The IDF - Knowing Right from Wrong in a Democracy

Today was truly a sad day for the Israel Defense Forces.
A very rare time that I agree with the ISM.

What is Israel? 

It is a democracy. We die for this democracy for which the IDF protects. A Jewish army which embraces the finest of Jewish values. 

I held off commenting but can no longer remain silent.
I have served for over 20 years, many as an officer, in the IDF. 

At IDF security checkpoints we talk with unarmed civilians. 

We do not beat them. That is the difference between Israel and Iran / Syria.

In that time I served at many checkpoints. I know procedure and military law. I am also a professional photographer. The video shown here was not edited from the second it started to run to 15 seconds into the tape where the IDF officer is clearly seen assaulting the protestor. 


The protestor was unarmed.
The protestor made no threatening moves at the officer. 

One must be either blind or in denial of what we clearly see to even think that an IDF officer who beats up unarmed protestors is a "hero".


We are not Nazis.
We are not Iran or Syria. 







Many of you know me. I have spent thousands of days protecting and defending Israel's image - but I, as like the reporter from the Jerusalem Post, the IDF Chief of Staff and the PM will not white wash this or cover it up. 

Israel has one of best armies in the world (if not the best) and we, as in all armies, have a few bad apples. We do make mistakes. But brutal, sadistic, unprovoked behavior as we have witnessed here does not belong in the IDF - unless we begin to consider ourselves equal to the armies of Iran and Syria. 

As I stated earlier when this video was first uploaded into YouTube, this officer would be relieved of his command and sent to military court. We will not judge this officer - the military court will. 


Unless he had been physically threatened, he had no right whatsoever to thrust his rifle into someones face. Even under gunfire, we do not respond like this. This was not IDF military procedure as I learned it.


What distinguishes the IDF from all other armies is our ability to communicate, share and learn from one  another. Moshe Pvt. can and will speak his mind to Moshe the General. We embrace the courage of David, the might of Samson and the wisdom of Solomon.


We will not allow a few bad soldiers to tarnish the names of thousands who serve the IDF and of every citizen of Israel. 


I do fault the IDF for not having deployed Humanitarian Officers to checkpoints.
Please see: http://www.israelnewsagency.com/israelcheckpointsidfqalandiya126042.html

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday condemned the beating of the pro-Palestinian activist by a senior IDF officer.

"Such behavior does not characterize IDF soldiers and officers and has no place in the Israel Defense Forces and in the State of Israel," Netanyahu said.

G-d bless our men and women in the IDF and provide them with the wisdom to know right from wrong.

Flytilla Welcome to Palestine Campaign Offers Free Tickets to Israel

Flytilla Welcome to Palestine Campaign Offers Free Tickets to Israel

1digg

By Israel News Agency Staff

Jerusalem, Israel --- April 14, 2012 .... As a result of several airlines now canceling the tickets of Flytilla pro Palestine activists and not refunding their moneys, Flytilla organizers are now offering free tickets on their own chartered airline.

Those seeking to take part in the Welcome to Palestine 2012 protest against democracy in Israel can purchase tickets at www.Palestine-Airlines.com

"We are having a difficult time getting our activists to Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel," said one of the Flytilla organizers.

"Lufthansa, Air France, and UK based Jet2.com have informed many of our people that Israel produced a list of names of people to whom Israel denies entry and that according to international law, the airlines must abide by the wishes of the countries that they fly to."

“The mission here is to show that, if our governments do not seem to be interested in the fate of Palestinians who have been under occupation for far too long, there are men and women from all countries, who are ready to bring them moral support, using a week of their holidays to go and meet them,” Flytilla organizers told the INA.

"We really don't have anything against the Jewish people, nor even the people of Israel. It is actually democracy which bothers us. Can you imagine if such great nations such as Iran and Syria allowed democracy and freedom? It would bring down those totalitarian governments and give power to the people. We cannot allow this. Therefore we are coming to Israel to illustrate how the Zionists are starving our children, raping our women and stealing our houmos."

