it held a "news conference" where it answered questions from the public.
"We succeeded in that we showed reality in Israel. I think when people see reality in Israel, they change their perception," says David Saranga, a spokesman for the Israeli Consulate.
"In August 2005, Israel left Gaza. Every soldier was withdrawn. Every Jewish settlement was evacuated, in a process requiring 45,000 police and costing $2.5 billion. Politicians staked their reputations on a courageous step towards peace," said Israel Ambassador to the UK Ron Prosor. "They hoped Gaza could provide a blueprint of Palestinian autonomy, a precursor to a Palestinian state."
Prosor continued: "Tragically, Hamas chose violence, rejecting the chance to develop Gazan society and opting instead to attack ours. Missiles from Gaza have blighted the lives of Israeli civilians since 2001. The withdrawal should have brought calm, but 5,000 missiles and mortars have since rained down on Israel. As I write, Hezbollah flags flutter in the Kensington streets outside my Embassy. Agitators hail the Hamas leadership that created the crisis. In Gaza, protestors dissenting against Hamas face the death sentence. With the blessing of Iran and Hezbollah, Hamas has turned Gaza into a theocratic nightmare."
The White House has condemned Hamas for starting the violence.
US President George W. Bush believes the first steps in any cease-fire in the ongoing violence in the Mideast will require the Islamic terror group Hamas to agree to stop firing rockets into Israel now and in the future, the White House said Wednesday.
From his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Bush called Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the first time since the conflict escalated between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
"I think President Bush thinks that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets and that is what will be the first step in a cease-fire," White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters covering the president's stay in Texas. Johndroe said that Hamas also needs to stop smuggling weapons into Gaza - a move that would show it doesn't intend to continue to target Israel.
Hamas has stated that its goal is not peace nor land, but rather the complete destruction of the State of Israel. Hamas views all Jews and Christians as "Infidels" which the Islamic Quran instructs must be murdered in an Islamic Jihad or Holy War. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah all celebrated when al Qaeda attacked both New York and Washington in the 9/11 terror attacks. Islamic groups supported by Iran, Syria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have also carried out suicide bombings and terror attacks in London, Paris, Madrid, Iraq, India, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Moscow.
The Israel Defense Forces say that some 640,000 people live within range of Hamas' terror rockets. The missiles are crude and inaccurate, but they wreak a devastating psychological toll on the civilian population in Israel.
"Facebook is ranked as the fifth largest Website on the Web. Its reach is the most potent of any medium in the world today,"said Leyden.
Leyden says that another important element is that this is the first war where people are able to post real time news to one another without going through a major print or broadcast media outlet.
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