In light of Sderot Media Center’s recent visit to the Erez crossing with the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, the importance of creating a visitor’s media center at the Erez crossing has been officially recognized by crossing officials.

The need to provide hundreds of foreign journalists, diplomats, and government officials, who pass through the crossing into Gaza with a balanced perspective of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict became immediately obvious to us.

These journalists visit Gaza and see only the devastation there. Is there any Israeli representative trying draw this traffic to Sderot and the western Negev region? At this point the impact of Hamas rockets on Sderot and the western Negev remains largely ignored.

The Erez crossing is one of the most significant portals to those researching points to understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict. Opening such a media information center at the Erez crossing will provide international visitors with a more balanced perspective of the current conflict before they enter Gaza. More importantly, such a center–which will feature photos, information and material on the Palestinian rocket impact on Sderot and the Negev– will draw international visitors to Sderot as well.

Finally, I would like leave you all with a final thought on the elections held this week. It is my hope and also of the SMC staff that the next Israeli government will address the rocket threat against Sderot and southern Israel in a consistent and effective manner.

Best wishes for a quiet week,

Noam

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Noam Bedein is a director of the Sderot Media Center. It is a media advocacy center which portrays the human face of Sderot and southern Israel under siege, to the international media and public. Noam, a native of Tzfat, grew up in Efrat, Israel. After finishing the Beit El Yeshiva High School, Noam learned at a pre-Army training program in the Jordan Valley and then served for three years as an IDF sergeant for an artillery scout unit along the Lebanese border. After the army, Noam served as an emissary for The Jewish Agency in Boston, Massachusetts and then traveled for a year in the Far East. Upon his return to Israel, Noam relocated to Sderot and pioneered the “Sderot Media Center for the Western Negev Ltd", which has spawned the Sderot Media Center. In this position, Noam is a photojournalist, lecturer and gives briefings to foreign government officials, embassies, foreign press and student groups from around the world.

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