Firm that produced anti-flotilla video works for Israeli government

The Israeli production company Zed Films that made the anti-flotilla propaganda video “Sex with the Psychologist” lists the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the Government Press Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other official Israeli bodies as its clients. Does this indicate that this and other recent propaganda videos are the work of the Israeli government?

Last month, The Electronic Intifada and other publications exposed as a hoax an anti-flotilla video purporting to be made by a disaffected gay rights activist in the United States. The man in the video was in fact an Israeli actor named Omer Gershon. The so-called marc3pax video had been distributed soon after it appeared by a staffer in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the Government Press Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the producers of this video have remained unidentified.

Zed Films client list

The majority of Zed Films’ clients appear to be Israeli government and local and international Zionist organizations. On a section of its web site, Zed Films lists the following clients using their Hebrew names and logos:

  • Microsoft Israel
  • Teva
  • Ormat
  • PrimeSense
  • Mobileye
  • Prime Minister’s Office
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • Government Press Office
  • Ministry of Environmental Protection
  • Western Galilee Hospital
  • Holon Institute of Technology
  • Government Company for Protection of the Dead Sea Ltd.
  • Homeland Command
  • Work Safety Institution
  • United Jewish Appeal
  • Israeli Ministry of Tourism
  • Office of National Infrastructure
  • Israel Police
  • Ministry of Immigration Absorption
  • Waddell Media
  • Cineflix
  • Radical Media
  • Lion Television
  • Jewish National Fund
  • eyeSight
  • Council for the Preservation of Heritage Sites in Israel
  • Mekorot
  • The Israeli Navy
  • Women’s International Zionist Organization
  • The Peres Center for Peace
  • The St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group
  • ONE Family Fund
  • SLE

Is Zed Films behind the marc3pax hoax?

Given that the marc3pax video was distributed by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government Press Office and given its anti-flotilla message, it is reasonable to ask whether it was also made by Zed Films. It is also reasonable to ask whether Zed Films is making these videos at the behest of its Israeli government clients. The Electronic Intifada has sent an inquiry to Zed Films, although it would have arrived after the close of business in Tel Aviv. We will report on any response we receive.

An interesting detail which experts in video production may wish to comment on is that the two videos have an identical aspect ratio of 1.94:1. The videos are letterboxed to fit YouTube’s standard 16:9 ratio. We welcome comments from video production experts about whether this could be just a coincidence.

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Comments

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The 16x9 trim may just be coincidence. It is one of a handful of export presets that are built into final cut.

I would pay more attention to their style (use of archival footage, total length, and how and when they cut) as well as their saturation levels it may reveal patterns.

Andy

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whomever posted these videos (albeit both have different styles) there is one thing that stands out. Both have titles with sexually charged keywords. This is telling about the viral marketing strategy used in both cases. To bump up searches they added sexually charged words in the title to drive up more accidental traffic. "in bed with" and "sex with" are viral marketing ploys and not the typical MO typical conservative or "activist" propagandists. They are the calling cards for viral marketers. This could be more telling then the 16x9 aspect ratio.

If both generated from the government then both were clearly outsourced jobs, placed in private hands that know the nuances of the viral marketplace.

Best,
Andy

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both videos use sexuality as their discourse for discrediting the opponent and that might become a weird coincidence given the 4 days difference in upload time, this can be a coordinated campaign the first video - with a final text message and the dramatized plot needs to be credited to an organization or body, on the other hand the second video- with no end slogan and home video feel had to be uploaded separately/individually as a viral video.
finally after replaying the video again and again i can say clearly that the gay/activist (with a single video upload on his channel) character is reading

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Actually Jordanians cannot view the content of Zed Films website
"You are not authorized to view this page"