Foreign Ministry advocacy material for too long focused on culture and hi-tech, failing to explain Israel’s just case, Tzipi Hotovely says. Four new guidebooks aim to change that
Israel’s settlements are entirely legal, since Jerusalem and the West Bank were never under Palestinian Arab sovereignty. The Palestinian Authority actively encourages children to hate Jews and glorifies terrorists as role models. The Israeli government, however, opposes violence and hate speech against everyone, including Palestinians.
These are some of the main talking points in a new series of pamphlets published this week by the Foreign Ministry. Commissioned by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, the four booklets — entitled “The Jewish Settlements,” “A Century of Terror,” “The Quest for Peace” and “The Wonder of Israel” — aim to give ammunition to pro-Israel activists on American campuses.
“Israel will not apologize for the building of life for 3,000 years since the Jewish people began their historic path in Judea and Samaria,” Hotovely said this week, as she headed to the US to speak at three top universities.
“I come with a strong message that peace has not yet been achieved because of incitement and a generation of young Palestinians who were not educated for hope,” she said.
Hotovely, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, is scheduled to speak at Princeton, Columbia and New York University.
“I’m going out to talk to the younger generation in the US who grew up hearing lies about Israel. It is important for me to share with them the common challenges that radical Islam poses to democratic countries and to tell them the successes story of the State of Israel, which thrives in the face of all challenges.”
Previous hasbara efforts tried to turn Israel into another nice European country. But that’s not the Jewish story
Speaking to The Times of Israel this week in her Jerusalem office, Hotovely said that since she took up her current position in May 2015, she realized that the pro-Israel advocacy (so-called hasbara) material put out by Foreign Ministry focused exclusively on soft diplomacy.
Brochures celebrated Israeli culture and gastronomy, but steered clear of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she lamented.
“In my eyes, that tries to turn Israel into another nice European country. But that’s not the Jewish story. The Jewish story really is one of the greatest miracles of the 20th century, the Zionist story,” Hotovely, 38, said.
For many years, she went on, the Foreign Ministry’s public diplomacy division focused on promoting Israel as start-up nation and decided to neglect discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because diplomats felt they didn’t have good enough answers to questions about Israel’s policies.
“I am arguing the opposite: the more we hide from the conflict, from the core issues, the more we leave the playing field to all our enemies.”
As a remedy to what she described as a sore lack of good hasbara material, she commissioned the Information and Visual Media Department at the ministry’s Public Diplomacy Division to print four pamphlets to be distributed to advocates across American campuses.
The small booklets do not provide deep insights into the current government’s policies, nor do they contain any concrete proposals to solve the conflict with the Palestinians. Rather, they seek to explain the Israeli point of view in broad terms.
The pamphlet on settlements, for instance, argues that Jews have lived in Judea and Samaria — the West Bank — for “thousands of years” and been legitimized by international treaties long before Israel captured the territory in 1967.
“The attempt to portray Jewish communities in the West Bank as a new form of ‘colonial’ settlement in the land of a foreign sovereign is as disingenuous as it is politically motivated. At no point in history were Jerusalem and the West Bank subject to Palestinian Arab sovereignty,” it reads.
International consensus says that settlements violate the Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Conventions and are illegal under international law. The Foreign Ministry’s new booklet disputes these claims, arguing that the Geneva Conventions, written in the aftermath of World War II, were intended to protect civilians from forced displacement.
“Quite apart from the question of whether the Fourth Geneva Convention applies de jure to territory such as the West Bank, over which there was no previous legitimate sovereign, the case of Jews voluntarily establishing (or re-establishing their pre-1948) homes and communities in their ancient homeland, and alongside Palestinian communities, does not compare to the kind of forced population transfers contemplated by Article 49(6),” the booklet reads.
However, the Foreign Ministry argues, Israelis “voluntary” moving to the the West Bank was not forbidden by international law. “Nor does it prohibit the movement of individuals to land which was not under the legitimate sovereignty of any state and which is not subject to private ownership.”
In another of the booklets, the Foreign Ministry makes the point that Palestinian rejection of Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land dates back 100 years, long before Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“Institutional incitement by Arab authorities in Mandatory Palestine in 1920, 1929 and 1936 is a matter of record and includes intentionally-initiated blood riots,” the document states.
Decades later, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party continue show “affinity to Nazi propaganda” and engage in the “old medieval libel of well-poisoning.”
