Israel’s PR is not the problem

By Ted Belman

When Israel loses yet another PR battle, many of her friends complain that Israel is partly to blame because she is woefully inept when it comes to PR. I am not one of them..

Glenn Jasper, Ruder Finn Israel, recently suggested that Israel should have all its spokesmen deliver the same message. After all, that’s what the Palestinians do. That might be a good idea except that Israel is a nation of presidents and each president will deliver his or her own message. They can’t be disciplined.

Alex Fishman suggested that Israel should consider the PR battle as more important than the military battle and organize accordingly.

    “Hence, the manager of this war on our side should not be the army via the IDF spokesman, but rather, someone on the highest national level, with the best professionals, who would have the knowledge and ability to write the “scripts” for the war and enforce them on all our executive arms, including the army.”

Good as these suggestions are, they don’t go to the heart of the matter.

To start with there is a coalition of forces including antisemites, leftists and Islamists, that are dedicated to Israel’s destruction. They couldn’t care less about truth and justice so a better PR campaign would be irrelevant. Then there is the main stream media that presents news to support their agenda rather than the truth. The fact that they suppressed the flotilla videos, which made Israel’s case better than a thousand words could have, is testimony to this fact. They have constructed a narrative in support of their agenda and any facts that are not in keeping with it, are ignored.

But there is something more going on that is little noticed and much determinative. Governments lead by the US also construct a narrative depending on their agenda and they don’t let truth and justice get in the way.

Long before the Oslo accords, the US began to suppress negative information on Arafat and the PLO as she wished to build a peace process around them. After the signing of the Oslo Accords, the US made no issue of the violation of the accords by Arafat. She was not about to let such violations scuttle the peace process. In effect Arafat could do whatever he wanted, and this included killing American diplomats, so long as he gave lip service to the peace process. Caroline Glick called the “peace process” an “appeasement process” the goal of which was, not peace, but appeasement.

Iran and Syria also learned this lesson. They could keep killing Americans in Iraq as long as they denied their complicity. The US rarely called them on this because if she did, she would have to do something about it.

President Bush waged a campaign against Syria to hold them accountable for the assassination of Harari and to get them out of Lebanon. Syria put up a strong enough fight to get Bush to abandon his original agenda. Bush then started a process of accommodating Syria rather than attacking her. Pres Obama continued this process. Now Syria is openly arming Hezbollah in violation of Res 1701 and aligning with Iran. The US response is to embrace her, to engage her, to send envoys and generally make nice. Obviously pointing the finger at Syria is inconsistent with the present US goals.

Similarly the US has been attempting to engage Iran and to co-opt her into helping in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus the US refrained from supporting the green movement when it challenged the government. For the same reason she is unwilling to verbally attack Iran or to apply effective sanctions. She is even prepared to live with a nuclear Iran if only Iran will cooperate and even, if not.

In the last year or so Turkey has entered centre stage in the Middle East and is throwing her rhetorical weight around especially since backing the flotilla. Not one critical word did Obama utter. To the contrary he believes “Turkey can have a positive voice in this whole process.”

Examples are legion but what has this to do with Israel’s efforts at public relations? Lots.

The flip side of this coin is that when the US wants to force someone to do something, either friend or foe, she must first demonize them. But the US can’t demonize a friend without a pretext so she first creates a crisis as her springboard.

In March of this year the US feigned outrage over Israel’s announcement of a housing project in Ramat Shlomo. This outrage legitimated the subsequent US attack on Israel.

Similarly, Israel’s legitimate self defense in the flotilla attack in which she killed nine violent “activists” was enough of a pretext for demonizing her and putting pressure on her. On May 31 after news of the deaths surfaced, Obama was a bit more restrained in his condemnation of Israel than his European allies and called for all the “facts and circumstances”. Had he been genuine in this, he would have, after the videos of the attack on the IDF went viral the next day, totally sided with Israel and nipped the demonization in the bud, but he didn’t. He had an agenda and he wanted to use this crisis to announce the blockade was “unsustainable”. He allowed the pressure to mount so he could achieve his ends.

Shelby Steele argues most convincingly that “the end game of this isolation effort is the nullification of Israel’s legitimacy as a nation”. He attributes this scape-goating of Israel to a “deficit of moral authority” in the West. While that is sadly true, it ignores the fact that realpolitik, which has taken hold of the Obama administration, dictates a similar result.

Yet I would argue that the pursuit of self interest by the US is assured greater success with Israel as a strong ally rather than without her.

This is not to say that Israel should cease its PR efforts. She shouldn’t. She should continue to provide her friends with the truth so that they maintain their friendship lest they be infected as well. Notwithstanding all the demonization she is subjected to and the realpolitik, she has managed to keep the goodwill of the American people and others who value truth and justice. Ultimately, this is her trump card.

June 27, 2010 | 56 Comments »

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50 Comments / 56 Comments

  1. Randy you went missing for too long I started to get a bit concerned.

    since ayn when a regular goes missing we start to be concerned.

  2. Ted, my point, if you had read, instead of skimmed my initial post, was that I disagreed with you on your view that PR is not a probelm for Israel. 2ndly, I noted Friedman very generally what Freedman stated. 3rdly, I noted that Friedman has a following amongst Jews and non-Jews. 4thly that pro-Israel PR would do well to have voices that are equally or more influential then Friedman’s.

    What was so difficult to grasp?

    My other comments simply responded to questions put to me.

    Its always easy to disagree with someone, by taking one or a few things said out of context from the whole, which it seems to me to be what you have done.

    While I see that I did note the point about forcing Israel to submit before I stated Friedman’s points had some validity, it should have been apparent to you as you read beyond that, that I was only referring to the points Friedman identified regarding the Palestinians.

    By the way, I never said, Friedman’s points were valid. I only said they had some validity. There is a substantive difference.

    You concede his points have some validity, but like me say there are other facts upon which to base a much stronger contrary valid argument that Israel has the superior position.

    Why do you then persist in saying I said Friedman’s points in that regard, were valid and ignore my actual words, being “some validity”?

    My points were clear and I still disagree with your premise that PR is not a problem for Israel.

    Your reaction and arguments against my post are reminiscent of the debating tactics of another we know.

  3. What good does PR do for Israel when soooooo many people like the lies they are told so much more they choose the lies even when they are crazy?

    Maybe what is really needed is a bunch of new people on earth to replace most of the ones that are here.

  4. If you wish to see Israel return to the middle ages, refute my arguments and support the Heredi.

  5. If you look beyond your nose you would be seeing a large group in Israel that poses a long term threat to the future of Zionism. A group that doesn’t recognize the authority of the state.

    . Refuses to recognize government institutions and laws.

    . Will not acknowledge the national anthem nor the flag.

    . Teaches their children to hate the state.

    . Refuses to serve in the armed forces even in non combat roles.

    . Is the largest recipient of social welfare assistance in the land.

    . Even though receives government educational funding, will not allow any government input in establishment of curuculum.

    . Is a divisive force in Isreal’s society.

    No, it is not the Israeli Arabs. Its the Heredi community. No, it is is not a small inconsequential sect that can be safely ignored. The Heredi do not practce birth control and as such have a birthrate that is one of the highest in the world.. They now number close to a million and if their growth continues, Israel’s security and long term viability is in peril.

  6. Bill, I am not looking to disagree but I had a strong reaction to your comment. First with your comment that there was validity in what he said. As for building institutions, nobody is denying it so what’s the pupose of your comment. Secondly I thought you were saying hia calls for meaningful sanctions or the that Obama should force Israel, had validity. Sure you went on to say otherwise but at that point that’s what I understood you were saying.

    Then you went on to make our case. So your point was that we shouldn’t deny facts. But We don’t we being Israel and all its advocates. So what’s your point.

