Israel intends to engage a top U.S. public relations firm in a media blitz designed to improve its damaged image in the United States.

December 18, 2006 -- Worried that its already sizeable lobbying machine and political and media clout in Washington are not enough to help it recover from the bad press it has encountered as a result of President Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" and former Secretary of State James Baker's conclusion in the Iraq Study Group report that a solution to the Israel-Palestine problem must presage a resolution of the Iraq situation, Israel intends to engage a top U.S. public relations firm in a media blitz designed to improve its damaged image in the United States.

The first indications of the campaign are already underway, with pro-Israeli media elements engaging in vicious personal attacks against Carter, Baker, and emergent Iraq war naysayer Colin Powell on an increase. The Israel supporters on the left, particularly certain well known blogs and particular Democratic leaders, can also be expected to come out strongly against those who favor an immediate military pullout. This has already been evident in Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid distancing themselves from President Carter and other Democrats ridiculing newly-announced presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, who favors an immediate pullout from Iraq.

Israel's government is also keenly aware that with a parade of U.S. senators visiting Damascus to seek Syria's assistance to end the Iraqi conflagration, Jerusalem is increasingly being seen as obstructionist. President Bush's decision to stick with the neo-cons and conduct a "surge" military operation in Iraq, with as many as 35,000 to 50,000 troops expected to be deployed, will likely result in a higher U.S. military casualty count. The upcoming trial of two AIPAC officials in a Pentagon espionage case will also cause a public relations problem for Israel. In addition, continuing neo-con influence over the White House will also have a blowback effect on Israel. Rightly or wrongly, Israel's influence over the Bush administration -- most recently seen in the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on the corrupt right-wing Israeli politician Natan Sharansky -- will be seen by many Americans as being ultimately the cause of America's disastrous involvement in Iraq.

Wayne Madsen Report