By Noah Pollak, COMMENTARY
Given past performances, I’d say that Israel and its supporters are doing a better-than-average job of quickly beating back the international lynch mob that loves nothing more than propagating lies about Israel. The key weapon in this fight for truth has been this particular video of the IDF commandos descending onto the deck of the Mavi Marmara and into a hornet’s nest of murderous “peace activists.”
This kind of after-the-fact truth-telling is good as far as it goes, but it actually doesn’t go very far: it is restricted to responding to lies, exaggerations, and accusations. Israel is on the receiving end of a viciously negative political campaign, and as any campaign strategist knows, you don’t respond to a negative campaign by expending all your energy trying to explain why the lies aren’t true — you go negative and play offense in return.
What would it look like if the Israeli government played offense? First and foremost, this would require some serious criticism of the Islamist government of Turkey, which masterfully created this crisis and is now denouncing Israel for it. Turkey’s thuggish prime minister certainly understands the benefits of being on offense. He says that Israel committed a “massacre” and is guilty of “state terrorism,” “piracy,” has struck “a blow to world peace and against international law,” threatens that “if Israel does not immediately free all the detainees and wounded, the rift in relations with it will widen,” and thunders that “Israel will not be able to show itself in the world until it apologizes for what happened and undergoes self-criticism.”
Quite a performance! Wouldn’t it be remarkable if the Israelis had gotten ahead of the story by making their own accusations and demands? Here are a few ideas of the kind of concrete action the Israelis could take — if they had the stones to really take a stand.
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1. Expel the Turkish ambassador and declare his return contingent on a full, credible, and public Turkish investigation of the terrorist organization that planned and funded the “aid flotilla.”
2. Publicly demand reparations from Turkey for the costs of the operation, including the medical bills of the thugs and Jew-haters who have been given such lovely medical care in Israeli hospitals.
3. Demand a UN investigation of why Turkey is funding terrorist organizations that are involved in attacks on Israel.
4. Fund a Kurdish human-rights NGO in Israel — there are lots of Kurdish Jews who I’m sure would be happy to help — that raises awareness of the plight of Kurds in Turkey. (Short answer: they are treated horribly.) This organization must publicize the apartheid conditions of Kurdish life in Turkey and churn out op-eds, studies, videos, and press releases denouncing Turkey’s brutal and racist treatment of its own minorities.
5. Fund a Turkish-language documentary on the Armenian genocide, upload it to YouTube, and promote it heavily in Turkey. If Erdogan wants to call Israel a criminal and a murderer, there’s no reason why Israel shouldn’t return the favor on this most sensitive of issues.
The model of hasbara, or public diplomacy, that Israel has employed for decades is premised on the persuasiveness of reason, evidence, context, truth, fairness, and apology. Anyone who has been following events in Israel over the past few years understands how profoundly this strategy has failed. For obvious historic reasons, many Jews have internalized the dangerous belief that the best way to respond to condemnation and lies is to show how unthreatening and willing to criticize and investigate themselves they are. The problem is that not only doesn’t this work; it actually invites further attack by rewarding those who defame and incite against the Jewish state.
Israel’s hasbara strategy must shift to one that is based on power, self-confidence, and an eagerness to vigorously condemn its defamers. This is the difference between driving the debate and reacting to it, refuting lies and validating them, offense and defense, setting the agenda versus being on the agenda. If the Israelis wish to see a good model for how to set the terms of a controversy, they need only look at the Turkish prime minister’s brilliant performance this week.
What they are saying is that they prefer to see an equality of dead Jews to to dead lice. This liberal leftist inanity only applies to Jews.
It is not good to let ten criminals go to avoid punishing a single innocent person. Ten criminals will harm dozens of innocents.
The acceptable ratio of wrong sentences depends on the severity of the crime. The more harm an acquitted criminal might inflict, the less society can afford to spare him on a technicality.
A wrongly acquitted tax evader will be scared into paying taxes, but a wrongly acquitted murderer will murder again, and a spared terrorist will kill many more. Heinous crimes call for loose rules of evidence. Sentencing innocents is unavoidable if society wants to protect the majority.
Individual punishment works only inside groups, and so the Bible says children bear no guilt for their parents. Among nations, individual judgment is impossible, and so the Bible judges nations as single bodies. Israel cannot put every Lebanese villager on trial to establish his connection to the guerrillas.
The standards of guilt are different in peacetime and war. Merely tolerating criminals is not a crime. Tolerating and hosting people whose goal is killing Israelis is a capital offense.
Individually disproportional retaliation is reasonable and ethical. Ben Gurion explicitly formulated the Israeli doctrine of disproportionate response, and it served Israel well for decades. It terrified our enemies and proved efficient at prevention. Disproportionate retaliation cannot prevent major wars, just like punishment does not discourage high-stakes crime. Harsh retaliation discourages volunteers from joining the guerillas and the population from supporting them.