  7. Ted,are you looking to disagree with me?

    If you read what I said again you will see that I am saying the same thing you are, when you state:

    I have no problem acknowledging truth even if it favours them. But I will seek to minimize the importance of that truth and focus on my truth.

    In fact, I go even further by advocating that whatever truth they have, not just be minimized, but at every reasonable opportunity, crushed by the weight of other truths that makes Israel’s case overwhelmingly superior.

    As to suggesting I am in any way advocating that any false aspects of the Palestinian narrative be given credibility, I stated in my 1st post:

    To be sure on a number of issues the Palestinians are indeed degenerate wholesale liars and pro-Israel advocacy should not shirk from saying so.

    Damn lies should be damned and completely discredited and so too the liars who disseminate those lies.

    There is no way I would ever give credence to lies, be they in a court of law, the court of public opinion or in any other conceivable situation and on that I know you are cut from the same cloth as me.

  8. Bill, in my last comment I left out a negative. I changed it to say “We are not saying that we won’t negotiate…”

    You favour acknowledging where there is truth on their side. I disagree. It might be appropriate in a court of law but I see nothing to be gained by giving their false narrative credibility. I have no problem acknoweledging truth even if it favours them. But I will seek to minimize the importance of that truth and focus on my truth.

  9. This should put all this stupid talk about Israels PR in the crapper!

    Ambassador Oren Says ‘Rift’ Comment Misunderstood

    by Maayana Miskin

    Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren has denied saying there is a “tectonic rift” in Israel-US ties. In an interview with the Washington Post printed Monday, Oren said his comments were taken out of context and poorly translated.

    What he really said, Oren stated, was that there had been “a tectonic shift in American foreign and domestic policies” and that “Israel has to adjust” to the change. The word “shift” was mistranslated to “rift,” he said.

    The difference between the two words “may be a subtlety that escaped the Israeli ear,” he suggested.

    He pointed out that in a recent media interview, he had praised the Obama administration as “as good if not better” than many other American administrations when it came to Israel. His “tectonic shift” remark was meant to emphasize Obama’s push for change, he said.

    He confirmed reports that he had said that under the Obama administration, crucial foreign affairs decisions are made at the White House and not in the State Department. “This is one of the most centralized administrations in post-World War II history,” he added.

    Oren spoke recently at the Foreign Ministry. Sources who heard his briefing reported that the ambassador said, “There is no crisis in Israel-US relations because in a crisis there are ups and downs. [Instead] relations are in a state of tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart.”

    Oren’s alleged remarks were quickly picked up by the Israeli and foreign media. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
    Related Links:

  10. Of course if war erupts in the Middle East against Israel as is being predicted by some to happen as early as this summer or fall, provided Israel wins, that could be a big game changer for Israel. If Israel loses, it is almost certain it would be game over for Israel

    .

    Brilliant!! Insightful!!

    Not as good as the Twinkies defense though.

  11. What is it Ted you disagree with? Darned if I can figure it out from your disagreeable statement.

    “Meaningful negotiations” were not Friedman’s words, but just what I assumed was the inarticulated premise behind what he said. Then again, the questions for those who do specifically call for “meaningful negotiations”, are what do they mean by that phrase and in what context?

    Why assume for argument’s sake the PA have developed political institutions? They have.

    One of the fair characterizations of those insitutions is that they have only a veneer of authority when it comes to negotiating with and striking any deal with Israel. Without itemizing the realities that weigh against the Palestinians striking any real and sustainable deal with Israel, suffice it to say, they can’t.

    As I noted earlier Ted, I believe a yes, but approach to pro-Israel advocacy would be effective in circumstances where a Palestinian position, supported by world opinion, is not an outright lie, but has some validity.

    As a lawyer, you are familiar with the legal principle of pleading a case called confession and avoidance. It is rooted not in just jurisprudence, but common sense. Thus lawyers may admit the truth of some statement, but demonstrate by other facts, evidence and reason that such asserted truth is no truth at all or is overcome by other truths that take precedence.

    When you say “we won’t negotiate because they have built institutions”, you do not speak for Israel. Rather you speak only for yourself and those who believe, all things remaining equal, that Israel should not be negotiating at all because there is nothing in it for Israel.

    Though the most prudent thing for Israel to do may well be to refuse to negotiate, hold firm to asserting and demanding her needs, her narrative, her claimed historical and legal rights, best interests and positions to that end and just as steadfastly, to hammer away at denouncing all Palestinian narratives, claims and positions as lies or untenable, prudence is not what has determined the course of events Israel has been forced to contend with.

    Such kind of prudence called for in past by Israpundit and other like minded people and organizations, has not protected Israel from the pressure of world opinion, led by America.

    Israel has thus wilted under the pressure and has negotiated with Palestinians when there was nothing really in it for Israel and doubtless they will do so again.

    The best that can be hoped for in these circumstances, assuming all things remaining equal is that Israel knows she has already given more then she should have and thus will appear to wilt under pressure to humor world opinion by negotiating, but wind up disappointing the world’s sensibilities, by giving nothing more away. Additionally, if things go well, Israel might be able to kick a few more struts out from under the Palestinian positions.

    All that however, remains for now a best hope.

    Of course if war erupts in the Middle East against Israel as is being predicted by some to happen as early as this summer or fall, provided Israel wins, that could be a big game changer for Israel. If Israel loses, it is almost certain it would be game over for Israel.

  12. Yamit:

    Don’t get me wrong. I am not suggesting PR as a substitute for fighting. The fighting is going to happen.

    When a hot war breaks out, then we talk about the efficacy of PR, not before. Then only if the war last longer than 45 seconds.
    Right now for what ever motivates you, you’re spinning your wheels in neutral.

    A while back I was walking casually in a European town, I bumped into a bunch of pacifists near the local cathedral who carried “War solves nothing” and “No terrorist acts can be prevented by war” signs. Though my attempts at convincing them otherwise were futile, the discussion itself was curious. In a sense, they are right: wars never prevented new wars and cannot prevent terrorism. But, as Keynes remarked, “In the long run we’re all dead.”

    Taking too long a perspective nullifies any solutions because current measures have very little impact on remote events. A war on the Taliban would not affect German terrorists a hundred years from now. Nothing would. In the long run, there are no solutions: any war fails to produce eternal peace, but so does every peace treaty.

    France and Germany fought some time after signing a peace treaty, and signed a peace treaty after fighting. War solves nothing, and peace also solves nothing; in the long run, nothing solves anything. But within reasonably short time frames, wars are remarkably effective: Germans were stopped by war, and so were Arabs on multiple occasions. The Israeli war on Palestinian terrorism stopped the two Intifadas. Peace, on other hand, changes nothing but only formalizes the facts established by war. After the Germans were utterly defeated, peace ensued regardless of whether a peace treaty had been signed. After Israel defeated Syria, there was peace even without a peace treaty. War changes facts, and peace is only the name for the resulting change.

    Successful wars and their outcomes are the best PR

  13. No! 😉 some cheap vodka, salted fish and our version of beef jerky was on my menu. Actually I was missing ayn, It’s just over a month.

    I am a vodka person myself, strong on the vodka and light on the tonic water. I am not too much of a fish fan, although I would try it. My son and I were just discussing having clams for the 4th of July weekend, whether to order a bushel or a bushel and a half. I love clams.

    By the way I also miss Ayn, it’s happened a couple of time when I open Israpundit for some unknown reason it open with Israpundit 2008 and there the second comment down is by Ayn. Oh my G-d.

  14. Bill, I totally disagree with you. Let us assume that the PA has built institutions. That just gives them the right to negotiate. We are not saying that we wont negotiate because they have built institutions. So that point is immaterial to the impasse.

