Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Israel Flying Aid Confronts Children Suffering In Haiti
Israel Flying Aid Confronts Children Suffering In Haiti
Port-au-Prince, Haiti …. January 28, 2010 – Imagine children who have just lost their arms or legs. Imagine children who wash themselves in sewage water. Imagine children who are starving to the extent that their stomachs are bloated. Imagine children who sleep on the bare, cold ground surrounded by fallen ruble.
These are the babies and young children of Haiti.
Many walking around in a daze, suffering from PTS – post traumatic stress.
So very eager for food, water and a warm, loving hug.
Enter Israel Flying Aid.
With a small and professional humanitarian team of medical professionals and led by veteran disaster relief expert Gal Lusky, they enter into a small orphanage in Port au Prince. They are greeted by 46 children and 20 Nuns. Wasting no time they distribute food, water and mattresses, while doctors and nurses from both the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Flying Aid begin to examine the children.
The medical team is shocked to find them in an extreme state of hunger.
To make matters even worse, they discover that about 20 other little girls had been taken from the orphanage to be sold as slaves by human traiffkers.
The Israel Flying Aid team came into Haiti with professional medical clowns to treat the children for trauma and rape. These clowns waste no time in donning their red plastic noses and wide, white smiles in a matter of minutes the children are laughing.
Lusky now heads to one of the hundreds of tent cities now dotting Haiti. There she finds and puts to work about a dozen men to reinforce the walls of the orphanage. As Lusky returns she shows the men where to start and then picks up one of the small children. The child she softly cradles in her arms will be taken back to Israel for an operation.
There is no electricity. As night falls, Israel Flying Aid volunteers lay on white mattress singing to the children as kerosene lamps add a touch of light.
As the morning sun begins to rise, the sound of roosters fill the warm and humid air.
The Israel Flying Aid volunteers search for showers, but quickly realize that buckets of fresh water will suffice. It is the same water that they have brought to this starving and isolated orphanage.
The Nuns begin to pray. Prayers which turn into singing that transcend into a breakfast of macroni noodles and coffee. All of which was brought by these Israeli volunteers who left the warmth and safety of their homes 7,000 miles away.
The tears and crying of the children have been replaced by smiles and laughter.
This is Israel Flying Aid.
"Israel Flying Aid is based upon the Jewish principles of the prophet Isaiah to: 'Uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow, and in doing so we do not discriminate by race, nationality or religion," said Gal Lusky, CEO and founder of IFA.
"We urgently need funds to continue this operation and other humanitarian missions for which we carry out throughout the year around the world. To help those children who were injured and or abandoned. We have supplies for the children in Haiti for just a few more weeks, we need additional funds which will last them throughout the year and the hurricane season."
IFA, which was established in 2005, has an uncompromising obligation to the victims of disaster and not to their countries, governments, militias, or military that may prevent international assistance to victims. IFA chooses to deliver aid to communities that are hostile toward Israel, such as Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Indonesia and others.
Hundreds of IFA volunteers, who leave their families on short notice and risk their lives as they are dispatched to the most remote areas of the world in order to help those most in need, are brave individuals who represent the heart of Israel.
Israel Flying Aid reaches out on behalf of the Jewish people in the spirit of peace, love, and compassion.
IFA is placing an urgent appeal to the global public to assist in finding and treating children in Haiti by sending donations to Israel Discount Bank, branch 199, account # 57797, SWIFT ID: BLILIT.
The above news story was edited and SEO optimized by the Leyden Communications Internet Marketing, Digital PR, New Media, Crisis Communications Group www.IsraelPr.com with sponsorship for coverage of the Haiti earthquake disaster by the Bernard Leyden Memorial Foundation, Michael Cherney Foundation and the Rochelle and Richard Maize Foundation.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Israel Defense Forces IDF, US Army Airborne Working Together in Haiti
Israel Defense Forces IDF, US Army Airborne Working Together in Haiti
As IDF Heads Home, Israel Flying Aid, Orange Israel Telecommunications Create Haiti Orphanage
As
Israel Flying Aid and Orange Israel Telecommunications have announced today that they plan to aid humanitarian efforts in
Israel Flying Aid with representatives of
The orphanage based in Port au Prince, Haiti, which was struck by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake two weeks ago, will embrace 45 to 70 girls between 2 -14 years of age and will be staffed by both Haitians and Israeli volunteers. These volunteers will provide educational, social services, nutrition, trauma treatment working in cooperation 20 nuns.
