By Ted Belman
Among his many jobs, Gilad Erdan has been made Hasbara Minister with a budget of $25 million in the first year exclusively for coordinating international events to counter the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
What he really needs is a budget at least 10 times that for combating the defamation of Israel
We need that very much. Tons of israel-bashing accusations are passed around online, often by well-meaning people. Due to the long span and the complexity of the conflict, the condemning claims are often very convoluted, requiring thorough knowledge of the issues involved. No single individual can do it all (no necessary analytical skills, or simply no time, for the research). We need a ‘Center for Inquiry’ of some kind, consisting of many bright individuals, trained in scientific method of investigation, each of whom would be charged with thoroughly researching, say, 1 aspect of the conflict. It’s a humongous job, intellectually. No doubt, some very complex issues could only be sorted out satisfactorily by a whole GROUP of researchers.
BUT! such a ‘machon’ would only be of any help in the internet warfare if it’s not perceived as partisan, seeing the issue as us vs them, in a friend-foe paradigm. Which means that it must respectfully and honestly/objectively work WITH the critics, ESPECIALLY the heavy weights: chomsky, finkelstein, beinart etc., with a clear understanding that these critics are not our enemies, that all of us strive for the same goal: peace and prosperity for all involved. I can’t overemphasize the respect, the ultimate authority, these academics command among the online fighters, the vast majority of whom are young, justice-passionate, well-meaning folks (and voters!) Without building these bridges, i see no way to effectively battle the anti-israel propaganda.