    Friedman’s thrust is that Israel should enter meaningful negotiations. So he is blaming Israel for the impasse. But what I really objected to was that he didn’t define “meaningful negotiations”. Israel keeps asking for negotiations. The PA keeps refusing. What does the word “meaningful” add to negotiations. Of course he means accepting the Saudi Plan. I thought you had said that that was one of the points that had validity and the other was that Obama should force a solution. Is that correct. If not what has validity.

    Regardless of whether there are other facts which o’er weigh the “validity”, I maintain that we should first and foremost make our case. I wouldn’t be so quick to acknowledge some fact in their favour because they will use that fact to gain leverage for more lies. So one must be careful what is acknowledged. I maintain they have no legal rights. They are only entitled to get what they can from Israel in exchange for stopping their resistence and propaganda. But as I recall they were supposed to stop the incitement before negotiations start.

  15. The past as prologue:

    At the end of World War One, the Russian people, in response to a thousand years of tyranny and corruption, overthrew the czar and his government, and instituted the communist revolution.

    Because Marx and Trosky were born Jewish, the Jew-hating goyim in the west blamed the Jews for this, and claimed they had bamboozled the poor Russian people to do this through the secret Jewish societies planning to take over the world.

    The eastern European Jews were considered a virus who would spread communism to the west if they were allowed to emigrate. So the goyim forbad all emigration, and stood by while the german christian hitler slaughtered the six million eastern european Jews.

    Now, the liberal/leftists in the west say the six million Israeli Jews are the only real nazis, and they are the one obstacle in the world which prevents the non-Jewish world from achieving world peace, and most importantly, they promise that world peace will be achieved once Jewish Israel is destroyed.

    So they are now encouraging Iran and the muslims to destroy the Israeli Jews, the same way that their fathers a generation ago encouraged hitler to destroy the european Jews.

    For the goyim, history repeats itself. But will the Israeli Jews allow history to repeat itself at their expense? (Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.)

  16. Yamit:

    Don’t get me wrong. I am not suggesting PR as a substitute for fighting. The fighting is going to happen. PR is another kind of fighting that occurs in addition to the more conventional variety. Effective PR means that Turkey couldn’t get away with what they just pulled with that flotilla. What they did in fact amounted to a PR “blitzkrieg” if you will.

    You are right that today, there is no consistent message from Jewish leaders. AIPAC, for example, seems to be only good at raising money nowadays, and that is about it. You might check out Sarah Stern’s EMET (Endowment for Middle East Truth) organization. She is about something; she is doing great work. There are others as well.

    I myself have publicly advocated for freeing Pollard, allowing him to go to Israel. But even if that were achieved, I doubt that the ‘rest would fall into place’.

    I also doubt that an Israeli policy based essentially on autarky – what you seem to recommend – would be anything other than self-defeating. That is precisely what the bad guys want you to try to do. Sun Tzu in his “Art of War” recommends first and foremost that to defeat an adversary, first break up their alliances. That is what the Arab PR effort is all about, turning Israel into a pariah state in order to achieve just that.

    You could be more self-sufficient on armamements but you could never be truly self-sufficient. No country of Israel’s size/population/resource base can survive without major allies such as the U.S. The bad guys know this and that is why they invest so much effort in driving a wedge between Israel and the U.S. in particular. And Israel is so dependent on the U.S. because they’ve already largely succeeded in the case of Europe (though there are signs of backlash there…check out Geert Wilders in Holland).

    I have lobbied strongly for a consistent message. The guiding principle should be that this notion of the U.S. or anyone else pursuing an “even-handed” policy towards Israel versus the Arabs is B.S., that the “even handed” paradigm – a cynical rhetorical construct of Israel’s enemies – be replaced by an “objective” policy that applies the same moral yardstick to both sides of the conflict. Put another way, Israel is treated with the same consideration and given the same respect as any other first-world liberal democracy.

    Anyone advocating for Israel, in response to any particular event or circumstance, should first ask themselves what would happen if the U.S. or some other U.S. ally (my favorite example is South Korea) were faced with a similar situation as what Israel faces? What would they do? This is actually as easy a tactic as it is effective.

    For example, I have often pointed out publicly that the rockets Israel faces from Gaza would be like Canada harboring some group in Windsor that fired rockets into Detroit. What would the U.S. do then? I could come up with many more examples, but that is the idea.

    There are others who also use this tactic very well (e.g., Yoram Ettinger). More and more need to join this chorus.

    There needs to be a set of positions that are uncomprisingly held and repeated. The first and most important of these is that where the Palestinians are concerned, unless and until the PA revise their national charter so as to explicitly recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, there can be no negotiations, period. This alone would not bring peace, of course (I’m sure Germany would have happily recognized Poland right up until Setptember 1st 1939), but it is an essential starting point. The PA’s refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state would be like Russia refusing to recognize Poland as a Polish state, or Turkey refusing to recognize Greece as a Greek state (examples I deliberately use because these were both contentious issues in their day).

    When Abbas says it is not his “job” to define the character of Israel, the obvious rebuttal to this line is that if it is not his job, why does the very founding document of the political movement he represents makes it is business to define Israel in the negative with respect to the Jews? That is why it is incumbent on him to change this. If he does not, any agreement he signs with Israel will be worthless, as when he reneges, he can logically claim to world opinion that he cannot be held to the terms of an agreement with an “illegitimate” entity.

    Abbas will never do this, of course. He has massively painted himself into a corner on this issue. And we can use this as leverage for what I call “counter-delegitimization”: Delegitimizing the PA as the standard bearers of Palestinian national aspirations. From there, it is a short line to “Jordan = Palestine”, and from there, policy endgames that we all want. It will take time and patience, but I believe it can be done.

    All of the above may sound like preaching to the choir, may all seem obvious to you and others in this forum, but believe me, it is not obvious to a lot of people out there, including many journalists. This is the sort of reasoning you use to make them scratch their heads and question the whole way they look at Israel. It amounts to saying the ’emperor has no clothes’, if you will, but it has got to be said. That’s another sub-corallary to an effective pro-Israel PR effort: Just because something seems obvious to any of us here, don’t assume it is obvious to the larger public. Where Israel is concerned, it often is not. The bad guys have a lot of poeple brainwashed.

    Our main advantage – to the extent that we have any – is that the bad guys have to convince people that 2+2=5. If you say that loud enough and long enough, many will believe this, but there are also many who will not really accept this, who will stubbornly hold onto the notion that 2+2=4. We merely have to remind people of this, and we have to do it consistently and publicly in order to validate what they know to be true, to give them the courage of their convictions in the face of all the crap put out by the enemy.

    And as to those who openly collaborate with the enemy – Jew and Gentile alike – they should be “outed”. As I said before, Arab whores need to be exposed as such. This is the biggest deficit in present pro-Israel PR efforts that I see right now. I had an opportunity to meet the Israeli ambassador to the UN recently, and she admitted that, for example, the Iranians are spending millions bribing non-permanent members of the UNSC to vote against sanctions and otherwise to vote against Israel whenever possible. She was reluctant to name names for diplomatic reasons, but I submit that this is what MUST be done. Name names! Expose this sort of corruption! What is there to lose? What will they do? Vote against Israel some more? Oh my! Shine a light on this crap like shining a light on cockroaches, and I think this will have an effect.

  17. Yamit, (Uncle Nahum), Did you by chance have a two martini lunch? Only kidding.

    No! 😉 some cheap vodka, salted fish and our version of beef jerky was on my menu. Actually I was missing ayn, It’s just over a month.

    Listen I agree wholeheartedly with the above comment. However I know you think the whole world is against the Jews. Not really, yes there are an awful lot but not all. I and along with others who support Israel don’t want to be thrown in with that bunch.