Palestinian society is pervaded by a “climate of hate” that encourages terrorist attacks, the booklet goes on. “Much of the blame can be laid at the door of the PA itself. The PA’s most senior government officials are actively engaged in nourishing a culture of hate – indoctrinating children and young adults to hate Israel and Jews and to view terrorists as heroes and role models.”
Rather than raising their children to seek peace with Israel, the PA spends 6.9 percent of its annual budget for salaries of terrorists or their families, the document states.
Israel, on the other hand, utterly rejects hate speech and violence “against anyone, including Palestinians,” the booklet goes on, citing legislation to enable the swift removal of hate speech from social media.
“Intense emotions exist on both sides of the conflict,” the pamphlet allows. “But there is a huge difference between feeling anger and frustration, and encouraging a societal norm in which hatred of the other plays a large part.”
In the booklet devoted to “The Quest for Peace,” the Foreign Ministry assures readers that “Israel seeks to avoid war and has always been keen to solve conflicts by compromise.”
Time after time, Israel has made “far-reaching peace proposals, made major concessions, relinquished extensive tracts of land, uprooted civilian communities (also known as ‘settlements’), withdrawn forces and taken steps to enable the Palestinians to establish the foundations of self-government,” it states.
The Palestinians, by contrast, refuse any peace proposal, the document says. Their leaders “promote virulent hate speech against Israelis and Jews, and encouraged terror acts such as suicide bombings and rocket attacks that targeted civilians, killing and injuring thousands.”
Hotovely acknowledged that arguments like the ones presented in her booklets are unlikely to change the minds of sworn Israel-haters. But that’s not her goal, she said. Rather, she hopes to arm pro-Israel campus activists with “official content” that will help them answer questions they might encounter from the pro-Palestinian camp.
“The university campuses are one of the most difficult and important arenas, and I come as a representative of the government and a representative of the ruling party on a journey that will begin the hard work of changing the trend toward Israel on US campuses,” she said. “Students who identify with Israel will not longer be afraid to speak their minds.”
@efirub, you are missing one. Add one more and the points can be recited during counting of omer 🙂
@ efirub: Bravo,Efirub!! Hotovely should appoint you director of the foreign ministry’s information dept. You would do much better work there than the people who staff this department now.
I am glad the Hotovely is making a modest start at launching an Israeli counter-propaganda offensive–although so far only a very limited, low-budget response, and only for U.S.
college campuses. It is truly shocking, though, that Israel’s government has for years, probably decades, failed to address the Arab-Israeli conflict at all in its official publications. Instead, they have tried to change the subject, which is impossible. Obviously, the foreign ministry’s permanent civil service staff does not believe in the justice of Israel’s cause.
29. Latest developments in the Arab world demonstrate that they are ready to murder their own brothers, sadistically, violently and without mercy. Anyone who believes that they will be different and more humane to Jews, either indulges in fantasy or is a complete fool.
30. Even if we can hope that Palestinian Arabs will honestly agree to live in peace with Jews, and even if we assume that they are the most peaceful people on Earth (and they are absolutely not), the surrounding Arab countries will not let them be peaceful and will constantly provoke hostilities. Israel already made few experiments by transferring territories to Arabs and in return received terror and rockets. So, there is no reason to compromise for ”peace”. Only an “Iron Wall” and “Iron Fist” will stop them and convince them to behave like human beings.
31. Arabs’ hostilities will stop only when they will completely understand that Israel is forever and their criminal actions (wars and terror) will have serious consequences. Now, Arabs do not feel they could lose. And because of this, they continue their aggressive behavior. This practice must be stopped. It is widely acknowledged in the World community – the aggressor should pay for his actions, including the loss of territories.
32. Palestinian Arabs try to present themselves as victims and freedom fighters when in reality they are terrorists, murderers and liars. They fight not to establish their own State but to destroy the State of Israel. They are not freedom fighters; they are the reincarnations of Nazis. Their cry about Israeli aggression and oppression is nothing but tears of a crocodile that is unable to eat his prey.
33. If “Palestinians” want to have a land to live, they should allow others to live too. Otherwise they must leave peacefully (with financial compensation) or by force. They have a choice.
34. Palestinian Arabs exploit their permanent victimhood status to constantly collect money from various organizations and countries. Organizations like the UN and its Agency UNRWA, instead of helping real refugees around the World, continuously give money to terrorists and people who are dreaming to destroy another nation. UNRWA was established in 1950 specifically for “Palestinian” refugees, their children, grand children and so on. Refugees for all times.