The IDF will be provided fresh, running drinking water, an electric generator, tents and primary medical treatment.
"From showers to electricity and computers, from water, food and clothing we will rebuild this orphanage," said Avner. "As for today we will take a yard and put up tents as it is unsafe for the children to remain in these cracked and unstable buildings.
IFA and
Avner, who lives with his wife and three children in
"The IDF came to
"We have been very successful in saving many lives but there is still an enormous amount of work to be done in
Israeli Flying Aid (IFA) is a non profit, volunteer-based, non-governmental organization (NGO) that aims to provide humanitarian life saving aid and relief to communities in areas stricken by natural disaster or territorial conflicts.
IFA focuses mainly on operating in places where local regimes prevent entry from formal international humanitarian organizations.
Israel Flying Aid reaches out to populations that for a variety of reasons are unable to receive help from formal international aid organizations such as the Burmese Delta survivors of cyclone “Nargis”.
The professional experts of IFA provide emergency assistance in three aspects: food, medical aid, and post- trauma for those who suffered loss.
IFA is dedicated to providing supplies and assistance for every individual in need, and to transcending political differences, prejudices, race, nationality and creed.
IFA, which was established in 2005, has an uncompromising obligation to the victims of disaster and not to their countries, governments, militias, or military that may prevent international assistance to victims. IFA chooses to deliver aid to communities that are hostile toward
Hundreds of IFA volunteers, who leave their families on short notice and risk their lives as they are dispatched to the most remote areas of the world in order to help those most in need, are brave individuals who represent the heart of Israel.
Israel Flying Aid reaches out on behalf of the Jewish people in the spirit of peace, love, and
compassion.
The above news story was edited and SEO optimized by the Israel News Agency, Leyden Communications Internet Marketing, Digital PR, New Media, Crisis Communications Group www.IsraelPr.com with sponsorship for media coverage of the Haiti earthquake disaster by the Michael Cherney Foundation and the Rochelle and Richard Maize Foundation.
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Sunday, January 24, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
An interview with Jocelyn Celestin - Haiti Earthquake Victim
It was at 5 p.m. when Jocelyn Celestin was thrown off his motorcycle by an earthquake.
When he got up he discovered that his wife Rachel and his two children, John 6 years-old and Jolhone his 7 year old daughter had been killed in their beds.
Today Jocelyn Celestin works at the IDF Field Hospital as a translator.
"I want to tell the world how wonderful Israel is, I pray god for Israel !!!"
When he got up he discovered that his wife Rachel and his two children, John 6 years-old and Jolhone his 7 year old daughter had been killed in their beds.
Today Jocelyn Celestin works at the IDF Field Hospital as a translator.
"I want to tell the world how wonderful Israel is, I pray god for Israel !!!"
Israel Flying Aid Haiti Mission Arrives in Santo Domingo
Israel Flying Aid Haiti Mission Arrives in Santo Domingo
January 21, 2010
http://rushprnews.com/2010/01/21/israel-flying-aid-haiti-mission-arrives-in-santo-domingo
http://rushprnews.com/2010/01/21/israel-flying-aid-haiti-mission-arrives-in-santo-domingo
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| Israel Flying Aid - banner |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 01/21/10 — Israel Flying Aid arrived in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic today after a grueling 14 hour flight from Tel Aviv, Isael.
Israeli Flying Aid (IFA) http://www.ifaid.com is Israel's most respected non profit, volunteer-based, non-governmental organization (NGO) that aims to provide humanitarian life saving aid and relief to communities in areas stricken by natural disaster or territorial conflicts.
"Our flight could be described as a voyage of heroes as search, rescue and medical teams from South Africa, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Canada, Austria, Israel and several other nations met one another and coordinated joint actions for Haiti," said IFA director Gal Lutsky.
Lutsky said that the 25 member Israel Flying Aid delegation consists of medical professionals who practice in several disciplines and Israel's first professional PR consultants who will ge on site to describe Israel Flying Aid, the IDF and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs humanitarian role in Haiti.