    It’s not personal and you know I never included you or those good folks like you and yes there are many. When push comes to shove and it will again we will all be tested and even among those who openly express verbal support most will for many reasons not be there when we need them most.

    Such is the reality and I expect nothing from anyone not even the Jooos.

    Who did help us

    in 1948? In 1967? In 1973? Israel won in 1948 amid the American arms embargo. We preempted in 1967 when the US twisted our arms to wait for the Arabs to strike first. We destroyed the Egyptian army in 1973, though the American aid did not reach Israel until after the fighting was over. And on the contrary, the world helped us to lose Sinai diplomatically after we won it militarily. They helped us to democratically elect Fatah supporters in the Knesset, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Palestine. To tolerate the Egyptian and Iranian nuclear facilities that target no one but Israel. To cede the core Jewish lands to Palestinian nomads and brigands declared a nation by Western media.

    Does the world care? Does it care about mono-religious Vatican and Saudi Arabia? About Arab-only citizenship in the United Arab Emirates? About ethnic immigration quotas in every civilized country? About the US annexing a third of Mexico and occupying Afghanistan? About France slaughtering the Algerians? The world was content with Jewish, strong, expansionist Israel—until Israel mutated into a weak giant stumbling along the road of the peace process.

    “It is different with Israel”—yes, because the Jews insist on being wrongly different. Jews used to be different in religion and customs, but secular leftists want the Jews to be different in morality. Not the real, time-tested, practical morality of Judaism but idealistic, knightly, Christian morality, which neither Christians nor knights ever practiced. No Christian nation turned the other cheek to its enemy—ever. No knight gave his family land to an enemy who “deserved” it. What normal nation would faithfully offer concessions to an enemy who raided it decades ago, murdered, raped, and robbed? To an enemy who cheers from rooftops when rockets fall on Jewish cities? To the enemies who march in tens of thousands screaming, “Kill the Jews”? What country ever gave away its core lands? Who ever gave them to a weaker, defeated enemy?

  18. Narvey you are now elevated to be until a better one comes along our leftist in residence. Congratulations and thxs for comining clean and showing us all who you really are.

    You have to be the most misunderstood and misquoted pundit on this blog. Who did you blame when you were caught cheating in the 5th grade?

  19. We must keep Israel a Jewish state. That includes three objectives. One, keep Israel: concede no land to the Arab enemy. Two, keep the country Jewish: expel Israeli Arabs to Jordan. Three, keep the state Jewish: enshrine the values of Judaism, Eretz Israel, and Jewish nationhood in constitutional law, and ban leftist discussion of these core values.

    Yamit, (Uncle Nahum), Did you by chance have a two martini lunch? Only kidding.

    Listen I agree wholeheartedly with the above comment. However I know you think the whole world is against the Jews. Not really, yes there are an awful lot but not all. I and along with others who support Israel don’t want to be thrown in with that bunch.

    I believe with good PR reflecting the truth about Israel, the majority of the world will be the cheerleaders supporting those actions.
    The Arab enemies will be unable to turn to others to support their hateful agenda.

    I wasn’t a big JFK fan but I must borrow from him “Today I am an Israeli”.
    We, the whole world is effected by what happens to Israel. Israel needs us and more importantly the world needs Israel.

  20. Vinnie says:
    June 28, 2010 at 8:29 am

    PR is hardly the refuge of cowards.

    PR is hardly the refuge of cowards

    It is when used as a substitute for fighting. It is when used in conjunction with appeasement in order to justify that appeasement. We call it in the vernacular: SPIN!!

    You have no message!
    You have no consistent message that most Jews and Most Israelis will agree on.
    You have assimilated Jewish leaders who are more concerned with not making the Gentiles angry at them instead of fighting for Israel survival.
    We have Israeli leaders who will by their cowardice and corruption pull any attempt of a credible PR effort out from under you by their consistent capitulation and appeasement.

    We had a national consensus when BB was elected he has turned that on it’s head.

    You want to make a PR effort that has meaning? Get Pollard out of prison. Everything good will fall into place here and in America for the Jews if you can manage that, everything else you propose is either preaching to the choir or a total waste of time and money.

  21. You are surprisingly wrong Ted on facts, on what I said and how to advocate best.

    1. The some validity to Friedman’s points I alluded to is that Abbas/Fayaad have developed some political structure and institutions, some economic development as Israel has expected of the Palestinians and security forces that do contribute to policing the Palestinian population.

    2. I made clear that whatever validity there is to Friedman’s views, that validity is far outweighed by the validity of other facts and realities, which the Friedmans of the world overlook.

    I did not specify those facts and realities regarding Abbas’/Fayaad’s political structure and institutions, Abbas’/Fayaad’s anti-Israel/anti-semitic words, policies, positional demands and actions and support they have from the majority of Palestinians, the Palestinian economy that is still cannot stand on its own, being largely dependent on the world’s welfare assistance and the fact that Abbas’ Palestinian security forces are not just geared to policing Palestinians, as they have been well canvassed by you, me and others at Israpundit.

    3. To advocate for Israel by simply calling Palestinians degenerate liars who have not a shred of truth, morality and decency behind their positions, amounts to name calling across the fence.

    To be sure on a number of issues the Palestinians are indeed degenerate wholesale liars and pro-Israel advocacy should not shirk from saying so.

    The Friedmans and Obamas of the world however point to a number of facts that they express in such way that they do appear to favor the Palestinian side.

    I do not believe it profits pro-Israel advocates to just totally denounce the Friedmans and Obamas as promoting Palestinian lies.

    In my view, a more credible approach is to meet head on, those aspects of Palestinian narratives and positions, that are expressed in such way as to yield some validity, to take a yes, but approach to advocate that wherever the Palestinians have a valid point, Israel has 10 more valid points to overwhelmingly counter that.

    4. As to meaningful negotiations, that is merely a view I attributed to Friedman.

  22. My postulates:

    All of the Land of Israel belongs to the Jews.

    We don’t want to share our land anymore than any-other Nation State or Tribe is willing to share theirs.

    We are prepared and willing to defend by force if necessary all lands and territories in our de facto or de jure possession. Not an inch more will be conceded or given up, period.

    Any future aggression against us by a neighboring state, will lead to the expansion of our territorial sovereignty at the aggressors expense.

    We reject the concept of Land for peace and will only accept Peace based on the concept of Peace for Peace.

    Anyone claiming to be anti-Zionist is antisemitic and will be considered and treated by us as such, especially world leaders.

    From the point of this announcement we reject All foreign aid from any source. We are prepared to pay for what we need and buy.

    Our new defense doctrine is forthwith predicated on our nuclear arsenal and delivery systems and platforms.

    Any nation in the regions seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons capability will be considered an enemy and will be treated by us as an enemy.

    PR? RUBBISH!!!

    The whole world is against us,” cry the doubters. It has been against us for two thousand, perhaps three thousand years. Throughout Jewish history, we have striven to be arrogantly different—and aroused hatreds. Yet Jews survived, and our adversaries fall into oblivion. We survived specifically because the Jews were certain that they were right while everyone else is wrong. Jews detested Egyptian homosexuality, Greek democracy, Roman imperialism, and pagan beliefs—every foreign opinion. That cut the Jews off from some pleasures and achievements, but it preserved a nation which considers itself right and righteous.


    “Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.”

    Rational people could not imagine that beliefs protect, yet that’s how the Jews survived—against all odds. Rational people told Moses it was unsafe to leave Egypt, and then wanted to return. Rational Jews agreed with rational scouts that Canaan was unconquerable. Rational Jerusalemites advised the king to surrender to the Babylonians. Rational, progressive Jews submitted to Antiochus and ate pork—until the Maccabees arose. Rational Jews understood that there is nothing wrong with Christianity, and converted. That Germans are a civilized people, and did not flee to Palestine. That Zionism is utopia, and stayed in Russia. That Turks and Christians would never concede Jerusalem to Jews, and accepted Uganda. That a Jewish militia cannot win against Arab armies, and urged us to abstain from proclaiming a Jewish state. That Israel was lost in 1973, and urged capitulation.

