Israel’s supporters in America from the top to the lower community organizers and from left to right agree on one subject, namely that Israel needs better hasbara.
Hasbara refers to public relations efforts to disseminate positive information to portray Israel and its policies in a glowing light.
Unfortunately most “hasbara” has the opposite effect. Even Israel’s staunchest protagonists fall into the trap of thinking that listing Israel’s numerous concessions to its enemies will soften or convince hardened anti-Semites.
As a matter of fact, enumerating Israel’s serial appeasements and the catastrophic results only show a weak, forlorn, and desperate nation begging to be liked by the wrong people at the wrong time. It also displays a nation unable to learn from history which has lost the will to assert its historic and legitimate rights. And, worst of all, it shows political leadership which cravenly puts the escalating demands of its adversaries before defense of its citizens.
Furthermore, too much of this propaganda hints that “recognition of its right to exist as a Jewish state” is what is to be negotiated. A disproportionate number of post-colonial era nations have disintegrated into swamps of famine, chaos, genocide, jihad and tyranny, and only Israel has to plead for “recognition of its right to exist?” That is both idiotic and morally depraved.
A good public relations policy starts with the declaration that Israel will not reward enemies with jihad as their agenda. The nation’s priority is to defend its citizens and the state’s remarkable accomplishments.
Israel has much to be proud of and to defend.
It is a democracy with state of the art scientific, technological, cultural, and social institutions. It has defense capabilities on land, sea and air poised to deter aggressors at a moment’s notice.
Israel’s scientific and medical research improves the health of populations throughout the world. Its agricultural and water technology are exported to benefit millions.
Israel’s “Silicon Valley” boasts more than 1,200 tech companies and 700 early-stage startups. It’s so dense with research and development firms that it has more startups per capita than anywhere else in the world.
While the West today struggles with the problems of immigrant assimilation, Israel performed a miracle. At one time, more people spoke Mongolian than Hebrew. Israel restored an ancient language with a unique alphabet and created a system of “ulpans” that taught millions of immigrants, with disparate alphabets, dialects and languages to speak, read, and write Modern Hebrew.
You may argue all this won’t change the minds of the imbeciles who join the myriad bully, bash, boycott and divest from Israel groups.
Forget trying to persuade them. Ridicule them with a challenge to their hypocritical armchair boycotts and demand they stand on their so called principles and avoid all objects that have anything to do with Israel.
They must give up computers, cell phones, anything that has to do with Microsoft or Intel or e-Books.
They will have to do without a lot of medications, since so many safe generics are now produced by an Israeli company. And, if they have health problems such as headaches, which, in their case requires a colonoscopy, they should avoid advanced diagnostic micro cameras because they were developed in Israel.
And, when their atrophied hearts require stents or other cardiac intervention, boycotters should not avail themselves of these treatments because they have been developed in Israel.
If they are cut and bleed, they should not accept Israel’s miraculous bandages that stanch the flow of blood….the ones that were used to treat Representative Gabrielle Gifford when she suffered a bullet wound to the head.
One could go on and on, but BDS activists are contemptible cowards who would never risk a sniffle for their so called principles.
In fact, Israel would do well to discourage the boycotters from traveling there. Entertainers who bash Israel should be told to book their engagements in Zimbabwe instead of the sold out theaters in Tel-Aviv that welcome Elton John, Lady Gaga and other performers.
Frankly, BDSers should be warned that an Israeli start up named “IoTBox” has now developed a high tech rat patrol that hunts down rodents in hours instead of days. That should frighten them.
Israel should concentrate its American outreach on Zionists, Christian Evangelicals and Congress with particular emphasis on Republican legislators, the majority of whom are enthusiastic and loyal in their support of the Jewish state.
Forget the worthless pursuit of the affection of bigoted and hypocritical cretins. Self-abnegation and appeasement don’t elicit admiration. Only self-assertion, national pride, tough talk on national defense priorities, and a contract with Zionism and Jewish patrimony in the ancient Jewish homeland will gain respect.
The rest is blather.
the last time a state player was accused of drug dealing bush locked up incommunicado Noriega after invading panama. Lebanon Hezbullah is the best example of a good reason to invade a country to depose a regime, terror and drug gang. This is where Ban ki moon should be spending his time seeking a coalition to bring down hezbullah flooding the western world with drugs and terror.
@ Bert:
It certainly is not another failed attempt…
This is more to the point. As is this:
Torah may be excellent (for some) as a means for the Jewish people to behave amongst themselves; to adopt a strong form of morality. But, as you surely know, for a period of 2000 years (and perhaps longer), the Jews, despite being extremely “Torah conscious,” most likely far more than now, have been set upon by various bullies, thugs and barbarians, leaving us with a relatively small proportion of the world’s population. Torah did nothing for us but breed a form of smug passivity masquerading as the ultimate in morality.
So while the Torah does some good within us, it has failed to generate any kind of “warrior spirit”. The IDF, with its excellent “warrior spirit” was a product of highly practical secularism. It would never have been generated by Haredim.
This article is another failed attempt to address Israel’s public relations problem. It fails because it attempts to use logic and material facts when the conflict is spiritual. The Jewish leadership in the U.S. and Israel both fail to even understand the root source of historic anti-Semitism. None of them can explain why so many people throughout history have hated Jews. The last place any Jew will ever consult for answers is our Torah. The one man in Israel who understand the root of the problem and what Israel must do is Moshe Feiglin. Check him out at http://www.JewishIsrael.org
No, Israel needs to accept its role as a perpetual pariah and thrive in spite of hateful Gentiles.
Would better hasbara have prevented the Holocaust?
Nary a chance.
And it also won’t prevent the next one.
Only Jewish brains and brawn can do that.
Israelis ‘talk English’ but they don’t speak persuasively to Westerners. The first and most important error most commonly made is that they REPEAT the oppositions argument which simply reinforces it. Speaking about Israeli’s ‘right to exist’ simply brings the issue into question. Its not a question, its a fact. What needs to be discussed the right of the Palestinians to exist as yet another failed Arab state and Israeli’s obligation to help ‘birth’ it. Not! What is required is instruction in proper rhetoric, I suggest Israelis read their Quintilian for starters!