"The situation in Haiti is going from bad to worse," said IFA senior international spokesperson Joel Leyden. "The UN has confirmed that the death toll has risen from a staggering 200,000 to 600,000 people. As the Israel Defense Forces have established the only advanced operating field hospital in Haiti, the IFA has come here with the explicit purpose to treat children for severe trauma and rape. Our team is now trying to adjust emotional
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| Israel4Haiti.com |
Leyden said that the Israel Flying Aid convoy will set out for Haiti eary tomorrow morning with a very strong security detail to make assessments and consult with the IDF, Israel MFA and other governmental and NGO entities.
Israel Fying Aid, specializes in transferring emergency, lifesaving aid to populations in disaster areas, and in particular nations in which the IFA presence is especially significant: nations that have no diplomatic relations with Israel, and are hostile to Israel and Nations in which the government is hostile to its own citizens and refuses to allow entrance of foreign lifesaving aid after natural disasters but in effect uses the disaster as a weapon of mass annihilation in order to overturn opposition.
IFA is placing an urgent appeal to the global public to assist in finding and treating victims in Haiti by sending donations to Israel Discount Bank, branch 199, account # 57797, SWIFT ID: BLILIT.
The above news release was edited, distributed and SEO - search engine optimization by the Leyden internet, Digital PR, SEO and New Media Group http://www.IsraelSEOPr.com. The Leyden Group's activities on behalf of Israel Flying Aid are being sponsored by the Michael Cherney Foundation in Israel http://www.cherfund.org and the Rochelle and Richard Maize Foundation in the US http://www.richardmaizefoundation.com.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Israel Defense Forces Begin Their First Day in Haiti "Hell"
Israel Defense Forces Begin Their First Day in Haiti "Hell"
By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem ---- January 16, 2010…… Living in Israel and being an Israeli soldier one sees things that no human should. Yes, we go through months of extensive combat training, and yes we know exactly what to do when we come under fire. But nothing, nothing could prepare any soldier from Israel from the sheer horror and suffering that they are now witnessing in Haiti.
This small and poor Caribbean nation was slammed by a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The center of this severe quake erupted just a few miles south of the densely populated capital of Port-au-Prince. It was a cruel act of nature which would flatten this tiny nation and leave no part untouched.
Over 70,000 thousand people have been buried and it is expected that the total number of fatalities will reach over 200,000.
An unending blanket of twisted corpses now line the once picturesque Palm tree lined streets. Haitians wander the death stench filled streets seeking shelter from a blistering sun, searching for food and water. If lucky, the living and wounded will find their way to a football stadium.
Normally this stadium would be a center of smiles, laughter and cheers. Today it where the Israel Defense Forces have established one of the largest mobile emergency hospitals ever created.
A place of tears, but not for these IDF troops.
They do not have the luxury of crying, at least not at as they work to save lives as you read this sentence.
By 10 a.m. this morning local time this Israel hospital made from white tents was treating dozens of patients.
The IDF field hospital in Haiti, set up in extreme heat and humid weather, has enough equipment and supplies to function for about two weeks. The 121-member medical team includes 40 doctors including a psychiatrist, 20 nurses, 20 paramedics and medics, 20 lab and x-ray technicians and administrators.
They are treating an endless line of bleeding babies, children, men and women.
But who will treat these heroes from Israel?
Combat soldiers are trained to become desensitized. That is how they are able to pull the trigger with true precision in a firefight. But this is no firefight. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah hide behind green and black ski masks.
The Haitian children do not hide their tears, nor do their parents.
One can only think of 9/11 for comparison. But even this area was limited to downtown Manhattan from Canal Street south. The difference between Haiti and the fallen World Trade Center Towers is that all one had to do was take a subway north and you would be in another world. A clean city with open restaurants, movies, stores and people smiling.
These soldiers from Israel came to Haiti with much anticipation of hard and rewarding work awaiting them.
What they walked into was nothing less than a living hell, perhaps only comparable to the too many bodies stacked upon one another in the death camps of the Holocaust.
Israel Lt.-Col Dr. Itzik Reiss described the scene to those in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa as one with children suffering from severe fractures as they arrived on makeshift cardboard stretchers for treatment. Many had limbs amputated due to severe gangrene, he said.