35. During World War II, German Nazis, in collaboration with animals of all nationalities, committed genocide of the Jewish People and against humanity, unprecedented in human history. Now, this is the obligation of the European nations (if they want to try to atone for the atrocities they committed) to support the home of their fathers’ victims. Instead, Europe obsessively tries to find any possibilities to harm the Jews. Most of the anti-Israeli organizations are subsidized by Europe under the false pretense for promoting ”peace” They found and financially support some individuals and organizations in Jewish society who try to destabilize Israel from the inside. Already, a few European parliaments “recognized” an illegal “Palestinian state” committed to Israel’s destruction in contradiction to all previous agreements. The European Union threatens Israel with sanctions and boycotts unless Israel commits suicide. The General Court of the European Union shamelessly decided to remove Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations (of course for technicality, everything should be according to the law). This court is a terrorist collaborator.
36. During the World War II, and the Holocaust, England closed the doors to the Jewish refugees from Europe to their Home in Palestine (in violation of League of Nation’s decision) and doomed them to death. They practically worked in unison with Nazis and participated in the Holocaust.
37. The Jewish people have the unique place between the Nations. Jews stood in the beginning of our civilization, Judaism was the root of two main monotheistic religions and these religions tried to diminish and replace it with themselves, very often violently. For centuries they planted and cultivated an aggressive, hateful view of the Jewish people in the population. This deep rooted hatred is impossible to diminish and can only be stopped by deterrence, when the Jewish People can defend themselves. And they can defend themselves only by having their own State with a strong army.
38. Taking all this in consideration, the Jewish People have not only the right but an obligation to have a safe Home in their ancestral Land to prevent genocidal intentions of the murderers around the world.
39. The BDS movement is an immoral attempt to harm the State of Israel. They want to boycott the State of Israel which is the most ethical and moral entity in the region. The BDS groups are on the wrong side by defending the evil and punishing the righteous. Their evil intention will never come to fruition.
40. The Arabs denied asylum to desperate Jewish escapees from Hitler’s hell, thereby dooming those refugees to death. They participated in murderous pogroms organized by Nazi sympathizers in the Arab world, and they actively participated in creating Muslim military units in the Nazi army. The blood of numerous Holocaust victims indelibly stains Arab hands.
41. The Jewish People made a disproportional contribution in culture, science and other advancement for humanity, especially in postulating of moral principles which are the main element of human civilization. Only by this, do they deserve to be granted a place under the sun on a tiny land which is the State of Israel.
42. The IDF is one of the most ethical and humane army in the World. The civilian casualties are the smallest, in comparison to other armies. IDF has a clear policy to protect Palestinian civilians, even at the expense of compromising the safety of its own soldiers and missions, as it does when they repeatedly warn civilians about the coming attacks and informing terrorists at the same time. The IDF is an ethical army fighting an immoral enemy. The army often aborts the missions, to protect a human shield that was created by the terrorists.
43. Advantages for the Arabs from the existence of the State of Israel: Israel, with her intellectual potential, can bring a great contribution in development of the region. Israel is the leader in water technology and in many other fields. The Arabs demonstrate a lack of wisdom and are losing a chance, to their advantage, to get a group of people who are among the most advanced in science and technology in the World. Instead of accepting them with open arms, they waste their own resources on senseless and useless confrontations. The Arab nation is poisoned by greed, jealousy and hate and acts blindly against its own interests in trying to destroy the Jewish State.
44. Israel has sustained first world standards of individual liberties, political pluralism, freedom of press, gender equality and freedom of worship. In the situation like Israel (surrounded by blood thirsty enemies), no other country on Earth would maintain the same level of freedom.
45. If not for the State of Israel and the Israeli army, the situation in the territories would have looked like it does in Syria, or even worse.
46. Israel is the last defense of the West and a whole World, against 21st Century savages – radical and violent Islamists.
47. If somebody thinks that Israel will disappear someday, it is wishful thinking.
48. The Jewish People and Israel repeatedly demonstrated the will for compromise to bring a conflict to an end and in return Israel gets repeated rejection from the Palestinian Arabs and Arabs as a whole. Jews and Arab should declare the end of War and rebuild the swords into plows and stop teaching the people to kill. And live happily ever after.
15. Is this justice when the territory of Palestine, which was declared and provided as a national home for Jewish people by The League of Nations, was illegally made a Jews-free zone (in Jordan, which occupies more than ¾ of the original Palestine)? The remaining quarter of this territory they still try to divide and make another Jews-free zone. Is this justice? Their goal is to make The Land of Israel completely free of Jewish People, like in Nazi Germany. This is racism and crime.
