Israeli Video Blog Exposed as a Hoax

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"A YouTube video featuring a man who presented himself as an American gay rights activist disillusioned with the latest Gaza flotilla campaign has been exposed as a hoax.

The man in the video, who introduced himself to viewers as Marc and claimed that the organizers of the latest flotilla of ships bound for Gaza had rejected his offer to mobilize a network of gay activists in support of their cause, was identified as Omer Gershon, a Tel Aviv actor involved in marketing, by the Electronic Intifada, a pro-Palestinian Web site."

<snip>

"Just hours after the supposedly homemade video was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday, Benjamin Doherty of the Electronic Intifada pointed out that it had suspiciously high production values — most obviously, lights and what is known as B-roll — and was attributed to an activist calling himself Marc Pax, who seemed to have no other online presence.

While it remains unclear who produced the video, and Mr. Gershon has not responded to a request for comment, bloggers were quick to point out that people in three different Israeli government offices promoted it on Twitter soon after it was posted online."

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/israeli-video-blog-exposed-as-a-hoax/


Israeli actor in anti-Gaza Flotilla pinkwashing video identified

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/benjamin-doherty/israeli-actor-anti-gaza-flotilla-pinkwashing-video-identified

[Violet_Crumble]

1. Interesting

'A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister told The Lede: “Mr. Seemann is a 25-year-old who is interning in our office. His tweet was a mistake on his part. It was done without authorization and without approval. His mistake has been pointed out to him.” Mr. Seemann, who denied that he had had any role in the production of the video and said that it had been sent to him by “a friend,” has deleted his entire Twitter feed. He declined to put The Lede in touch with the friend who informed him about the video.'

What? Do they just hand out the password to the official Twitter account to interns? That's asking for trouble, which is exactly what ended up happening...

btw, good to see you popping up in these parts again :hi:

[shaayecanaan]

2. Unlikely...

http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/06/anti-flotilla-video-fraud-has-links-to-pm-netanyahus-office-official-government-hasbara-agents/

The hoax video was up for well over a over a week and the Israeli government only responded once a few meddling leftists exposed it as bullshit.

My guess is that this intern was doing exactly what was expected of him - that is to churn out the kind of pinkwashing, faux-liberal boilerplate propaganda that might appeal to Westerners at a time like this.

[oberliner]

3. Israel is often laughably lame when it comes to their PR

This video is a perfect illustration of that.

I think the bloggers that exposed this video for what it was may have been a little too quick on the trigger, though.

If they had let this sit out there for a little while and waited for some more prominent folks in the media (new or old) to think it's for real - and then they expose it for what it was, the impact would have been much greater.

As it was, they jumped on it from day one, and the whole thing was over before it ever had a chance to start.

Almost no one saw the video, believing it was legit.

I know some folks like to be first on the bandwagon, but I don't think it's always the best strategy.

In any case, Israel needs to hire some savvier people if they are going to try to pull off shenanigans like this.

Better still, they ought to spread their message honestly and openly.

If they wanted to communicate the hostility that Hamas has towards gay rights and other issues that many of the flotilla participants and well-wishers would very likely support, they could have simply done so in a straightforward way and gotten that point across more more effectively.

[azurnoir]

4. Thanks for a savvy comment n/t

[bemildred]

5. +1. nt

[shira]

6. Israel's enemies are fortunately too dumb to take full advantage of situations like this

Thing is, Israel can't count on that stupidity forever.

And I agree that Israel can't afford to spread dishonest messages like these. Israel needs to do a better job exposing the far rightwing, bigoted agenda of these folks than making up shit.

[aranthus]

8. "A lie can get around the world before the truth can put its shoes on." MT

You make good points, but I have a hard time faulting people for wanting to get the truth out as quickly as possible.

[Jefferson23]

9. Many of the flotilla participants and well wishers would very likely

support the hostility that Hamas has toward gay rights and other issue?

You've based your opinion on what exactly?

[oberliner]

10. The flotilla participants and their well wishers would very likely support gay rights

I was trying to say that many of the flotilla participants and well wishers would very likely support things like gay rights and other civil rights issues that Hamas is hostile towards.

Apologies if that was not clear in what I wrote.