    “What can we do?” is not the proper question. Rather ask, “What should we do?” We must keep Israel a Jewish state. That includes three objectives. One, keep Israel: concede no land to the Arab enemy. Two, keep the country Jewish: expel Israeli Arabs to Jordan. Three, keep the state Jewish: enshrine the values of Judaism, Eretz Israel, and Jewish nationhood in constitutional law, and ban leftist discussion of these core values.

    Would the world go mad at us for doing that? It was mad at us whatever we did for millennia; our existence drives the world mad

    First thing get rid of BB and Barak. Then we can begin anew.

  23. Contrary to Bill Narvey’s assertion, Friedman’s points have no validity. “Netanyahu, Friedman stated is reluctant to move into meaningful negotiations and thus must be forced by Obama to do that.” What the hell are “meaningful negotiations”? What Freeman and those of his ilk want is for Israel to accept the demands of the Palestinians and only negotiate the little things. The PA is not prepared to compromise therefore it is not ready for meaningful negotiations.

    Meaningful negotiations should accept that there is no right of return and that Israel is entitled to defensible borders. They should also accept that the Arabs are only entitled to what Israel will agree to give them.

  24. Like the Jews many of the youth in the world believe that Israel is the cause rather than the victim, so PR is the only solution. Hearts and minds will win political gains, not just for Israel, but for the Jews in Europe and South America who are becoming the scape goat for their countries ills.

    I have noted many times the importance of a good PR program. Precipitation is what it’s all about.
    Israel is the depicted as the villain by the liberal left media and unfortunately the uninformed believe everything they read and hear. There is so much good the world benefits from Israel and her people, yet nothing is mentioned. These creeps look under every stone and rock looking for the negative to report on. How about believing and printing the lies perpetuated by Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest of the Arab terrorist. Think about it, they all are killers, lairs, the worst kind who even treat their own like crap, yet the world and liberal left media is silent. According to the liberal left media Israel is always depicted as the villain.

    Yesterday I posted a article from Glenn Beck and he indicated a majority of the members of both houses signed a letter of support for Israel and the blockade, yet the liberal left media did not report on it, obviously.

    A majority of American Jews either don’t care or don’t want to be known for supporting Israel. Shame on them.

    Time for truth to prevail. Israel needs to be heard.

  25. some emails rec’d

    Ted, in this instance you are 100% correct. Based on my experience there is nothing Israel could do that would materially change the pre conceived agendas of most of the world. It is a shibboleth that somehow miraculously a perfect PR program would make a material difference. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t try and that the budget is too small for this work. It also depends upon the energy level of its foreign ministry people in Israel and throughout the world. Some are terrific and some a little lazy or unprepared.
    I personally through the Friends of the IDF and Stand With Us Israel help fund a training program in English for senior IDF officers in the IDF Media Spokespersons Unit. It has been successful so far and is accepted by the IDF as helpful.

    For what it is worth, David Brooks is of the same opinion that no matter what Israel does with the media the result would not change dramatically.

    >

    Yet I would argue that the pursuit of self interest by the US is assured greater success with Israel as a strong ally rather than without her.
    —————–
    I have argued the same point regardless the dynamic behind the negative press. There is one other point, however, that I want to share; and I say this after researching and so feel this is a responsible statement:

    None of these forces is in error, inadequate in their efforts, or simply “mistaken.” This take includes the president, whomever he is at any given time; and moreover, it is a position taken–like all presidential positions–because that president has been ordered to do so.

    Nothing–absolutely nothing–happens in the American press or Executive without having first been decided by the Wall Street people who, in turn, answer to their Royals, the central banks in Europe; and that includes our “Federal Reserve” so-called.

    This applies to the vast majority of Israeli presidents since the inception of Israel as a state; but you must know all about that.

    I would be remiss if I didn’t write to tell you that I agree with all your analysis, but disagree vehemently with your conclusion.

    PR is not just giving news agencies the truth. PR is much, much broader than that, and must include private advertising in the media. Glenn Jasper is correct. I hope you are able to read the attached (it’s in pieces), this very important article in the December 21, 2001 edition of the International Jerusalem Post by David Finn (founder of Finn Ruder) that argues this point strongly. Unfortunately, even in 2001 when that article was written, things were much better than they are today as regards the support of public opinion in Western countries.

    Ruder Finn was involved in the presentation of Israel’s image to the world during the 6 Day War. After David Finn approached Eshkol to create a coherent, managed approach to PR for the State. After being well received by Eshkol and Sapir, it was ultimately handed over to low level diplomat in New York, who didn’t like the plan personally, and so nothing came of it.

    Ted, I fear you are starting to become an Israeli. That’s wonderful, but it may be affecting how you see the strength of Israel. I had dinner on Shabbat at Steve Posen’s and was fortunate to meet a lovely young Israeli of 26 years, former officer in the IDF, who is been studying at UBC these past 3 years. He was a bright, well-spoken Zionist, and when I said during our dinner conversation that I wouldn’t be surprised if Israel ceased to exist within the next 20 years, he answered that before he came to Israel, that kind of idea would never have entered his mind. It would have seemed ludicrous. But in the last year, he has heard that view voiced, and he sees that there is a real and present danger, today.

    If you can at all, please contact Glenn Jasper (I had not heard his name before I read your article), and find out what he has in mind. This could be the most important thing you can do there.

    Very best regards,

    This is very depressing. The reality is that people who understand… Who get it without even knowing the full hist. Support israel. But online the response by people to news…is very very ant semitic and anti israel.

    We are loosing the battle. My brother has a group that is pushing to move up the time table for Mid East Peace initiative and for Netenyahu to accept the 2002 Arab Peace Plan and have a “shared” Jerusalem and of course a two state solution. Unless the Jews get together and fight this, the politics will go in favor of American politics. This will either force Israel to cave in or it will further isolate Israel. Of course Obama has done nothing to force sanctions or other things against Iran. He is playing any cards close to his hand. I wonder if you have any clout to force anything to happen or will you be like all of the others?

    Ted, you’re right. Of course the PR could be better. Everything could be better. But that does not explain why the world is so eager to believe every lie about Israel, no matter how silly, no matter how many times Israel’s accusers have been proven to have been lying. In fact, the world has an agenda and that is the reduction of Israel to impotence so that it can be destroyed, God forbid. Everyone who can clear his head minimally realizes that the “peace process” was a fraud from the beginning. It was never intended to be about peace. That was just the packaging. By now, we know that anyone who talks about the peace process is like the Nazis who spoke of “special handling” and “arbeit macht frei” and other grotesque lies to make Jews believe that the building into which they were being herded really was showers. Ehud Barak still seems to believe that it’s about peace but not many people are that stupid.

    Barry Rubin also has an excellent take on this issue. Have a look at it.

    I’ve given four speeches and one radio interview here and the question of PR always comes up. My answer is very similar to yours: It’s not our PR, it’s the Leftist agenda that presents a one-sided perspective.

    There is no trump card here. The world has to stand up to the Islamists’ actions – probably that won’t happen. But the list of Islamic atrocities must be constantly cited.

    ” Don’t ask Israel to accept the trustworthiness of any nation until it proves its intentions.” “We remember all too well the XX agreement which resulted in XXXX, we remember the XXXX which resulted in XXX. We have tried and tried to agree on a peace with our neighbors – but most people remember theXXX>XXX>XXX that resulted. Israel has done XXX and XXX and xxx, and xxx, and xxx, and more. Don’t ask us to keep giving and giving, to sweet the deal for the Arabs to even come to the table.

