Gerald Steinberg: US bankrolling clumsy peace advocacy campaign opposing Israeli government

After failing for 18 months to reverse the results of the 2009 Israeli election that brought a coalition headed by Benjamin Netanyahu to power, the Obama administration appeared to have stopped the clumsy efforts to manipulate Israeli democracy. But now the US Agency for International&nbspDevelopment (USAID) is using a small opposition group to sell artificial peace messages to Israelis.

This US-sponsored campaign is based on political advertisements with the message "that there is a (Palestinian) partner, that the problem is specifically with us." The texts are prepared by a group calling itself the "Geneva Initiative," and include video clips of Palestinian officials telling Israelis that there is a "window of opportunity" for reaching a peace agreement. USAID is also funding a parallel campaign aimed at a Palestinian audience.

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Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA adds:

Do the folks at the Geneva Initiative really think that the Israeli public
is going to be won over by an expensive ad campaign?

Do the folks at Peace Now really think that they money they pour into
various campaign is effective?

These are the questions of the naīve.

Because the main purpose of the exercise is not to carry out an effective
campaign.

This is a business.

The peace business.

You get money from foreign governments etc. to pay salaries for "activists"
and friends at ad agencies etc.

You get paid for going on the lecture circuit and spend time at five star
hotels and resorts around the world talking about peace [how many
conferences have been at 3 star hotels?