Too Much Information
Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, recently demanded that Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) recognize the Jewish nature of the State of Israel. And lest you think I have flipped my wig and decided to provide political commentary in this space that has until now been devoted to communications and marketing, you can rest easy. This IS about communications and it is about PR.
You see, no one in the entire world – even among Israel’s enemies – considers the State of Israel to be anything but the state of the Jews. It was founded as the Jewish state, and it is run that way, in many aspects of our society. The Jewish holidays are also public holidays. And that’s not to say people of other faiths are not free to worship as they please. In fact, they are. But all food on the national airline (El Al) is certified kosher. And Israel’s flag is a combination of the star that our tradition tells us adorned the shield of King David, and the blue stripes and white background of the Jewish prayer shawl. To further prove the point, here’s an example of an Israeli commercial.
Israel is Jewish.
Now, here’s where you will see that I’m not making any political statements.
When our prime minister introduces the concept that maybe Israel is not Jewish, simply by asking Abu Mazen to confirm that Israel is Jewish, that’s a major PR mistake.
You see, in communications, sometimes NOT saying something is more definitive than saying something. And Mr. Olmert made a mistake by raising this topic, because until now, the world simply considered Israel to be the Jewish state. It is only now, when Israel’s prime minister himself raised doubt, that the world may come to ask further questions.
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