Other factors

Many Israeli PR experts and those working on Israel's behalf overseas cite a series of other reasons for the country's perceived poor performance in the media.

Israel suffers from a lack of clarity in its messages, while Palestinians all use one simple message.

There is no clear hierarchy in Israel's official public relations machine. Several ministries and organizations seem not to work in full coordination with one another.

While Israel has made some inroads in the United States and United Kingdom over the years, it has never really invested enough effort in Europe.

PR is not a government spending priority in comparison to the perceived need to maintain Israel's military advantage.

Palmor offers his own thoughts on the market place that is public opinion, "The major problem is that opinion is based on headlines. The headlines are very negative... This is a good day for Israel bashers everywhere."

As a result, Israel is trying to talk with commentators and editorial writers to persuade them to view the situation somewhat differently. "If they tell them that this report is tainted and not to be taken seriously, then they will believe that too," said Palmor.

(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2009)