    We have gone far more than half-way to XXXX now we need a reciprocal response from the Arabs. When that response occurs we will be willing to sit face to face and proceed together. No one can fault us for this common sense decision. No one can impose on us their ideas of what we need from their vantage point, it is we who are on the line.

    I just think, Ted, that the list of atrocities must be mentioned over and over – as a justification for Israel caution – not capitulation.

    That’s my 2 cents………..

    What people don’t realize Ted is that what happened with the boats was a calculated well planned PR effort on the part of Israel to appear as a victim.

    Instead of being Pro-active and stopping the failed peace process by reclaiming this 7 by 15mile strip of land so necessary for Israel’s security and screaming “foul play” to the violations of the Oslo Agreements. So instead Israel is trying to push this “Arab Terrorists get all and Israel gets none” agreement by cheap PR tactics.

    The truth is, the Terror government has a point-
    If Israel is truly giving away this piece of land there is no reason why flotillas, rockets, weapons and diapers should not freely come in without Israeli intervention.

    So if it truly belongs to them, let them have it!

    If though Israel finally realizes the reality of its grave mistake, so let them take it back and then flotillas would really be an act of war.

    Israel pretends to worry about “the eyes of the world” yet here, the world only sees that Israel gave away and that it is an agressor in stopping the legitimate transfer of arms and goods to a legally given away area that is self governing.

    The truth is that Israel does not care about the eyes of the world, nor does it care if the arabs in these areas are brothers or not.

    It is a fundraising scheme by people in the government to fund their government on the backs and blood of Israeli citizens that has gone on too long.

    We disagree,
    Israel’s failure in the PR battle has cost numerous civilian and military casualties, why something so important has been given back burner status for so many decades is beyond me!!!!!!!!!!!! I know of several very talented people in the New York Metro area that could do a far better job than the diluted messages coming from Israel. I hope that the people in power consider making some telephone calls to Della Feminas’ agency or some other highly reputable Madison Avenue firm.

    Hi Ted. Really good piece. The world will think what it wants about Israel and Jews. Israel, however, needs to act in her own best interests and not be concerned, particularly, about world reaction. Another point is that most individuals in the world really aren’t focused on Israel. We are, because we care, but just like you and I aren’t really focused or care about whats going on in Zimbabwe, most individuals don’t care about what’s going on in Israel. They just want their MTV.
    Sometime, I’d love to see a piece from you about the Ted Belman “solution.” I do think that Israel needs to work to create a solution. There is just so much time and energy dealing with the current status that could be used to building the nation.

    Anyway, just wanted to thank you for another fine piece of writing.

    ISRAEL MUST FIND A WAY OF BEING INDEPENDANT OF THE U.S., INSTEAD OF BEHAVING LIKE A BANANA REPUBLIC.

    THIS INCLUDES MANUFACTURING IT’S OWN ARMAMENTS.

    I AGREE 100 PERCENT, with what you say, you may not know that although I spent most of my adult life in US, where I was very active as a community volunteer, I was born in Iran and I am quite familiar with middle eastern cultures, the Arab leaders are totally disconnected from their people and THEY LIE
    Look up for the word DIPLOMACY in Arabic you will find it to be SIASSAT the accurate English translation of SIASSAT is DECEPTION not diplomacy, another PILLAR of their leadership (I CALL THEM MISLEADERS) is that they truly don’t give a damn about their people.

    I met you at one of the conferences in Jerusalem, if you want I will be happy to meet with you to have a conversation.

    Credibility not PR is the problem.
    We do not have a real government but a negotiating ensemble where each group has its own agenda as to what part of the people’s properties he or she is prepared to “disengage” from..
    There will be ever increasing violence against JEWS out of the GOI and ever diminishing ability to confront the enemies.
    Necessarily out of that cauldron we project an image that looks like a bunch of tumblers playing for small change.
    The CREDIBILITY problem under the present setting is not treatable.

    No matter how many tumblers are rotated in or out of the clowns group, the tumbling will continue.

    SOLUTIONS:
    We must regain CREDIBILITY as a Nation defending its integrity.
    That means that our enemies must FEAR us and respect our every single utterance.
    That can only be done by a completely new governing system and totally new and freely elected leadership.

    Kol Hakavod Ted. Excellent analysis.

    I think Israel is doing a very poor job at public relations. It is allowing itself to be demonized by the most vicious imaginable propaganda without retaliating in kind and with compound interest. It is always on the defensive and always apologizing. It should, for example, have arrested and prosecuted for aggravated assault the Gaza flotilla activists who attacked and seriously injured IDF personnel even though nine activists were killed. (If a street gang knifes or shoots some cops in the U.S., the fact that the cops kill some of the gang members in self-defense does not get the others out of prosecution for assault with a deadly weapon and assault on police officers.) This would force the world community to look at the conduct of the activists as well as that of the IDF.

    Israel has also totally blown the Rachel Corrie issue, again by protesting that her death was an accident instead of focusing on the willfully negligent and reckless actions of the ISM.

    Israel government forget the first rule of war: If enemies do not surrender, kill them. Instead, Israel government follows international agenda: saving PLO + Arafat, Hezbullah, Hamas for further attacks on Israel. Obviously, UN, EU, US use these islamofascist organizations as proxy to conduct war on and eliminate Israel.

    I value and profited from your latest commentary, as usual. But I wonder if you are not guilty of the same misidentification of basic forces as those who argue that Israel’s problem would be solved if she had a better PR campaign.

    The real problem, you argue, is not poor PR, rather inadequate commitment and moral courage by Western leaders, Obama in particular. But does not that moral and political equivocation in turn reflect genuine material and economic weakness? No one could have been more committed to an anti-Muslim-radical agenda than George Bush II, but he found himself increasingly constrained by the real limits of US power to transform Muslim societies in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Iran. His move toward a more pragmatic, accommodationist stance in the latter part of his second term adumbrated Obama’s more pronounced about face. Since Bush II, moreover, US economic, hence political, influence, has declined appreciably, while that of China, Brazil, India, etc. has risen.

    In short, I’m unsure that the US has as much latitude to influence world events as you and I would like, or that a long-term deterioration in US-Israel relations (if indeed it materializes, and here I think you tend to be unduly alarmist) is more a matter of personality and will than of demography, economics, and military limits.

    I’d be interested in your response.

    A MASTERPIECE TED

    I read most of you articals and one thing keeps coming to mind, you continualy confuse your readers with facts. That is the PR problem. Israel wins the PR war with pictures of dead Jews. After a bus blew up in Jerusalem the whole world felt bad for Israel when they saw the pictures of dead and injured Jews. A few weeks later when we went to Lebanon and made Havdalah on a few airplanes at the airport the images of the dead Jews fIaded from the minds of the world. The world is image based. The don’t care about talking head spewing facts. When I was a child we did not have a 24 hour news cycle. We need to feed the media pictures daily to show the world. Ask yourself why the world still talks about the holacost and feels sorry for the “poor Jews” could it be because more than 60 years later new pictures are being released. Todays media beast is a visual beast and needs to be fed pictures. Just look at the small turn around after the video of the flotilla was released for a short time the PR battle shiffted. Without new picures each day the world forgot and went back to thinking the way they always do. I remember at CBS in New York a sign over the assignment board in the front of the newsroom “IF it Bleads It Leads”. Although that sign is long gone the mentality is not. Sorry I did not take a picture of it to show you, but who knew. Keep doing what you do as the facts are important to me, but I would also like to see pictures.

    With love of Torah, Mitzvas and Israel

    hearts and minds are too important.

    why do we bother to explain to the evil son the story of our people, because the others around him must be educated. Israel’ s woeful lack of PR has caused the uninformed Jews, the majority whom never attend a shul to believe the press accounts. The majority of Jews believe that the holocaust was why Israel exists today. The majority of young Jews do not remember 1967, they do not know the struggles, they do not know that if Israel disappeared tomorrow there would not peace.