Within a few hours of this IDF field hospital being constructed, operations were performed. The hospital has an emergency room, internal medicine, pediatric, orthopedic, obstetrics and surgery departments, clinics and other facilities. Patients started arriving after a local hospital unable to function normally announced that the Jews, that Israel had a hospital up and working - if they could make the walk. Petrol has become scarce in Haiti.
The IDF bravely searches for earthquake victims in Haiti.
One need not see the disaster movie 2012, just a few hours of watching live TV reports from Haiti would be more than enough. Those journalists reporting from Haiti are the most edgy that we have ever seen. They have no comfort zone nor luxurious hotels to escape to after they perform their standups and rehearsed reports. They know that only worse is to come as food and water still have not been distributed properly throughout this Island of sweat, blood and tears.
Of all the medical, search and rescue personnel on site in Haiti, none could be as prepared as those from Israel.
For we have sustained an endless string of wars, Islamic terror suicide bombing attacks on our buses, shopping centers, restaurants and today rockets slamming into our civilian towns from Gaza.
But these Hebrew speaking men and women in yellow helmets are still very much human beings.
We may have the reputation of being arrogant Sabras, tough on the outside and sweet inside, but we still bleed - physically and emotionally.
If Israel has ever had a group of true heroes, they are the men and women now in Haiti.
Not so much for working in an environment of earthquake after shocks which can and will collapse more buildings, exposed electric lines and diseases now beginning to spread.
There is no Tiberius or Tel Aviv beach to escape to for a few hours. Only the stench of death, the endless wailing cries of the wounded and a flood of tears of so many lost families to engulf our men and women in green.
We need to pray for them. We need to send our own relief teams after a week. We need to meet these soldiers at Ben Gurion Airport upon their safe return with warm embraces, long talks and tissues to catch the tears that cannot fall today.
They left their warm homes to save the lives of strangers thousands of miles away.
We now have the obligation to save their lives upon their return by reminding them of our unconditional and understanding love.
To allow them to cry, to hurt and to feel a clean breeze once again.
A Web 2.0, social networking group has been opened by Internet cyber volunteers on Facebook at Israel4Haiti.com. The Facebook group - Haiti Earthquake 2010 - Israel Humanitarian Aid - was originally designed to send messages of support to the people of Haiti, post pictures and information from the IDF and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to locate missing Israelis in Haiti.
Today, we must also use this Website to send messages of love, respect and support to our men and women in uniform.
The Israel News Agency, which is accredited by Israel Government Press Office, was the first on line news organization in Israel. The INA reaches up to 60 million readers through Google News and Internet social networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from New York, London, Moscow and Paris to Toronto, Los Angeles, China and India. Leyden is presently launching the United States News Agency using the INA as a successful working model.
The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in New York, London and Israel for the Internet by the Leyden Communications Internet Marketing PR SEO Group London SEO Pr New York SEO Pr Israel SEO Pr Israel, London, New York.
Elderly and abandoned, 85 Haitians await death
Elderly and abandoned, 85 Haitians await death
| Posted 1/17/2010 5:50 PM ET |
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By Alfred De Montesquiou, Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The old lady crawls in the dirt, wailing for her pills. The elderly man lies motionless as rats pick at his overflowing diaper.
There is no food, water or medicine for the 85 surviving residents of the Port-au-Prince Municipal Nursing Home, barely a mile (1 1/2 kilometers) from the airport where a massive international aid effort is taking shape.
"Help us, help us," 69-year-old Mari-Ange Levee begged Sunday, lying on the ground with a broken leg and ribs. A cluster of flies swarmed the open fracture in her skull.
One man has already died, and administrator Jean Emmanuel said more would follow soon unless water and food arrive immediately.
"I appeal to anybody to bring us anything, or others won't live until tonight," he said, motioning toward five men and women who were having trouble breathing, a sign that the end was near.
The dead man was Joseph Julien, a 70-year-old diabetic who was pulled from the partially collapsed building and passed away Thursday for lack of food.
His rotting body lies on a mattress, nearly indistinguishable from the living around him, so skinny and tired they seemed to be simply waiting for death.
With six residents killed in the quake, the institution now has 25 men and 60 women camped outside their former home. Some have a mattress in the dirt to lie on. Others don't.