16. Arabs’ obsession to steal the Jewish Land is a crime against humanity. Any assistance in accomplishment of this unlawful goal is a crime in itself.
17. Judea and Samaria is the Land where Jews lived continuously for thousands of years. It is
a historical deception and fraud to call these territories the West Bank. Arab’s intention is to distort the true history in an attempt to erase the memory of the Jewish ownership and
strong connections to the Land.
18. Near two million Arabs live in Israel but “Palestinian leaders declare that in the future “Palestinian state” there will be no Jews allowed. The modern racists demand a state.
19. The concept of minimum necessary territory. Israel occupies a very small territory essential for her existence and has no intention of expansion. It is difficult to say the same about Arabs who have huge territories, far beyond a minimum necessity, and have potentially expansionist tendencies that are supported by expansionist ideology of Islam.
20. Israel can’t take a chance and agree to establish an unquestionably hostile state practically in their midst, especially if we consider the topography, where these territories dominate above Israel’s populated areas. When water sources will be in the hand of a hostile entity and the country will have 9 miles in its narrowest part (10 minutes driving by the car). It is a total vulnerability.
21. The boarder of 1967 is an invitation for aggression. These borders can’t effectively be defended and will provoke another war. This is the opinion of many top military professionals.
Israel can’t transfer the historic and vital territories of Judea and Samaria, which she returned to her control after a defensive war against an aggressive, murderous enemy.
22. Never in human history was an Arab or any other State in the territory of Palestine, and Jerusalem was never the capital of any other state except the Jewish State.
23. Look at the map of the Middle East, and try to find the State of Israel. If you cannot, try a magnifier. Compare it with huge Arab lands. And they want the Land of tiny Israel? Is this justice? Without justice, there is no peace. Justice should be for all. And justice should be for
the Jewish people too.
24. Before 1967, Judea and Samaria had belonged to Jordan and neither Jordan nor Palestinian Arabs have any intention to create a Palestinian State. They demonstrate again and again, that their dream and goal is not to create their own country but to destroy the state of Israel.
25. “Palestinians” twisted the truth so much and so unscrupulously, that most people cannot imagine that it is possible to lie so outrageously. Their false propaganda indoctrinates and camouflages their murderous intentions. They’re fabricating tons of twisted “truths”, slander and false claims, creating staged, fake videos where blood of “innocent freedom fighters” flows as a river. Goebbels could be very proud of their work.
26. Arab propaganda does everything to indoctrinate young people on college campuses with anti-Israeli propaganda using lies and twisted facts.
27. The Arabs’ vision of a future “coexistence” and “peace” can be seen in what they teach their children. Arabs teach their children to hate Jews from the young age, they distribute anti-Semitic, Nazi propaganda and name the streets after murderers of Jews. This is a crime.
28. People from outside, who advocate to establish a “Palestinian state” would never do it to themselves if they were in Israel’s situation, of course if they are not crazy or suicidal. The reason why they try to do this can be explained only by their malicious intent or total stupidity.
Truth should be repeated and lie must be defeated.
CASE FOR ISRAEL: THE RIGHT OF JEWS TO OWN THE LAND OF ISRAEL RESTS UPON A MULTITUDE OF HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL GROUNDS
For the uninformed, or misinformed by Arab propaganda.
No other nation in the World has more rights to their land than Jews have to the Land of Israel. These are: historical rights of more than 3000 years living on this Land; the Land of Israel is the G-d’s promised Land; League of Nations and UN with the support of most Nations confirmed the right of the Jewish people to their Land; also a big portion of this Land was bought by Jews as a formal act of ownership; Israel defended and freed her historical Land – Judea and Samaria against homicidal enemies in defensive wars. Following is the argument proving the above points.
1. It is the Land where the Jewish Nation was born and where Jews lived continuously for more than 3000 years.
2. This land was promised by G-d to the Jewish people, forever. You can believe it or not, but this is acknowledged by all three monotheistic religions. The people, who deny this, deny their own holy books and interpret them the way it is politically convenient for them.
3. The Land of Israel, and specifically Jerusalem, is the core and heart of the Jewish Nation. Torah mentioned Jerusalem 667 times. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran even once and the story that Muhammad “traveled” to Jerusalem in his “sleep” was invented later for political reasons. Muhammad, in his verse, has talked about a furthest (uttermost) Mosque and did not mention Jerusalem at all. There was no and could not have been a Mosque in Jerusalem at that time, because there were no Muslims there at the time. Jerusalem was [then] a Christian-occupied city. Muhammad verse was revealed about 622, Muhammad died in 632. Jerusalem was conquered by Muslims in 637 and the mosque was built in 672-691.