    Like the Jews many of the youth in the world believe that Israel is the cause rather than the victim, so PR is the only solution. Hearts and minds will win political gains, not just for Israel, but for the Jews in Europe and South America who are becoming the scape goat for their countries ills.

    keep writing, we need more like you who will educate others

  26. PR is hardly the refuge of cowards. It is one dimension of this war, just as the clash of arms is another dimension. This war – and by this I mean not only Israel’s war against her immediate adversaries, but also the larger war the West is fighting against Islamist terrorism – has to be won on both fronts.

    Once I was watching a documentary on the Vietnam war with my wife. She is not expert on the history of that time, and a quote from a U.S. general from the end of the war really caught her attention. He told his Vietnamese counterpart as he was negotiating the final withdrawal of the U.S. presence, “You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield”, to which the Vietnamese general replied, “Yes, but that is irrelevant”. She wondered aloud in amazement that a country could win every battle in a war, and still lose in the end.

    Yet that is what happened to the U.S. in Vietnam, a historic first. We lost because we completely ignored the PR war that was being waged against us. We focused only on the clash of arms, assuming that everyone could see that we were right, as if all it took was one John Wayne movie to convince the public of this. General Nguyen Giap of North Vietnam opened up a new chapter in military science by taking advantage of the opportunities offered by modern media communications, and leveraging these to turn public and world opinion against the U.S. position in Southeast Asia.

    Arafat visited Hanoi during the late 1960s in order to glean tactics for defeating a materially more powerful enemy. General Giap advised him to stop talking in terms of ‘annihilating’ Israel, at least as far as his communications to Western audiences were concerned; such rhetoric repelled public sympathy. He counseled him instead to cast his war as a “liberation movement” for an “oppressed” people.

    Giap’s writings on warfare have been translated into Arabic and are widely circulated in the Arab world, particularly among Palestinians. Everything that is being done to Israel today was done to the U.S. in Vietnam. Palestinian tactics – along with those of Hezbollah and other Arab and Islamic guerrilla movements – are openly taken from those of the Vietnamese communists. Child warriors, suicide bombings, hiding behind civilians in order to create bad press, manipulation of journalists, activism in the academic institutions of the adversary, these were all pioneered by the Vietnamese. The Arabs have lowered the moral floor still further – at least the Vietnamese had the good manners not to fly airliners into buildings here in the U.S. – but the tactics are the same.

    Prominent Al Queda leaders have openly said that this is as much a ‘media battle’ as it is any other kind of battle. The point is to undermine your adversary’s will to fight. If you can establish and magnify doubt and uncertainty among your enemy and their allies, you can overcome long material odds.

    In one respect, Yamit has the right idea. The starting point for the “battle of hearts and minds” is to believe absolutely in the rightness of your side as opposed to your adversary, and Yamit certainly does that. But that is only a starting point.

    I don’t think Israeli leaders are ignoring the PR battle any more, although they did for a long time and they are now playing catch-up. The bad guys have spent at least 30 years – I would trace the beginnings of their primary emphasis on these tactics to the 1982 Lebanon war – establishing their “PR beachead”, so to speak. They are so heavily embedded in academic and media institutions throughout the West that they will be very hard to fight on this front.

    While they have to do more to get their message out, nothing Israeli leaders can do by themselves will be enough. The brunt of this battle falls on the Diaspora. Example: Bibi gave a fantastic speech last fall at the UJF GA, but the media coverage was terrible. What can he do about that? Call the Wall Street Journal himself? He’s got a country to run. Are there enough Israeli government officials out there who can spend every working day dealing with Western media organs? I don’t think so.

    Another example: During Cast Lead, there was a pro-Palestinian demonstration by reportedly “5,000” protestors in New York. This was all over the cable news networks. Within a few days, TWICE as many marched in the SAME venue in support of Israel. This got NO coverage. I only knew of this myself because of my involvement with the Jewish community, and I’m plugged into their “grapevine”. Another very large pro-Israel demonstration in Cleveland also got zilch national coverage.

    The bad guys have got the media trained like dogs. It is unconscious with them anymore. Even journalists who try to represent themselves as sympathetic to Israel write articles that bemoan Israel’s “bad PR”, without stopping to realize that maybe THEY are the problem; no one is holding a gun to their heads to write this crap (kind of like the cartoon with the guy holding a rock thrown through his window, reading a note attached that says, “Rocks thrown through your window? Call Al’s Glass Repair”!). Why can’t they write about the responsibility of the other side? They are conditioned only to think in terms of Israel’s “faults”; this is just an extension of the self-flaggelating impulse that plagues the West, that the bad guys encourage and exploit at every opportunity.

    This isn’t easy to fight but it is not hopeless. We have to start calling them out for what they are, though. It isn’t enough to defensively use facts and logic to defend our positions. That must be done, but in addition, we have to start calling out the shills for the enemy for what they are. I often do this, and it gets their attention. Start openly calling them “Islamist whores”, asking them which Saudi sheik bribed them to cover a given story the way they did, point out to them directly that they’d be creamed in the society of the very barbarians they are making excuses for. Enough of us do that over here – and we are in place to do this, Israelis are not – and we can start to get a toe-hold.

  27. Israel does not need PR at all. All we need is to define facts on the ground. Destroy Iran. Take back Gaza. Destroy Syria and Lebanon. All the world will love us. Because the only thing both Esaw and Yishmael recognise is FORCE. Everything else, like diplomacy and PR is just waste of time and money and prolonges our suffering.

  28. YOU WANT PR….When the Arabs start their next demonstration by cursing and throwing rocks, then start breaking bones, put them into hospitals and when they get out, deport them to Gaza. That will stop the bad PR.

    No it won’t, but it would be worth it.

  29. YOU WANT PR….When the Arabs start their next demonstration by cursing and throwing rocks, then start breaking bones, put them into hospitals and when they get out, deport them to Gaza. That will stop the bad PR.

  30. Friedman’s points do have some validity.

    Yes – while he’s sitting at a nice desk 8000 miles or so from the actual reality of the situation.

    Now this:

    You fuck with the Jews, you die.

    … is much more practical, especially if you’re sitting anywhere in Israel waiting for rockets, nukes, and all kinds of other killing items to rain down on your head.

  31. Your ad hominem drivel Yamit will not distract anyone from seeing that once again you are playing duck and dodge to avoid answering my questions.

    Thx for the story of Deborah which is one worth remembering.

    Now back to my questions. Are you going to answer or continue to play your silly games?

    I thought I answered you. What eludes your understanding?

    What ad hominem????

  32. Narvey another Lesson:

    Jewish tradition teaches us that our biblical ancestors’ deeds are guideposts for our future conduct. In this situation too there is a biblical precedent which points the way — the deeds of Jephthah (Yiftach) the Gileadite, the Judge over Israel. In those days the Israelites lived on both sides of the River Jordan, having captured territory on the East Bank of the Jordan River in Gilead (now a part of modern Jordan) some 300 years earlier from the Amorites, who, in turn, had previously won it from the Ammonites. Despite the fact that Israel had taken Gilead from the Amorites — and not from the Ammonites — the Ammonites now accused the Israelites of having taken their land, and they threatened immediate war unless Jephthah accepted their quite contemporary deal, namely, “land for peace”. As the Hebrew Bible relates: “Jepthah sent emissaries to the king of the Children of Ammon, saying, ‘What is there between you and me that you have come to me to make war in my Land?’ The king of the Children of Ammon said to Jephthah’s emissaries, ‘Because Israel took away my lands when it ascended from Egypt, from the Arnon [River] to the Jabbok [River] to the Jordan [River]; so now return them in peace.'” (Judges 11:12-13). Jephthah’s refusal to give Gilead over to the Ammonites — even for peace — is enshrined in the following timeless words: “Jephthah once again sent emissaries to the king of the Children of Ammon, and said to him, ‘So said Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of … the Children of Ammon … [but rather] … Israel took possession of the entire land of the Amorite … And now HaShem, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorite from before His People Israel — yet you would [presume to] possess it? Surely, whatever your god Chemosh lets you possess, that you shall possess; and whichever [people] God drives away from before us, that [land] we shall possess … While Israel lived in Cheshbon and its suburbs, in Aroer and its suburbs, and in all the cities that are near [the] Arnon [River] for three hundred years — why did you not recover them during that time? I have not sinned against you; but you do me wrong to make war against me! Let HaShem, the Judge, decide today between the Children of Israel and the Children of Ammon!” (Judges 11:14-27).