According to organizers the fly-in includes over 350 French citizens in addition to Belgian, British, German, Italian and American activists.
The Israel Public Security Ministry and the Israel Police are now making final preparations ahead of the scheduled PR stunt on Sunday, anticipating that the activists will try to cause disturbances. Israel Police will reinforce their presence at the airport and single out activists when they leave the aircraft with the intention of arresting them. The Flytilla activists will then be deported back to their point of origin as quickly as possible, with minimum disruption to ordinary passengers in the airport.

The Flytilla Welcome to Palestine 2012 marketing campaign is supported by Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, former South African politician Ronnie Kasrils and linguist Noam Chomsky. The government of Iran, terrorist groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah also support the Flytilla.

"The Iran government is coordinating Flytilla and paying for the airline tickets," said a Flytilla activist who is posting on both Facebook and Twitter. Our goal, as is that of Islamic Jihad, is to wipe Israel, all Jews and Christians (Infidels) off the map. There can be no room or place for democracy, human rights, equal rights for women and freedom of speech in the Middle East."

The activist concluded: "After we have made our statements heard, we will head down to the sunny beaches of Tel Aviv. We hear that they have excellent restaurants, bars, dancing and night life. What would you do if you had free tickets to Israel and did not qualify for Taglit-Birthright?"

Of Israel, Passover, Palestine, Apartheid and PR

Of Israel, Passover, Palestine, Apartheid and PR



Why do we call Israeli Arabs "Palestinians"?

2digg

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel --- April 12, 2012 .... It is often said that we sometimes can't see the forest for the trees. So it goes for Israel's PR efforts.

Israel suffers everyday. We suffer from a lack of global understanding of the true facts. And this suffering transcends into threats to our very physical survival. The war of words is overlooked by Israel and the Jewish community for the war of bullets.

Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Hamas and Islamic Jihad backed Palestine (there is no entity as Palestine - but it is carved here for purposes of SEO) have millions of dollars to retain the best, most creative PR and advertising agencies. And it shows.

Their marketing events such as the "Flotilla", "Global March on Jerusalem" the "Apartheid Wall" and the upcoming "Welcome to Palestine Flytilla" PR campaigns are right on target.

So where does Israel miss the Flotilla boat?

First, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs has very little money.
They are lucky to pay their rent in Jerusalem and in embassies around the world. Recently, diplomats from the MFA went on strike just so that they could feed their children. There is no money for PR. They have a meager training budget and that's it. They rely on non-profit and volunteer organizations such as The Israel Project, CAMERA, MEMRI - The Middle East Media Research Institute and HonestReporting.com all of which do a fine and noble job. We can't forget support from the ADL, AJC and the WZO.
But even they suffer from being overwhelmed and under staffed by anti-Israel and anti-Semitic campaigns coming from all directions.
They are putting out fires. Little time to create potent strategies and powerful campaigns let alone able to look at the big picture.

Case in point is Passover.

As Jews we all celebrate it. We honor it. We even eat matzah and gefilte fish. 

But we totally neglect it in addressing Israel's existence today. Yes, we talk among ourselves about being freed from slavery in Egypt but we totally neglect getting out the Passover branding and messaging for Israel's right to exist today!

When Iran and the Arab world talk about "occupation" - we must ask ourselves and those around us, what occupation?

Did we not reenter Israel thousands of years ago from Egypt?Where were the Palestinians then? Did we occupy their land? Did we rape their women and steal their houmous and camels?

Israel should give Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich citizenship and make him a Deputy Foreign Minister. He has done more to address the real status of Palestinians than anyone else since 1964, calling them an "invented" people.

When the pro-Hamas Palestinians say "occupation" we need to say "Passover".
When the pro-Hezbollah Palestinians say Jerusalem, we need to say "Passover".
When US President Barack Obama refuses to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (that is when he is not campaigning for President) we need to say "Passover".

Passover commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. This was in 1446 B.C. In Jewish tradition, Jewish ancestry is traced to the Biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the second millennium BCE.

The Palestinians did not build Jerusalem. Jews did!

