Why Beyond Images?

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary: Beyond Images is a London-based website which provides facts and resources to help people to argue Israel’s case in an informed and coherent way, and to explain the context for Israel’s actions.

QUESTION: Why another website about Israel? Here are some features of Beyond Images which we think make us different….

We convert raw facts about Israel into sophisticated, user-friendly resources

There is huge amount of information about Israel on the Internet. But people need sophisticated and user-friendly resources derived from that information. According to a recent survey, 66% of people basically favourable to Israel felt that they lacked information about the country.

On the Beyond Images website we condense hundreds of news stories, official statements, opinion pieces, and magazine articles into concise, high-quality Briefings. These save our users time sifting through masses of material, by distillng key points and making them available at the click of a button.

Our Briefings are written in bullet-point, non-academic, clear English style

Our users are typically very busy people. So we write in bullet-point style. We avoid detailed academic analysis, but favour clear messages in clear English. Our content is set out in “chunks” and is therefore well-suited to being translated into other languages.

We are non-partisan and dispassionate

Beyond Images is neither right-wing nor left-wing, religious nor secular. We take a non-partisan and non-ideological approach, aiming to provide resources which the massive majority of Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of Israel can use. We avoid a strident, aggressive or emotional tone.

We are completely independent

We are independent of any communal, religious or governmental organisation.

We are not an “Israel right or wrong” website

We do not leap to defend every Israeli action, but aim to help people understand the context for Israel’s actions, even if they disagree with them. We believe that right-wing advocates for Israel need to be able to make the left-wing arguments; and vice versa.

We don’t ‘reinvent the wheel’ but direct users to the best existing resources

We direct users to the best websites on Israel: MEMRI on the Arab world; columnists on the Jerusalem Post, the Jerusalem Report, and Haaretz; Israeli science and technology via Israel21c; Myths and Facts via Mitchell Bard’s Virtual Jewish Library etc. We refer often to Alan Dershowitz’s book ‘The Case for Israel’, and highlight email news round-ups from the US. We are frustrated by organisations launching projects which match resources which are already available

We do not make the accusation that the media is anti-semitic

We do not use the argument that the media is anti-semitic. This accusation is serious but often backfires. We are interested in the impact of media coverage in demonising Israel, not the prejudices of the individual journalists or media organisations involved.

We do not denigrate Islam or the Palestinian people collectively

We publish material which is critical of the Palestinian leadership, but do not denigrate the Palestinians collectively, or deny the reality of their national aspirations. Likewise, while we highlight how Israel is demonised in the Arab world, we do not denigrate Islam.

We are not a media monitoring service like Honest Reporting

We do not monitor media coverage of Israel. Firstly, groups such as Honest Reporting, BBC Watch and Camera do this already (we link to them from Beyond Images). Secondly, media monitoring requires resources beyond our disposal. And thirdly media monitoring is reactive: the activities are defined by what others say about Israel. While it is vital to monitor, we use Beyond Images to disseminate core messages and arguments in a pro-active way.

We do not recirculate opinion articles

Thousands of Op-Ed articles and in-depth commentaries are published every year, worldwide, on Israel. Many of these end up being circulated across the Internet, within days of appearing. We do not recirculate such articles. Websites such as Mideast Truth, or Israel Insider do this. We concentrate on building long-term resources which will outlast the topical subject of the day.

We are eager to collaborate with other projects with similar goals

We have approached significant Jewish communal organisations to explore collaboration. We believe in resource and content sharing.

We have left the strongest reason why Beyond Images is different till last….
Our users are telling us we are valuable and are making a difference. What more do we need?