Ted Belman. I have always made the same point when it comes to “selling” Christianity or Judaism. The Christian message is “Jesus loves you” where as the Jewish message is.. ah… what is it? In the Israel/Arab conflict, they say its their land and we are stealing it and we say we support the TSS. We should be saying its ours.
The main Arab message is clear and simple and everyone can quickly understand it:
We Palestinians are the indigenous people of Palestine who have enjoyed a peaceful life in our country for millennia. We worked hard and promoted freedom and equality for all. Our country was invaded by the evil Jewish colonizers who were supported by the British imperialists. They killed many of our people and stole our beloved land of Palestine. Now they exploit us and occupy our land. We are fighting for freedom from the evil Zionists Jews. The Jews kill our mothers and our brothers and practice apartheid and holocaust upon us. The world must help us since Jews are so strong!
Yes, this is a powerful message. It is very moving and cries out for a response from all decent people. It is also a complete LIE!
What is the response of the Israeli Jews to above slanders?
“This is complicated,” the Jews say. “We respect Arab concerns, but we also have the right to be here. We believe in their right to have a state, but we have security needs. If we abandon the settlements and move back to the 1967 lines, our coastal plain will be endangered, etc.” The convoluted message goes on and on. Our message amounts to many volumes of tightly typewritten text. One must read it all to understand what we Jews mean.
Any sane person will have a similar response;
“I don’t have time to read the many thick volumes of Jewish explanations. Arabs clearly are the victims here. Jews are trying to hide and obfuscate something and talk us to death. My dear Jews, stop this nonsense and give back to the Arabs their freedom and their land. Quit with the lame excuses. Enough is enough.”
Even a significant number of Jews buy into the Arab narrative despite it being a total fabrication. I have met many Jews who repeat the Arab disinformation in good faith.
Israel has to develop its message to be as clear and simple to comprehend as the Arab one. We have to learn from our enemies when their tactics are effective. I do not propose that we lie like they do. Just tell the truth in clear cut, simple terms:
Jews are from Judea; Arabs are from Arabia. The Jews are the indigenous people of this land; Arabs are the colonizers. We are the people of Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, Galilee and Golan. We have been invaded by the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs and the Crusaders, but our link to the land has never been broken. We have resided without interruption in this land for over three thousand years. We have built the cities and every square meter holds archaeological remains from our ancient kingdoms. During the two thousand years when most Jews lived in exile, we never forgot where we came from. This was, is, and will be our nation’s sacred land forever.
Meanwhile, there never existed an Arab Palestinian nation or a country. It is a complete hoax. There never was a Palestinian Arab king of this land; there were no famous Palestinian poets, philosophers, generals; no distinct language, no architecture, no inventions, no battles, indeed, no mention of the “Palestinian” Arab people in any history book written before 1960. Arabs from neighboring countries started immigrating into Palestine in late 19th century to take advantage of the infrastructure and jobs created by the newly invigorated Jewish people. They came for the same reasons that Mexicans cross the border into the U.S. and that Muslims have flocked to Europe. They came in great numbers seeking a better life than in their Arab lands.
During these years the Arabs dwelling in Israel were simply “Arabs” and, when the term “Palestinian” was used, it always referred to the Jews! The “Palestinian people” were invented in the 1960s for Cold War purposes by the Soviet communists. The Arabs residing in Israel began to pass themselves off as the ancient native peoples of this land. They invented the name, “The West Bank,” for our provinces of Judea and Samaria. Today they even claim that Jesus was a Palestinian prophet and that the Jews never lived in this land. They have developed this pseudo-history to dupe the world into believing that their racist terror campaign against the Jews is a national liberation struggle!
The Arabs’ genocidal military assaults on the Jewish state failed repeatedly, so today they are using propaganda and diplomatic shenanigans in their efforts to destroy us. The Arabs have the power of huge territory and oil money, but we have truth on our side. We live in our homeland, and only we have a legitimate claim to this land—legally, morally, and historically. We will never let Arab squatters and imposters steal our birthright. As people of good will around the world learn the truth, they will stand with the people of Israel.
This should be our Jewish message. I hope that when our PM visits Europe and explains the situation, he will go beyond raising just the security issues. This is a message that even our European friends should be able to understand, since they are witnessing a replay of the same scenarios in their countries. Arriving as poor immigrants looking for jobs, just like in Palestine, once their numbers grow, radical Muslims take control and seek to impose their worldview and values wherever they live. From Berlin to Barcelona, from Marseille to Malmo, from Amsterdam to Athens they sow intolerance and hatred toward their host nations. They impose their sharia laws, homophobia and ill-treatment of women. Will Europeans be surprised when Arab Muslims start claiming that they alone are the native inhabitants of these lands? After all, they have gained experience and expertise in creating alternate realities during their aggression against the indigenous peoples of Israel.
“I believe that most people form their opinion without knowing real facts.” Absolutely. Facts in and of themselves are irrelevant. It is the argument and narrative one builds that lasts.
I’m sorry Norman but that is an argument destined to fail to garner any support in the secular western world. “the Torah says the Land Of Israel is Jewish and our rights come from G-d.” Keep it simple. “We have always been here, the arabs invaded us.”
The truth should be repeated, the lie must be defeated
Israel and Jewish organizations should create condense and clear materials like in this article. I believe that most people form their opinion without knowing real facts. It is very difficult for an ordinary person to extract real information from the stream of thousands of articles, books and news, which often are deliberately misconstrued. And I believe that the distribution of real facts in compressed, clear form can tilt the scale of the world opinion in Israel’s favor.
It would be beneficial to create a few versions of short articles like this and distribute them widely, give them the proper exposure, try to reach as many diverse groups of people as possible.
Naftali Bennett gave a straightforward argument today – the Torah says the Land Of Israel is Jewish and our rights come from G-d. Nothing convoluted about it. No Israeli leader has spoken like that in a long time and no hemming and hawing about the so-called TSS every one knows is going to go nowhere. The justice of Israel’s cause is indisputable.
Jews should stop apologizing and acting like their country is up for grabs. The Arabs never do that and it high time indeed the Jews followed suit.