Madeleine Dautriche, 75, said some of the residents had pooled their money to buy three packets of pasta, which the dozens of pensioners shared on Thursday, their last meal. Since there was no drinking water, some didn't touch the noodles because they were cooked in gutter water.
Dautriche noted that many residents wore diapers that hadn't been changed since the quake.
"The problem is, rats are coming to it," she said.
Though very little food aid had reached Haitians anywhere by Sunday, Emmanuel said the problem was made worse at the nursing home because it is located near Place de la Paix, an impoverished downtown neighborhood.
Thousands of homeless slum dwellers have pitched their makeshift tents on the nursing home's ground, in effect shielding the elderly patients from the outside world with a tense maze of angry people, themselves hungry and thirsty.
"I'm pleading for everyone to understand that there's a truce right now, the streets are free, so you can come through to help us," said Emmanuel, 27, one of the rare officials not to have fled the squalor and mayhem. He insisted that foreign aid workers wouldn't be in danger if they tried to cross through the crowd to reach the elderly group.
Violent scuffles erupted Saturday in the adjacent soccer stadium when U.S. helicopters dropped boxes of military rations and Gatorade. But none of this trickle of help had reached the nursing home residents, who said some refugees have robbed them of what little they had.
Dautriche, who was sitting on the ground because of her broken back, held out an empty blue plastic basin. "My underwear and my money were in there," she said, sobbing. "Children stole it right in front of me and I couldn't move."
The area was an eery corner of silence within the clamor of crying babies and toddlers running naked in the mud. Guarding the little space was Phileas Julien, 78, a blind man in a wheelchair who shouted at anybody approaching to turn back.
During moments of lucidity, Julien said he was better off than other pensioners because the medicine he was taking provided sustenance. A moment later, he threw his arms out to hug a passer-by he mistook for his grandson.
Also trying to guard the center was Jacqueline Thermiti, 71, who couldn't stand because of pain but who brandished her walking stick when children approached.
"Of all the wars and revolutions and hurricanes, this quake is the worst thing God has ever sent us," Thermiti said.
Initially, Thermiti and others believed their relatives would come to feed them, because many live in the slums nearby. "But I don't even know if my children are alive," she said.
Thermiti was surprisingly feisty for someone who hadn't eaten since Tuesday. She attributed that to experience with hunger during earlier hardships.
"But I was younger, and now there's no water either," she said.
She predicted that unlike other pensioners, she could still hold out for at least another day.
"Then if the foreigners don't come (with aid)," she said, "it will be up to baby Jesus."
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Israel Rushes Humanitarian Aid, IDF Rescue Units To Haiti, Opens Facebook Group
Israel Rushes Humanitarian Aid, IDF Rescue Units To Haiti, Opens Facebook Group
By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem ---- January 13, 2010…… Within minutes of a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake slamming the Caribbean nation of Haiti, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the Israel Defense, Foreign Affairs and Public Security ministries to urgently administer humanitarian aid.
Haiti President Rene Preval has stated that over 100,000 people had been killed.
“I believe that we are well over 100,000. I hope that is not true because I hope people had the time to get out. We have so many people in the street and we don’t know exactly where they were living. But there are so many buildings, so many neighborhoods totally destroyed and in some neighborhoods we don’t even see people so I don’t know where those people are,” said Preval.
The tremor, which was centered 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, the densely populated capital city of about 2 million inhabitants, was expected to be followed by several aftershocks which may persist for days and cause more damage to crumbling buildings and pose a risk to rescuers searching for survivors.
As Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital, the Israel Foreign Ministry prepared an IDF search and rescue team for departure. As of this report, four Israelis are unaccounted for in Haiti, among them the daughter of late Israel peace activist Abie Nathan. The Israel search and rescue team includes elite army corps engineers (Handasa Kravit) and medical units which are ready to deploy field hospitals.
IsraAID has also sent a 12-man search-and-rescue team, which includes emergency medical staff.
The IDF Home Front Command sent search and rescue forces to Haiti, working in cooperation with US relief efforts operating from Miami, with air drops and a US aircraft carrier moving into position. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is expected to reach Haiti by Thursday afternoon. A number of other ships, including the USNS Comfort hospital ship and a group of amphibious ships with a Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, are on standby and may leave for Haiti in the next few days.
