Sadly it appears Israel has failed to learn from past mistakes. In the world of internet technology where scenes and images appear on screens worldwide as events occur or minutes after, Israel is still lagging behind in its efforts to explain its cause, and in this particular case, the reason why IDF troops are operating in Gaza.

The fact that Palestinians in Gaza have fired hundreds of Kassam rockets and Grad missiles at Israeli civilian population centers is irrelevant to the foreign media, who focus most of their reports on the damage caused by Israeli military operations in Gaza. The fact that no country in the world would allow any of its citizens to suffer daily barrages of rockets such as the residents of Sderot and Israeli communities surrounding the Gaza Strip have also been ignored by the foreign media.

The Palestinian media outlets realised earlier on in the game that images of children wounded, dead or in shock are worth more than a thousand words, and have proven their ability to operate a well oil machine within minutes of events taking place, such as the recent air force strikes in Gaza. The local Palestinian media as well as the Arab media abroad broadcasted images of suffering children, and the Hamas television in Gaza broadcasted over the weekend around the clock images of children treated in hospital, a schoolboy's satchel ripped to pieces, a cot filled with debris and a dead baby.

It is not the first time Hamas has resorted to brainwashing its people, and indeed in Gaza hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are forced to pay the price for their Hamas rulers. While the Hamas leadership remains safe in underground bunkers, issuing instructions to launch attacks against Israel from meters under the ground, the Palestinian people they supposedly be protecting are left to suffer.

Attempts by Israeli government officials to explain the recent escalation in violence appeared to have fallen on deaf ears. International networks over the weekend including CNN, Sky, BBC and Fox focussed their news reports on the Israeli military activities in Gaza. There was no mention why Israel was forced to use such strategy or explanations regarding the barrages of Kassam rockets and Grad missiles that fell in Israeli residential areas, their aim to hit and kill or harm as many Israeli civilians as possible.

During the years of the Second Intifada it appeared that Israel was on the right track and for periods of time allowed Israeli government and military offiicals eloquent in speech and thought to express Israel's strategy to the world at large.

However internal politics and manipulations put an end to it, and instead Israel has been left with a bunch of spokesman, some unable to speak clear English, who bear the responsibility of transmitting Israel's message abroad. Usually instead of issuing clear details concerning Israel's strategy, they waste most of their time trying to justify Israel's existance to the world.

This is wrong. The State of Israel has no need to justify its existance or actions, like any other democratic country, its prime responsibility is to protect its citizens, just like any other democractic country in the world would doi. 03/02/08

Margot Dudkevitch

Infolive.tv