user preferences

New Events

Mashriq / Arabia / Iraq

no event posted in the last week

Upcoming Events

Mashriq / Arabia / Iraq | Gender

no events match your query!
Recent articles by Barak Ravid
This author has not submitted any other articles.
Recent Articles about Mashriq / Arabia / Iraq Gender

James Kirchick's "Queers for Palestine?" May 05 09 by Haneen Maikey, Jason Ritchie

الثامن من آž... Mar 15 09 by مازن كم الماز

Lotte di donne in Iraq Feb 27 06 by Solidarité Irak

Israel recruits gay community in PR campaign against Iran

category mashriq / arabia / iraq | gender | non anarchist press author Tuesday May 05, 2009 14:49author by Barak Ravid - Haaretz Report this post to the editors

Israel is stepping up its public relations effort to discredit Iran within the international community, and part of its new campaign focuses on Tehran's abuse of human rights and sponsorship of terrorism.

"We have to lay the foundation in the world, and particularly in Europe, in order to be able to take harsher steps against Iran, especially in the economic sector," said one senior political source in Jerusalem.

The new campaign, to be overseen by the Foreign Ministry, aims to appeal to people who are less concerned with Iran's nuclear aspirations and more fearful of its human rights abuses and mistreatment of minorities, including the gay and lesbian community.

The campaign plans to recruit the international gay community, which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed in 2007 when he said there were no homosexuals living in his country.

The campaign will also reach out to Jewish groups who want to bring more attention to Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial and some members of the Iranian regime's anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist views.

About NIS 8 million have already been budgeted for the new campaign, which also includes increased briefings for foreign journalists on the Iranian nuclear program and greater use of the Internet and sites such as YouTube.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman want to broaden the PR campaign on the subject of Iran in the wake of increasing international willingness to negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear program. One political source said there appear to be greater expectations in the U.S. and in Europe that diplomacy will solve the nuclear dispute.

However, the assumption in Israel is that dialogue will not lead to fundamental change in Tehran's stance and that the regime will not relinquish its nuclear aspirations, even in exchange for an incentives package from the international community.

The senior political source in Jerusalem said it is necessary to lay the groundwork now for the possible diplomatic failure. Despite talk of a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, the current campaign focuses more on harsh economic sanctions against Tehran.

Related Link: http://www.haaretz.com
This page can be viewed in
English Italiano Deutsch
La une du numéro 27 de Cause commune

Latest News

Mashriq / Arabia / Iraq | Gender | en

Thu 18 Mar, 14:58

browse text browse image

Sorry, no stories matched your search, maybe try again with different settings.

Opinion and Analysis

Sorry, no stories matched your search, maybe try again with different settings.

Press Releases

Sorry, no press releases matched your search, maybe try again with different settings.
© 2005-2010 Anarkismo.net. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Anarkismo.net. [ Disclaimer | Privacy ]