Israel Hopes Leaflets Can Sway Lebanese Loyalties (Added 8/14: Hezbollah Leaflets)

I've thought that Americans in Iraq have made many overblown claims of what can be achieved with 'psy ops,' propaganda, and aggressive public diplomacy -- but as an example of self-delusion, this really takes the cake:

"Wooing Lebanese Hearts, One Leaflet at a Time," by Ilene R. Prusher (in Jerusalem) - the Christian Science Monitor, 2 August 2006

JERUSALEM – Many of the remaining residents of southern Lebanon's war-torn towns are accustomed to the hollow thump of an explosion in the sky followed by hundreds of leaflets fluttering to streets like confetti.

They typically tell residents to leave before the bombs fall - an Israeli effort to avoid civilian casualties such as Sunday's killing of at least 65 in Qana. Head north of the Litani River "because of the terrorist activities that have been carried out against the State of Israel," they warn.

But other fliers fluttering down over Lebanon aim to foster Lebanese anger at Hizbullah, a much more ambitious effort than evacuating the country's Shiite south. Those depict Hassan Nasrallah as a cobra or show the Hizbullah chief cowering behind a shield bearing a picture of a Lebanese family.

Known as a "propaganda bomb" or by its slightly more euphemistic term, "airborne propaganda distribution," the technique of trying to sway civilians or combatants by flooding them with fliers has been around since World War II.

But today, what military-types dub psy-ops - or psychological operations - is also encompassing the technological advance of communication. Many Lebanese say they've been getting e-mails, text messages, and phone calls from Israel. One phone message said that Nasrallah had been badly wounded in an Israeli strike. Another claimed that people paid by Hizbullah were worried that they would no longer receive their monthly salaries.

But given the deep mistrust of Israel in Lebanon, many here and abroad wonder whether Israel is making an impact - be it in persuading the vulnerable to move or in winning hearts and minds in the campaign to discredit Hizbullah.

Hassan Dbouk, who works with the Tyre, Lebanon, municipality, says he received a phone call and heard a voice say, "This is the Israeli Army. We are about to increase our military operations in south Lebanon, and you are advised to leave immediately to north of the Litani." But Mr. Dbouk stayed.

"I think it's not very helpful, because the idea that the public will somehow exercise pressure on Hizbullah is baseless," says Moshe Maoz, an expert on Lebanon and Syria at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "If we saw Israel just [striking at] the Hizbullah positions, fine," he says. But when civilians and civilian infrastructure are hit, "the public doesn't blame the Hizbullah for it - they simply hate Israel more."...

Also see:

"Psychological Warfare Against Hezbollah" - Arutz Sheva / IsraelNationalNews.com, 30 July 2006

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli airplanes Saturday dropped leaflet in Lebanon stating, "Hassan [Nasrallah] ignited the fire like a child playing with matches, but found out that the IDF’s fire is much stronger than he had anticipated. Hassan continues to destroy Lebanon. Will he understand that he was wrong and end your suffering?"

IDF officers have said that Nasrallah is feeling intense pressure after Israeli soldiers eliminated a large percentage of his army and wiped out at least one third of Hizbullah's rocket firing potential.

Yahoo! News has posted some AFP photos of Lebanese holding some of the Israel leaflets - click here and here to see them. The kids holding the leaflets don't look particularly won over.

It seems to me that the only real benefit of propaganda campaigns like this one are that they make the people behind the campaign feel better about themselves -- 'We're getting our message out! We're bludgeoning our enemies with the cudgel of truth!' They don't, however, achieve anything in the real world in terms of getting information out, changing people's minds, or moving conflicts toward resolution. On one level, that self-delusion is kind of funny; on another, it's depressing or even scary.

Added 8 August 2006:

"An Israeli Propaganda War?" - AP (Beirut), 7 August 2006, as carried on the Jerusalem Post website

"Hassan," said the deep voice on the phone, "have you realized yet that the Israeli army is not as delicate as a spider's web? It's a web of steel that will strangle you!"

The "Hassan" being addressed was Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader, but the message was for all Lebanese. The automated, recorded calls have flooded Lebanese telephones since the war began 27 days ago.

Phone calls with recorded messages slam Hizbullah. Hizbullah's television stations are jammed with warnings to the group's members.

It seems Israelis are everywhere - not just on the ground in south Lebanon or the skies or on ships off the coast.

The Israeli army has refused to confirm that it was behind the calls that Lebanese throughout the country started to receive soon after the hostilities began July 12. But most Lebanese assume Israel is sending them....

Typically, the calls start coming in the afternoon and quite frequently in the middle of the night. A "0000" number flashes on the phone screen, indicating an overseas call. The voice on several other recorded messages is identical to the one on the "Hassan" message, and they deliver the same anti-Hizbullah line.

"This is the state of Israel," said one message that urged Lebanese to end their support for Hizbullah. "This resistance...is forcing you to stay at home like rats."

Another posed questions: "Who is it that's putting your life in danger? Who is using you as human shields?"

During a recent prime time newscast on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV that was airing a footage of Nasrallah, viewers suddenly saw "Hizbullah members beware" splashed across the screen, the words running over the guerrilla leader's black turban.

They also flashed a picture of the body of a dead man sprawled on his back with a caption claiming it was a Hezbollah's special forces fighter.

"Nasrallah is lying to you. We're not the ones hiding our losses," said another caption.

Ibrahim Farhat, head of public relations at Al-Manar, dismissed the incident, saying Israel has been jamming and hacking into Al-Manar and other satellite stations almost every day, especially in coastal areas....

Added 14 August:

"Hezbollah Distributes Its Own Leaflets" - AP (Zahrani, Lebanon), 14 August 2006

ZAHRANI, Lebanon - Hezbollah distributed leaflets on Monday congratulating Lebanon on its "big victory" and thanking citizens for their patience during the 34-day war with Israel.

Supporters of the guerrilla group were seen passing out leaflets to cars heading south on the Zahrani highway, which connects the hard-hit southern cities of Nabatiyeh, Tyre and Sidon.

"Congratulations to you on the big victory, with the support of God, the mujahedeen (holy warriors) and your patience," it read....

Although Hezbollah is using the same communication tool (a printed leaflet) that Israeli authorities did, there are at least three major differences between the two campaigns: 1) Hezbollah already had a positive relationship with the people receiving the leaflets; 2) Hezbollah distributed its leaflets face-to-face, rather than dropping them from the air; and 3) Hezbollah's message (a thank-you) is meant to solidify its own relationship with the people reading the leaflets, whereas Israel's message was meant to undermine a relationship between the public and a third party (Hezbollah). That underlying relationship stuff is what really determines the effectiveness of a public communication campaign.