The Medical Officer of the IDF Home Front Command, Dr. Ariel Bar, informed Israel Army Radio that measures have already been taken in order to minimize the preparation period of the operation. An initial Israel delegation including Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IDF Home Front Command and IDF Medical Corps Personnel left Israel today at 11:30 a.m. for the Republic of Haiti.
Israel Defense Forces search and rescue forces have been involved in several international rescue operations after natural disasters in the past, including the Izmit earthquake which hit Turkey with a 7.6 magnitude in August 1999.
Israel search and rescue forces and medical teams operated for seven continuous days in coordination with Turkey authorities and rescued 12 victims of the earthquake and recovered 140 bodies. As part of their activities, the IDF forces also set up a field hospital in Turkey, which continued operating after the search and rescue forces returned to Israel. More than one thousand patients and wounded people were treated in the hospital and fourteen babies were delivered in the hospital labor room.
"The IDF Home Front Command constantly trains its search and rescue forces to respond accurately to emergencies," an IDF spokesperson told the Israel News Agency.
"The IDF frequently holds search and rescue exercises in cooperation with civilian Israel and international organizations, such as the Reliant Mermaid X exercise in August 2009, in which Turkey, US and Israel naval and aerial forces cooperated. The IDF Home Front Command and the Israel Ministry of Health are also currently holding an international conference for emergency preparedness and response to share it's experience with hundreds of international officials."
Israel is very well known and respected for its humanitarian relief efforts which stretch from Gaza to the Pacific Ocean.
Even under mortar and sniper fire by Hamas Islamic terrorists, the IDF makes every effort, at the risk to their own soldiers, to send tons of medical and food supplies into Gaza.
Israel and Haiti maintain full diplomatic relations. In 1947, Haiti voted for the United Nations’ partition of Palestine and the creation of the State of Israel. Many Haitians share much respect and admiration for Israel and its struggles.
Jewish residents of Haiti's neighbor the Dominican Republic are readying efforts to help, the Chabad Website reported. Speaking from his home in S. Domingo, Rabbi Shimon Pelman, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Dominican Republic, reported that he was attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of a handful of Jewish families and visiting Israelis in Haiti, which comprises the western half of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
Israel's ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Amos Radyan, is now traveling by car to Port au Prince on in order to make an initial assessment. Radyan will be risking his life as he travels over broken roads, fallen electric lines, floods and possible harassment by the desperate and starving.
The UN mission chief to Haiti is among those missing with more than 100 people in the rubble of the collapsed UN headquarters building.
UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy would not confirm French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's report that everyone in the UN building, including Hedi Annabi, appeared to have died in the earthquake.
The EU has activated its emergency crisis management system to help quake-hit Haiti, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche said.
"We have put in place at the European level all crisis and aid management mechanisms. We have put in place the entire European crisis management system."
Another Israel organization Israeli Flying Aid (IFA) expects to operative for humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti. Israel Flying Aid is a non – for – profit, non governmental aid organization which provides life saving aid to people affected by natural and man made disasters in developing countries worldwide. IFA provides assistance to all who are in need by distribution of relief items, medical assistance and any other life saving methods. IFA has been involved in several disaster relief and humanitarian efforts ranging from Hurricane Katrina in the US to building a medical clinics in Ethiopia.
IsraAID members have been in direct contact with local agencies in Haiti who together will be treating the injured and offering expertise to the local government. IsraAID has turned to the Israel public in request for donations to support the Israel civilian aid effort.
Web 2.0, social networking Internet cyber volunteers in Israel have opened a Facebook group to send messages of support to the people of Haiti. They might also use the Facebook group - Haiti Earthquake 2010 - Israel Humanitarian Aid - to post pictures and information in order to locate missing Israelis in Haiti.
The Israel News Agency, which is accredited by Israel Government Press Office, was the first on line news organization in Israel. The INA reaches up to 60 million readers through Google News and Internet social networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from New York, London, Moscow and Paris to Toronto, Los Angeles, China and India. Leyden is presently launching the United States News Agency using the INA as a successful working model.
