
 
 
Though the  Foreign Ministry invited ambassadors from around the world to see the tremendous  cache of arms intercepted on their way to Hizbullah last week, the world media  did not take interest.
Ambassadors and diplomats from 44 countries, along  with military attaches from 27 nations, were taken to the Ashdod port on  Thursday to see for themselves the weapons and ammunition seized from the  Antiguan ship Francop off Cyprus. 
The 500 tons of Iranian  weapons bound for Hizbullah that Israel intercepted was ten times more than  those confiscated aboard the famous Karine-A ship several years ago – and would  have been enough to keep Hizbullah fighting against Israel in a future conflict  for 30-40 days.  
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela  Shalev, complained to the UN on Thursday about the terrorism  shipment.
Yet, despite the significance of the event in terms of the  worldwide struggle against terrorism, the story received barely any coverage in  the world press. 
“Israel did what it was supposed to do,” former IDF  Spokesman Ephraim Lapid told Arutz-Sheva, “and there is no explanation as to why  the news stations around the world basically ignored the story. It is very  surprising that this event, which is major news item by any standard, was not  appropriately covered. I have no explanation, but Israel can’t be  blamed.”
Arutz-Sheva’s Uzi Baruch reports that MK Nachman Shai (Kadima),  a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, disagrees.   “Israel’s public relations and information efforts have apparently failed in  disseminating the story of the Francop. Prime Minister Netanyahu is supposed to  understand these matters, yet precisely under him, Israel continues to limp  along in getting out its message.”
MK Shai has asked the Knesset  committee for an urgent discussion on why Israel failed.
Yossi Levy, of  the Foreign Ministry’s Israeli media department, defended the ministry in light  of Shai’s criticism. “The Foreign Ministry carried out a complete, coordinated  and successful campaign in order to get the information out to all the media  outlets. Some of them are, not surprisingly, not interested in publicizing this  important information.”
“It’s not an Israeli failure,” Levy said, “but  rather those world media that chose to ignore this story deviated from all  accepted standards in the world of media.”