Peloni: This is an important article, critiquing the very policies/strategies which are failing to gain support in the ongoing PR war being waged against Israel.
Why Israel is alone & why I am (almost) done with these organisations
Khaled Hassan | The Grand Strategy | Jul 31, 2025
Image via Pexel
Israeli and Jewish leadership of mainstream organisations are the problem. Let’s stop pretending otherwise. There’s a reason we’re losing the narrative war—and it starts at home.
- We’re stuck in an outdated playbook. Israel and Jewish institutions pour resources into “nice” educational videos, hoping to win hearts and minds. Meanwhile, Gulf states—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar—are dominating the arena: buying businesses, recruiting global talent, bankrolling lobbyists, and building media empires (cough Al Jazeera) that shape world opinion.
- The Gulf understands influence; we don’t. They grasp how to resonate with Middle Eastern and European audiences. Even America is growing increasingly pro-Arab (thanks to Qatari, Saudi and Emirati geniuses). On the other hand, we’re tone-deaf, recycling strategies that haven’t worked for decades.“Oh look at this video of Jerusalem, Israel is so nice, welcoming and open” VS “Here’s $10 billion in investments, and, while we’re at it, how much is Tucker Carlson for?”
- Our diplomacy of “delegations” and tokenism is self-sabotaging theatre. We love tokenism, especially with a Muslim in traditional clothing or a hijab…..Bringing a Muslim to Israel for a staged hug with a rabbi? It’s not just cringe—it’s toxic. We destroy reputations of the very people we parade as “proof” of coexistence—careers left in tatters amidst accusations of espionage—achieving nothing beyond a photo op. Short-sighted, counterproductive, and outright disastrous. Most importantly, we can’t even quantify the success of any of these delegations, which is why I refused to join one shortly after October 7th and instead went to Israel at my own personal cost.We hate it when antisemites use tokenism to suggest Neturei Karta extremists are the “real Jews”, but we too use tokenism for a box-ticking exercise!
- We refuse to listen—even when warned. I told Israeli diplomats in 2019 their Arab outreach was failing. Their response? “Okay, thanks. These issues won’t be resolved in our lifetime.” Then they doubled down on the same broken tactics.
- Excuses are our speciality. “Antisemitism!” “Everyone hates us!” “Qatar has more money!” True or not, they distract from the real issue: We’re prioritising the wrong messages, the wrong messengers, and the wrong strategies.
- We beg for scraps with zero central strategy—it’s humiliating. Too many in our community lack backbone. For them, merely rejecting Hamas is “good enough”. Take Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: a Gaza-born commentator bankrolled by American Jews. He condemns Hamas but peddles poison:
- Claims Netanyahu “prolongs the war to avoid trial” (parroted weeks after Oct 7, when Hamas remained fully armed and months before Ismail Haniyeh or Sinwar were killed; the leadership was virtually intact when he started calling for an end to the war)
- Equates Israel with Hamas terrorists
- Claims the IDF deliberately targets civilians, often sharing false material
- Supports the French-Saudi plan for European countries and others to unilaterally recognise “Palestine”
- Denies Israel’s right to self-defenceAhmed’s genius lies in his mastery of the deadliest propaganda trick: wrapping a mountain of lies with a grain of truth. In the Arab world, we call this “adding poison to honey” – making toxic disinformation slip down like nectar. And, the guy got Jews to pay for it. He says everything any Palestinian says, just condemns Hamas in an American accent, and that got some American Jewish businessman to go: “Take my money, you wonderful Gazan”.
If Israel had a central PR strategy, it would have offered philanthropists the opportunity to connect them with the right talents who at least don’t demonise Israel, claim the IDF targets civilians deliberately, and lobby against Israel’s interests. But, here we are!
Imagine getting paid by a Jew to attack Israel, the IDF and lobby against Israeli interests……wooooow. Good for you, Ahmed. Absolutely brilliant!!!
As long as Qatar and Saudi Arabia are rich enough to bribe any cause, the bribe will win. We “rich” Jews can try to compete but the price is too steep. We cannot keep up. The solution is to take their over abundance of money away from them. It a shame that this is the only solution available.