The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in New York, London and Israel for the Internet by the Leyden Communications Internet Marketing PR SEO Group London SEO Pr New York SEO Pr Israel SEO Pr Israel, London, New York.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
VIDEO - Joel Leyden discusses how SEO, New Media and Social Networking is changing PR
Joel Leyden, CEO of the Leyden Internet Marketing Digital PR SEO Group,
talks about how SEO, New Media and social networking is changing public relations,
public affairs, branding, marketing, marcom and crisis communications.
public affairs, branding, marketing, marcom and crisis communications.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
How SEO, Web 2.0, New Media is Changing PR
How SEO, Web 2.0, New Media is Changing PR
We have gone from the fax machine to SEO, Facebook and Twitter in less than ten years. The PR professional who has adapted to this media revolution will increase both your visibility and ROI.
By Joel Leyden
New York, NY --- December 31, 2009 -- There used to be a time when professional public relations consisted of typing up a news release and placing it into a fax machine. One can remember taking dozens of news releases packed neatly into elegant, clean white envelopes addressed to AP, Reuters and UPI and dropping them off at their central post office in New York, London or Paris.
Joel Leyden - Digital PR, SEO, New Media Pioneer
"If you were smart, you would follow up with a call to the editor or newsroom to confirm that they received the news release or as they are referred to today as the PR," says Joel Leyden, CEO of the Leyden Communications Group.
"Today, the fax is reserved only for legal documents or papers that you don't want exposed to the open Internet. We have moved to using email to get our messages out in real time.
But email has become so over used and abused that today many editors are afraid to even look at their inboxes. That a tidal wave of spam may just engulf them and swallow up their precious deadline minutes," said Leyden.
So how is the general and trade medias being reached today?
According to the Leyden Communications Group the new and relevant media news channels are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and SEO optimized Web and news content.
The Leyden Communications Group, which was established in New York in 1982 and has become a pioneer in digital PR, SEO and New Media and own and operates the United States News Agency Agency and the Israel News Agency recently created a group on Facebook supporting Israel's right to defend herself against terror attacks. The room swelled to 100,000 members and TIME, CNN and FOX all took notice.
Did they email Leyden?
Not exactly. Leyden's Google Gmail account never saw any editorial inquires. Rather they tracked Joel Leyden down through Facebook!
When classic PR, advertising, marketing and branding integrates with Web 2.0, New Media and social networking the results are nothing less than dazzling.
But let's begin with some definitions. What is PR?
"It is not the same as sales, branding or marketing," says Leyden.
"Public relations is the activity of working with the news media to gain and or control visibility for a B2B or B2C business, crisis communications management for governmental public affairs campaign or getting the message out for a non-profit organization."
Leyden says that public relations gains an organization or individual exposure to their markets using topics of public interest and news items that do not always demand direct payment. Common activities include event marketing, speaking at conferences and employee communication. It was something that was not tangible and thus set it apart from advertising.
But today, a news release or PR which is sent out over the Internet using one of several PR news release carriers, can be tracked. The demographics, impressions and read throughs can and our monitored. And the results can be provided to the client for fine tuning.
What is SEO or search engine optimization?
Leyden defines SEO as the means of optimizing or making Web content found by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing, AOL. It takes a thorough understanding of HTML code and how the algorhythms work on each of the search engines.
For those, and that is the majority of surfers on the Net, who do not know SEO and need to get their messages out there, they usually resort to a Google Adwords campaign.
Illustrating the public's lack of knowledge of SEO is Google's total advertising revenues. They were 21 billion USD in 2008 . Google AdWords offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads. The Google AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution.
All of these elements can and are addressed by a PR SEO professional.
But how does PR integrate with Web 2.0, New Media and SEO?
"It doesn't", says Leyden. " Well at least it has not fully matured as of yet. The reason is simple.
The PR professional is one who has a rich background in journalism, marketing and or sales. Journalists who earn their degrees in creative writing, understanding how to create an effective headline and how to put together sentences and facts in the most interesting manner. They are not computer programmers."
Leyden says that that the SEO professional is usually a computer programmer who has studied computer engineering and also knows how to write. But these programmers are writing computer codes such as JAVA, HTML and FLASH. They are creating computer software applications. They are not PR professionals.
"These are two completely different disciplines," says Leyden.
As the Internet moved into Web 2.0 becoming far more interactive with applications such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn sending and receiving information in real time, many PR professionals were forced to discover the practical use of New Media, social networking and SEO.