I think that whoever produced this video was trying to make the argument that:

1. Hamas, to some extent, will benefit from this political action (the flotilla).

2. Hamas is hostile towards issues like gay rights that most progressives support.

3. Therefore, by participating in the flotilla (or supporting it) one is giving credibility to a regime that is not especially progressive.

Evidence of this is demonstrated by the fact that previous convoys that actually made it to Gaza resulted in exchanges of pleasantries between Hamas leaders such as Haniyeh and convoy participants such as George Galloway (a picture of them hugging is included in the video).

I think that the Israeli PR folks ought to have just made that argument directly rather than trying to pass off this ridiculous video as legit.

[Jefferson23]

11. Ok, thanks for the clarification. n/t

[shaayecanaan]

12. Perhaps the bloggers were more interested in being honest

than wanting to score points.

[oberliner]

13. No idea what you mean by "scoring points" and no implication was made about them not being honest

The only people who weren't honest were the people who put out this video.

The bloggers who exposed it for what it was were completely honest - I have no idea where you would see any suggestion to the contrary in my post.

Clearly, they hoped to have a big impact with their exposure of this video - they talk about how important it was to debunk the video on the website and devote a good deal of time to the larger issues that they believe this speaks to.

I think the impact could have been even greater, and the point could have been made even more effectively if they had waited a day or two before presenting this information.

If you look at the website of the people who uncovered this hoax, you will learn that one of their priorities is aggressively countering propaganda that they believe undermines their cause.

Damaging the credibility of the PR coming out of the Israeli government is certainly one of their strategies.

With that in mind, I think they ought to have allowed this video some time to breathe. Maybe even share their findings with a more "mainstream" news source.

You will note that they were cited by the Washington Post (among others) in articles about the hoax video.

Had they handles it differently, I think the benefit to their cause could have been even greater.

The is no question of "scoring points" or anything of that nature (not sure what you even mean by that), but rather of getting as much of the public as possible to understand the reality of the situation and to see through the trickery of those who would stand in the way of the truth.

[shaayecanaan]

14. Would it have mattered?

Perhaps one or two posters here would have posted the original hoax video on this forum, and then when the revelation came others such as myself would have jumped all over them. Good knockabout stuff, but probably not very meaningful in the scheme of things.

The bloggers released the details after they became aware, which was the most ethical and honest thing to do.

Possibly, one of the outcomes of all this is that the term "pinkwashing" is beginning to find a larger currency amongst GLBT groups. A lot can turn on a word.

[oberliner]

16. Maybe not

I think, however, your characterization is ridiculous.

Saying the bloggers "become aware" of some details suggests that somehow this information fell into their lap and they then felt the need to be "ethical and honest" by releasing that information.

The truth of the matter is that these bloggers actively and aggressively sought to discredit this video as soon as they became suspicious of its authenticity.

Discrediting deceptive PR from those who they believe oppose their goals is something that they pursue for their own purposes.

Groups like CAMERA do the same sort of thing when they encounter something they believe to be bogus or misleading.

The bloggers who debunked this video, like the CAMERA folks who attempt to expose misleading statements, are doing so to advance their political agenda.

To suggest otherwise is just naive and silly.

[Violet_Crumble]

15. Totally agreed with one minor exception...

While I agree that it would have been a better strategic move to sit back and wait, most bloggers don't work all that strategically, and just want to break the news when it comes to them so they can get the jump on anyone else. They'd have to be pretty sure the video would go viral, and amongst all the torrents of white noise this flotilla engenders, there's no guarantee of that happening. Most government departments, on the other hand, do work very strategically, and I for one am very awestruck at how quickly they were able to tweet that hoax and then even more quickly remove it once it was outed. It's almost like there's no process at all in place when it comes to social media like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter...

[oberliner]

17. I think the Israeli side learned a lot from this experience

Although, one would think by now they would be better at attempting to present their case effectively without resorting to chicanery.

[aranthus]

7. Sheesh!

A quick google search turns up photos of Mr. Gershon. It looks like a pretty obvious hoax. What is wrong with people? Truth matters!

[JackRiddler]

18. At this point the hasbara is good only for keeping up domestic delusions.

The world is not buying this shit no more.