By Alex Grobman, Ph.D.
One of the greatest concerns of the Jewish people is how to counter the attempts to delegitimize the state of Israel. The goal of these attacks is to isolate Israel from the West, criminalize her actions and expose her as an international war criminal, an occupier of Arab lands and a rightwing religious theocracy. They want to deny her the fundamental rights of self- defense and security in an asymmetric war, and gradually erode her stature, and turn her into a pariah state through demonization, lies, disinformation and double standards. To succeed in undermining the legal, political and moral justification for the Jewish state, Israel must be seen as the impediment to peace, and an oppressive government with no historic or legitimate claim to the land of Israel or to Jerusalem her capital.
Her enemies employ a number of strategies designed to ensure her demise. On July 9, 2005, the Palestinian Arabs issued a call for an international campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS), which will continue “until it [Israel] complies with international law and Palestinian rights by:
Manipulating language to describe Israel’s alleged sins has enabled the Palestinian Arabs to frame the way Israel is perceived. This technique, introduced by the Soviets, which is called “reversal of culpability,” imposes a false historical analogy on the present. Thus, Goliath becomes David, and David becomes Goliath. The most prevalent use of this practice is the charge of “genocide,” which conveys the fallacious claim that “Israel is doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews.”
The Soviets created a political language that connected the former Soviet-styled antisemitism to that of the present. By defining the political vocabulary about Israel and the Jewish people, the Soviets produced the cultural foundations for a new type of political antisemitism that has become part of mainstream culture. The danger, historian Joel Fishman notes, is that these criticisms ultimately obscure the distinctions between what is right and wrong and undermines the foundations of Judeo-Christian morality. In this environment of moral confusion, terror and violence have become acceptable and even justifiable.
How do we counter BDS, and the malicious falsehoods leveled at Israel? One approach is fight the cultural, academic, sports and economic boycotts in the courts. Shurat HaDin, Israel Law Center, based in Tel Aviv, and directed by Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, and the Lawfare Project, led by Brooke Goldstein, a New York City-based human rights attorney, continue to challenge and win cases against those seeking to delegitimize the Jewish State.
We must also arm ourselves, our children and our non-Jewish allies with information to expose the myths, lies and distortions that have led to a “corruption of language and thought,” and deny Israel’s right to exist.
To refute the most common fabrications about BDS, I have written a number of books that provide the weapons needed. We cannot change or temper the passion of those who viscerally despise Israel and are bent on hastening her demise. We can provide information to those interested in understanding the nature of the conflict, why the solutions advanced thus far have failed and why this dispute will continue to remain intractable.
BDS: The Movement to Destroy Israel, which explains the history and ideology of the movement, who supports this campaign, how the Jewish community responds to BDS, and the effectiveness of these attempts.
Erosion: Undermining Israel Through Lies and Deception Is all criticism of Israel antisemitic?
When does criticism of her actions cross the line and become unacceptable? What are the criteria that make such condemnation antisemitic?
Cultivating Canaan: Who Owns The Holy Land?
We cannot change those who want to destroy Israel. We can expose the malicious lies that undermine and delegitimize Israel to those interested in understanding the essence of the conflict and provide them with answers to these outrageous and destructive fabrications.
License to Murder: The Enduring Threat of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
This study examines the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the most deceitful, dangerous and pernicious of the libels ever used to incite hatred and violence against the Jewish people. They shape the way Jews, Israel and the West are viewed by the rest of the world.
The Protocols continues to be published in practically every language, in hundreds of editions, in hundreds of millions of copies, and in very compelling videos on the Internet. It is particularly disconcerting that this is embraced even today by leaders of the Arab-Muslim world, where the Protocols continues to be published in vast quantities, and cited in the writings of mainstream academics, who lend credibility and legitimacy to this utter falsehood.
Hebrew University trained historian Alex Grobman has written extensively on the Holocaust and on Zionism. He has served as Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, founded the Holocaust Center in St. Louis and is a former director of the America-Israel Friendship League, where is now a consultant.
It is more effective to knock them shitless without warning.
babushka Said:
Bluster is the province of fools. If you have the means and will to back up a threat, it can be highly effective.
Making threats is the province of fools. Israel should project strength,and its enemies will get the message.
Israel should state (discreetly) that she has nukes, and if threatened, will destroy Islam (starting with Mecca, Aswan Dam and the oil fields) and Europe, both with missiles striking cities on the ground and at a height to cause EMPs.
This would wipeout 90% of the people in the affected areas.