King David of Israel first established Jerusalem as the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel in c.1000 BCE, and his son Solomon commissioned the building of the First Temple in the city. Now let's go fast forward. Yasser Arafat invented a nation called Palestine in 1964. There were no Palestinians - these were Arabs who lived in the biblical, historical land of Israel who chose war to exterminate Israel rather than having their own state in 1948.

But you see what we are doing? We can't see the forest for the trees as we deal with all of these dry and boring dates.

We need simple, exciting sound bytes.

"Israel wants peace - not propaganda and missiles."

Solution: display advertising on buses and subways, from Moscow, Paris, Geneva and London to Washington, Tokyo, New York and Toronto. Banner ads on Facebook and Google all asking: "Israel. What occupation?"

Or "Are The Palestinians An Invented People?"

Add some small print with details. "Jews in Israel over 5,772 years. Palestinians: a people created in 1964."

"Israel wants peace - not propaganda and missiles."

As for all other issues such as Apartheid, IDF security checkpoints and the IDF handing out poisonous candy to Arab babies - all secondary.

Yes, Israel wants peace. This tiny democracy that gave away Gaza for what? More missiles and lethal rhetoric?

The Arab agenda is simple. They deflect away from the lack of employment and human rights in their own nations and use Israel as a media diversion. Do they care about Arabs living in Israel - heck no. They push for Israel's total destruction. Not because they see Israel as a threat, but because they see democracy as a threat.

We need to have 5 questions on Passover. The fifth being: "how long has Israel been in existence and why do we call Arabs - Palestinians?

We need to ask this question to journalists using inexpensive but far reaching social media during, before and after Passover.

Pass the matzah and wine.

The author has practiced professional PR and public affairs for over 25 years. He has served as a senior media consultant to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the IDF. He can be found at JewishPr.co,DigitalPrConsultant.com, ReputationManagementPr.com and JoelLeyden.com

Digital PR, Reputation Management, SEO and Good Ethics

The purpose of Reputation Management and Crisis Communications is to remove material that can be defined as libel or slander.

The job of the professional digital PR consultant is to insure that when one searches for your name, only good things will happen.  This occurs by creating new, highly optimized Websites and deleting material using legal tools provided by a variety of search engines.

www.joelleyden.com = www.DigitalPrConsultant.com = 24/7 Reputation Management,
Social Media, SEO Services   #socialmedia   #pr  #seo

SocialMediaPioneer.com NewYorkSEOPr.com IsraelSEOPr.com ReputationManagementPr.com IntegratedMarketingProfessional.com JoelLeydenSEOPr.com SEOJoelLeyden.com JoelLeydenSEO.net CrisisCommunicationsPr.com IsraelNewsAgency.com UnitedStatesNewsAgency.com

"Online Marketing and Digital PR Since 1994"

Alleged Cyber-Stalker Found With More Than $100K in Stolen Goods

Updated: Friday, 23 Mar 2012, 8:49 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 23 Mar 2012, 8:49 PM CDT

Sun-Times Media Wire

Chicago - Bond was set at $100,000 for a North Side man arrested Thursday for cyber stalking and found to be in possession of stolen goods ranging from diamond rings and scooters to tennis rackets.

Police arrested Jicheng Liu, 32, of the 1700 block of West Altgeld Street, at his home Thursday on a warrant for cyber stalking and discovered the large quantity of stolen goods, according to a statement from police News Affairs.

Further investigation led police to three storage locations for stolen goods in the 1700 block of West Fullerton Avenue, the 2100 block of West Fullerton Avenue and the 2000 block of North Elston Avenue, police said.

Officers recovered bicycles, bike helmets, bike car racks, car seats, child strollers, diamond rings, flat-screen televisions, garage remote controls, golf clubs, keys, laptop computers, razor scooters, tennis rackets and vacuums worth more than $100,000, the statement said.

Liu was ordered held on $100,000 bond, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office’s website. Additional charges are possible, police said.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office and U.S. Postal Service Inspectors also investigated.

........ Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more!

Kalandia IDF Security Checkpoint - Between Jerusalem and Rahmallah

Joel Leyden: We didn't wear helmets so not to appear threatening.