Stop inventing proportional responses. Just be efficient.
The disproportionate response argument is stupid because fights are won by using disproportionate force. Using equal force just creates a standoff. Hamas has declared war on Israel, so the proper response is to wipe out Hamas. If Hamas picked a fight it can’t win, tough tacos. I’ll see you tomorrow.
It does sound like you.
Wrong that was my quote they plagiarized.
I am a fan of Jewish Power!!! and a proponent of
“The best defense is a good offense.”
original source uncertain, attributed to – Vince Lombardi, Carl von Clausewitz, and also heavyweight prizefighter Jack Dempsey
I messed it up, so I’ll try again.
Israel’s hasbara strategy must shift to one that is based on power, self-confidence, and an eagerness to vigorously condemn its defamers.
Pro Israel support rally in central London on 2 June 2010.
Israel defends itself
Lone Jewish High School Student Faces Down Arab Mob in LA
See video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABjE_7uwA0I&feature=player_embedded
Sarahsue, how about Dan Gillerman. He always impressed me as being direct and not wavering.
But then what do I know.
I like your phrasing. Reminds me of a hero in my youth, maybe still is.
“Yes, I am a Jew, and when the ancestors of the Right Honorable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon”
Though baptized by his father at the age of twelve, Disraeli was seen—and saw himself—as a Jew. But he created an idea of Jewishness to rival the British notion of aristocracy. Disraeli was a figure of fascinating contradictions: an archconservative who benefited from England’s liberal attitudes, a baptized Christian who saw Jewishness as a matter of racial superiority, a perennial outsider who dreamed of glory for England, which, in the words of one contemporary, became for Disraeli “the Israel of his imagination.
You can tell the strength of a nation by the women behind its men.
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle, Old Age a regret.
Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.
Duty cannot exist without faith.
Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful.
He was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong.
I never deny. I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
Never take anything for granted.
No man is regular in his attendance at the House of Commons until he is married.
The fool wonders, the wise man asks.
Benjamin Disraeli
We need an Israeli PM spokesman like HIM
Rongrand,
Caroline Glick is not the person I have in mind. She is doing a good job where she is.
The person I have in mind is an extremely charismatic man or woman that is quick on their feet, a fast thinker, and looks a Jewish as possible. This person would need to be the master of the quick retort and have a working knowledge of all important happenings in Israel. A thick skin and ability to take criticism without apologizing would be a major job requirement. A young Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman comes to mind. A hawk of the first order that is not afraid of anybody.
This person needs to be able to face off heads of state, diplomats and critics from all sides.
I know that Israel is full of capable people, people that are willing to stand up, take names and kick ass. After all, the blood of Kings and Princes run in their veins.
Will the real face of Israel please stand up?! Your country needs you. Netanyahu needs you.
Anybody see the priest who loves Arab Terrorists on Hannity? His position is only slightly to right of the Vatican position.
Therein lies the rub, The Church has in effect aligned with Islam against the Jews. A case can be made that they are using and taking advantage of Islams war with the Jews to help defeat her age old theological nemesis: Those Jews!!!
Sarahsue, I agree wholeheartedly and although I will get flak from Uncle and a few others my choice would be Caroline Glick.
Robert Gibbs is a knucklehead and he is fortunate the majority of the media he faces is in bed with barry hussein obama otherwise a good and honest media would beat up on him.
After listening to a number of democratic strategist I think of Ann Coulter “If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans”.
Every bureaucracy in the United States has a spokesman who’s job it is to respond quickly and accurately to any situation that may arise. This is quite the challenge and some agencies do it better than others.
Their job is to tell us what the facts are and what stance they are taking. This allows the American citizens to be kept up to date on how we are responding to emergencies and situations incountry and around the world.
Israel has either not chosen to have these people or has not used them effectively, I am not sure which. However, as we are seeing, the muslims are perfecting this skill.
I do appreciate the stoicism and unflappability of the Israeli people. They can take it on the chin as well as anybody. But, as we can clearly see, these traits do not win the media wars.
When Dee Dee Myers was press secretary for President Clinton, she became a face and voice we could trust, unlike Robert Gibbs. We depended on her to give us the facts in a timely manner and she always delivered.
While I appreciate Netanyahu’s response ‘…Israel is guilty until proven guilty’, it was too little, too late. Even the White House issued a statement, ‘We must get the facts before going to judgment’ that came days before Netanyahu’s.
Adding a Press Secretary to Netanyahu’s office seems like a small, simple change that would reap great benefits. I hope Netanyahu decides to do this soon (like today).
So what? What exactly does Israel need from turkey?