Israel crawls from crisis to crisis
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How not to win friends
For Wolfsfeld the composition of the current Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not exactly helping matters.
"You have this rather extreme right-wing government that is not exactly what you need in order to improve Israel's position in the international community," he said on Sunday.
The inclusion of the popular, moderate leader of the opposition Tzipi Livni could well help matters, he said.
Former highly-experienced Israeli ambassador Zvi Mazel takes the opposite view. Rather than becoming apologists for their actions, Israelis need to take the high ground and repeat a single message in the media -- that Israel has time and again pleaded with its neighbors for peace and it has nearly always met with rejection.
Now, argues Mazel, Israel needs to tell the world that it is the Arab nation that is behind violence. In his opinion the global coverage of the recent flotilla story was a disgrace and " prejudice."
With regard to the Brodsky affair, Mazel admits this is somewhat more problematic "if he proves to be a Mossad agent." Israel must try to ensure the news is not blown out of all proportion he added.
In his opinion the international media, particularly in Europe, focuses way too much on Israel. There were major terror attacks in Iraq in the same week as the flotilla and they have long since been forgotten. The same goes for the victims of a lone gunman in northern England, Mazal contends. Yet all the while the flotilla issue remained in the headlines.
Palestinian success
These various incidents to a large extent play into Palestinian hands and help the Palestinians on their way to achieving then national ambitions.
While in the second intifada the Palestinian cause was not done any good by the plethora of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, events like the Gaza flotilla where the actions of those on board were perceived as civil disobedience, gain points for the Palestinians, according to Wolfsfeld.
"It's easier to present the Palestinians as victims and the Israelis as aggressors," he said.
Wolfsfeld believes the latest developments signal a type of return to the thinking of the first intifada when the Palestinians were presented as throwing rocks against the might of Israeli tanks.
Events like the killing of Al-Mabhouh and now the arrest in Poland of one of those said to be involved in the plot should not be seen alone but rather as part of this broader pattern, suggests Wolfsfeld.
That is why the likes of Mazel want Israel not to focus on individual instances in which the country clearly loses the propaganda war, but to also focus on the broader picture, on the ancient and modern history of the region and what he says is Israel's claim to the land.
Meanwhile, with regards to Mr. Brodsky, expert opinion in Israel is that the matter will be quickly sorted out and that he will not be extradited to Germany.
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