But how many PR professionals have actually taken the time to learn SEO, HTML code and integrate their creative nouns and adjectives with META tags and dozens of other computer programming parameters? How many PR and SEO professionals know and understand the new Google Caffeine search engine to be launched in 2010?
Very few. But yet, many claim that they offer SEO services.
So what is honest and what is not?
Where can you truly find an experienced PR professional who has a solid background in classic PR, branding, advertising and marketing with SEO and New Media skills?
"You must ask several questions," says Leyden. " Problem is, most companies seeking international SEO Internet marketing and PR support do not know the questions to ask."
The Leyden Communications Group and Leyden Communications Israel provides below a list of questions for every company from New York, Tel Aviv, London, Washington and Los Angeles to Paris, Japan, India, Russia and China to ask the SEO or international Internet marketing and PR company before they sign a contract.
"First, if your target audience is in New York, London, Manchester or Los Angeles, or any native English speaking market, be certain to hire a native from that country. One whose English is at mother tongue level and understands the marketing culture of your target market. If you do hire a native speaking PR SEO professional, make certain that they have lived and worked in your target market locale for at least ten years.
Second, you want to know what experience and for how many years they have worked in PR, SEO, New Media, international marketing, conventional distribution channels, social networking, sales, marcom, viral marketing, production of brochures, advertising and public relations?
Third, what professional experience do they have in copy writing, journalism and research?
Fourth, what practical experience do they have in SEO programming?
And last but not least, how long have they been working on the Internet?
How many friends do they have on Facebook or followers on Twitter? Are they really into social networking?
An international PR and Internet marketing professional must wear many hats to succeed.
The Internet SEO professional must be an experienced international marketing or PR person - one who understands how to penetrate and motivate a market outside of their own locale without the Internet.
They need to understand the basics of international marketing, branding, distribution and sales channels in order for them to integrate the digital world with the classic print, broadcast media and sales markets.
The PR SEO professional must be an accomplished, creative and professional writer who can write for both the reader and the search engine."
Leyden says that this news article is an example of how one can write for both the reader and the Google and Yahoo search engines. The English may suffer a bit as the writer finds a creative balance between getting your attention and the eyes of the search engines. But what is more important?
"The search engine!," says Leyden.
"For if your customers in the UK, France, Jordan, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Brazil, Japan and South Korea do not find your Website, then having a Website with the best of conventional copy writing and FLASH will find itself lost in cyberspace."
Can you find a Webmaster, Internet graphic design, Internet programmer, professional Internet marketing, international PR guru and professional journalist and or copywriter all in one person?
"Many will say yes just to take your money," says Leyden.
"You will be lucky to find a team with each one of these professionals in no more than perhaps a dozen international Internet PR SEO marketing companies - most of them based in the US. And being limited by knowing only the US market."
What then would be the real acid test for securing a professional PR SEO - search engine optimization Web promotion marketing company?
Leyden suggests to simply perform a search on Google for "New York SEO PR", "London SEO PR" or "Israel SEO PR".
"Perform a search for the market you are seeking to penetrate with the key words SEO PR. Ignore the paid for, sponsored Google Adwords results. In fact, if the PR SEO company is relying solely on Google Adwords and does not have a top five organic position listing on Google, then you know that they are not for you.
If they cannot promote themselves on the Web, how can they promote your good and or services?"
"Google Adwords are a very powerful advertising tool used by PR SEO New Media and social networking international Internet marketing companies in New York, London and Tel Aviv, but they are not a substitute for having your commercial Website, blogs and news content stand on its own digital legs," says Leyden.
"Adwords are not a substitute for getting out optimized news stories on Google News and PR news releases into the many corners of the Net. Adwords do not substitute for New Media - that is the creation of blogs, professional rooms and forums in Facebook, Google and Yahoo groups and the creation of videos on YouTube."
"The real PR professional of 2010 will know how to break through the noise and place your message in the face of your potential clients - either at home or at the office by bouncing optimized Web and news content off New Media and social networking media channels," says Leyden.
"We have gone from the fax machine to Facebook in less than ten years. The PR professional who has adapted to this media revolution will increase your visibility, media control and ROI."
The Leyden Communications Internet Digital PR, Marketing and SEO Group wishes you and your families a healthy, happy, peaceful and prosperous new year.
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