WASHINGTON - One hundred leading cable TV stations in the U.S. this week began broadcasting paid advertising by two U.S. Jewish groups trying to get Israel's message across to the American public.

Believing that Israel is losing the media war, the American Jewish Committee and Israel 21C, a Silicon Valley group, decided to take the unusual step of paying for TV ads instead of traditional public relations methods, such as interviews and print newspaper advertising.

Beyond the change in the medium, the ads are also a change in the Israeli message. The emphasis in them is on the similarity between Israel and the U.S., the alliance between the two countries, and most importantly, the fact that Israel is a democracy while its neighbors are not.

In the past, Israel information campaigns concentrated on the conflict with the Palestinians - who started the violence, what is terror, what Israel proposed to the Palestinians, the importance of security, borders, etc. But polls showed the American public has lost interest in the conflict and is moving toward a more neutral position without asking which side is right. Moreover, the poll found there has been erosion of Israel's image as a democracy in American eyes, but that an emphasis on Israel being an American-style democracy could be more effective than arguments about who is right in the conflict.

Both advertisements are similar. "Israel is America's ally in the Middle East," begins one of the ads, against the background of a spinning globe. There are images of daily life in Israel with subtitles explaining why Israel is an ally - "democracy," "respect for human rights" (against the background of skyscrapers and someone working at a computer, "universal voting rights" (against the background of an Arab woman voting), as well as "representative government," "freedom of religion, the press and speech," and finally, the tag line: "America and Israel - common values, common visions." The second ad is similar, emphasizing the participation of Arab and womens in the Israeli political system.

The TV ads infuriate James Zogby, head of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He said the ads are latently racist, telling Americans that Israelis "are like you Americans and they (meaning the Arabs) are not," and that the emphasis on the differences is a form of support for continuing the conflict and distancing peace.

The ad's organizers say that they simply wanted to show the American public Israel as it is - a thriving democracy. David Harris, head of the AJC, said Zogby's complaints were "lighting verbal fires."

The campaign, which will run through October, will cost $1 million, with the AJC and the Silicon Valley group splitting the costs. According to the AJC, the ads' efficacy will be evaluated at the end of the first month of the campaign.

The Jewish groups are already planning the next stage of TV advertising for Israel and apparently will include a new ad, based on "Israel's outstretched hand for peace." It will cover Israeli efforts to reach peace with its neighbors, from the adoption of the Partition Plan, through the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan and the Oslo
agreements, culminating in the Camp David talks.

The organizers say they want to get across to the American viewers that Israel has always wanted to reach a peaceful solution. Another message will be the need for a different Palestinian leader, someone like Sadat in Cairo and Hussein in Amman, who will know how to reach real peace with Israel.