4. Ask yourself: if the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount is so sacred to Muslims, why do they play soccer near it, or collect stones there to attack Jews. Let them try to play soccer at the Mecca and Medina holly places. We would see what happens then. From 1948 to 1967 Jordan controlled the so called West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and Al-Aqsa Mosque. During this time King Hussein never visited this holiest Mosque. It looks that its holiness in reality is only a tool to deny Jewish rights. They even deny Jews the right to pray there.
5. The Koran clearly says that this Land belongs to the Jewish People. Anybody who contradicts this teaching, contradicts Koran and Islam. The Children of Israel: “Dwell securely in the Promised Land…” (The Koran, The Night Journey 17:104). Koran clearly states (Sura 5:21) that God granted the Land of Israel to the Children of Israel and ordered them to settle there.
6. Israel respects all religions, historical and cultural heritage (Arabs do not respect any religions and cultures and try to destroy them or claim it is theirs).
7. Israel developed this land as a true owner (Arabs not only did not develop it in the past, but also on many occasions tried to destroy it, like destructive excavations on Temple Mount, like arsons of forests, which were planted by Jews instead of desserts and swamps. Arabs behave this way because subconsciously they know – this Land is not theirs. It was a waste Land before Jews started to rebuild it. The real indication of true ownership of the Land is the one who turned it from waste land to today’s modern Israel.
8. The Land of Israel is very small and possession of it by Arabs will not change or improve one-bit the situation of Arabs, but for Jews it is the only place. (Jews have only one small country and the Arabs have 22 countries with vast territory and resources). Is this justice: to deny the Jews their tiny homeland, and to give it to Arabs who already have tremendous territory? Supporters of this in Europe and other places – where is your decency, moral and common sense?
9. Arabs have same religion, culture and language in all of these 22 Arab countries. Arab countries can easily absorb Arab refugees that were the result of Arab aggression. “Palestinian refugees were created by Arab countries when they proclaimed genocidal war against the Jewish State and have asked the Arabs of Palestine to leave for convenience to accomplish the genocide. (All these are documented facts).
10. Where is justice for “Palestinian” Arabs who have been kept in refugee camps for more
than 60 years, who were denied citizenship by their Arabs brothers, and kept as second class citizens, and incited against Israel? Why did the State of Israel absorb all Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Arabs don’t absorb “their” refugees? Arab countries should admit their deeds and grant the civil rights to their brothers and help them with what Arab countries stole from Jews.
11. Arabs expelled more than 800,000 Jews from Arab countries, who lived there long before Arabs captured these lands from indigenous people, and brutally destroyed their religions and cultures. All Jewish properties in Arab Countries were confiscated. Give these properties to Palestinian refugees (hundreds of billions of dollars) and their problems will be solved.
12. Palestinian Arabs have the right to live on the Jewish land as loyal, peaceful citizens but if they choose to deny the Jewish rights and declare the goal to destroy the State of Israel, they lose the right to live on this Land.
13. Palestinians are invented people, and invented with only one goal — to destroy the State of Israel. They would never call themselves “Palestinians” otherwise. The Arab language does not even use a sound “P”. They started to call themselves “Palestinians” not earlier than late 1960s and actively started to propagate this idea after the 1967 war. Prior to that, they vigorously rejected this name, because in their mind it belonged to Jews. By adopting this name, they try to prove they are indigenous people of this Land. They are not. Most of “Palestinians” migrated here from multiple Arab countries at the end of the 19th century and later, when Jews started to rebuild their Land. Therefore, their claims of being native people are false. They try to rewrite the history and already changed their identity a few times from ancestor of ancient Philistines to ancestors of ancient Canaanites. Everybody have rights to call themselves whatever they want, but not to use this as a goal and means to terrorize and destroy others. Many of these so called original “Palestinian refugees” and their descendants never lived in Palestine but call themselves “Palestinians” to get financial help which they continue to receive for almost 70 years.
14. Israel, against all odds, survived and won all wars that Arabs initiated and Israel has all rights to keep the Land which she conquered in the wars Israel did not start (these wars prevented genocide of Jews by Arabs).
At no point in history were Jerusalem and the West Bank subject to Palestinian Arab sovereignty,” the hashimites called it the ‘west bank of the Jordan.’
time to remove ‘west bank’ for that area from usage.
minister Hotovely by using that name only gives it legitimacy.