    Israel prevailed over Ammon that day. Perhaps Today’s leader, (Prime Minister) BB, can learn something from Yesterday’s leader, (Judge) Jephthah. Jewish lives may depend upon it.

  33. Your ad hominem drivel Yamit will not distract anyone from seeing that once again you are playing duck and dodge to avoid answering my questions.

    Thx for the story of Deborah which is one worth remembering.

    Now back to my questions. Are you going to answer or continue to play your silly games?

  34. Narvey:

    Terrorism in the time of the Hebrew Judges

    And so it was, when Israel had sown(crops), that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them; and they encamped against them, and destroyed the produce of the earth, till you come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.
    For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.
    And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried unto the Eternal G-d.

    And when he heard their prayers he sent Gideon.
    What did Gideon do as an agent of G-d? Did he offer them free health care?
    Did he offer them Gaza and Samaria and Judea if they would just be nice?
    Did he offer to make them citizens in some sort of sweeping amnesty?
    Did he allow them to use Israel as a drug depot?
    No.. so what did he do?
    Drove them out lock, stock and barrel.
    Blowing trumpets, carrying lamps and water they were the instruments of G-d that got the job done.
    They “made a lot of noise”.
    And did it take millions of people? No. Took only a few people making a lot of commotion and noise.
    And that, Narvey, is how that was accomplished.

    Funny the Christians know the Hebrew Book, and are inspired by it. Jews like Narvey don’t and are not inspired but full of fear from the likes of Obama etc.Me nabob negative? I’m the most positive commenter on this blog.

  35. You have a strange concept of negativism. You are negative, you are cowardly, you have no belief in G-d or faith in the Jewish destiny.

    Deborah

    She was a born leader; a prophetess possessing great knowledge, intelligence and charisma. She was also famous for conducting her meetings with great modesty in the open under a palm tree. We do not know much about her husband, whose name was Lapidus. It is not unusual for the husbands of powerful and famous women to remain relatively anonymous.

    Deborah mobilized an army led by Barak, who like her was from the tribe of Naftali. However, even she could not mobilize too many from the other tribes. They were frightened of Sisera and as the battle took form the other tribes mostly stood by and watched, which was indicative of the times of the Judges.

    The battle took place in the Galilee on Mount Tabor, which is a particularly beautiful and majestic mountain as well as a strategic position to see everything that moves in the Galilee. Sisera realized he had to capture the mountain to subdue the Jewish people. Deborah and Barak also knew that and prepared their strategy accordingly.

    They destroyed Sisera’s army, powerful new metal chariots and all. Sisera himself fled on foot. Barak sent crack soldiers in hot pursuit, fearing as long as Sisera lived he would rally another army around him.

    Sisera came to the tent of a man named Heber the Kenite (Judges 4:11), whose wife, Yael, seduced him and then drove a peg through his temple with a hammer. The biblical narrative considers her act worthy of great blessing. The Oral Tradition classifies her act as one of the rare cases in history of a “sin for pure reasons.”

    After Sisera’s death, the Jewish army drove Yavin out of his fortified city, ending the threat completely. This took place in the first year of Deborah’s reign. For the next 40 years the Jewish people knew real peace.

    Deborah celebrated the victory by composing a famous song, which can be found in Chapter 5 of the Book of Judges. It is a song of exultation commemorating a victory so decisive that it would bring tranquility to the Jewish people and usher in a Golden Age.

  36. You have a strange concept of negativism. You are negative, you are cowardly, you have no belief in G-d or faith in the Jewish destiny.

    Deborah

    She was a born leader; a prophetess possessing great knowledge, intelligence and charisma. She was also famous for conducting her meetings with great modesty in the open under a palm tree. We do not know much about her husband, whose name was Lapidus. It is not unusual for the husbands of powerful and famous women to remain relatively anonymous.

    Deborah mobilized an army led by Barak, who like her was from the tribe of Naftali. However, even she could not mobilize too many from the other tribes. They were frightened of Sisera and as the battle took form the other tribes mostly stood by and watched, which was indicative of the times of the Judges.

    The battle took place in the Galilee on Mount Tabor, which is a particularly beautiful and majestic mountain as well as a strategic position to see everything that moves in the Galilee. Sisera realized he had to capture the mountain to subdue the Jewish people. Deborah and Barak also knew that and prepared their strategy accordingly.

    They destroyed Sisera’s army, powerful new metal chariots and all. Sisera himself fled on foot. Barak sent crack soldiers in hot pursuit, fearing as long as Sisera lived he would rally another army around him.

    Sisera came to the tent of a man named Heber the Kenite (Judges 4:11), whose wife, Yael, seduced him and then drove a peg through his temple with a hammer. The biblical narrative considers her act worthy of great blessing. The Oral Tradition classifies her act as one of the rare cases in history of a “sin for pure reasons.”

    After Sisera’s death, the Jewish army drove Yavin out of his fortified city, ending the threat completely. This took place in the first year of Deborah’s reign. For the next 40 years the Jewish people knew real peace.

    Deborah celebrated the victory by composing a famous song, which can be found in Chapter 5 of the Book of Judges. It is a song of exultation commemorating a victory so decisive that it would bring tranquility to the Jewish people and usher in a Golden Age.

    Terrorism in the time of the Hebrew Judges

    And so it was, when Israel had sown(crops), that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them; and they encamped against them, and destroyed the produce of the earth, till you come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.
    For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.
    And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried unto the Eternal G-d.

    And when he heard their prayers he sent Gideon.
    What did Gideon do as an agent of G-d? Did he offer them free health care?
    Did he offer them Gaza and Samaria and Judea if they would just be nice?
    Did he offer to make them citizens in some sort of sweeping amnesty?
    Did he allow them to use Israel as a drug depot?
    No.. so what did he do?
    Drove them out lock, stock and barrel.
    Blowing trumpets, carrying lamps and water they were the instruments of G-d that got the job done.
    They “made a lot of noise”.
    And did it take millions of people? No. Took only a few people making a lot of commotion and noise.
    And that, Narvey, is how that was accomplished.

    Funny the Christians know the Hebrew Book, and are inspired by it. Jews like Narvey don’t and are not inspired but full of fear from the likes of Obama etc.Me nabob negative? I’m the most positive commenter on this blog.

  37. Yamit, oh nattering nabob of negativism, what is on your wish list for a stronger Israel and just how do you propose Israel can achieve that?

  38. Narvey you have a penchant for stating both sides to any argumenst but never reaching a conclusion. Or, you ask a question then anwer it according to your own view.

    Any Jew who reads the NYT should be placed on the same level as alqueda. I prefer Jews who read the ‘La Times.’ Who gives a mother what Friedman, says? You say he is influential? Among or with whom?

    Contrary to what Ted Belman asserts, it should go without saying that pro-Israel PR that supports Netanyahu’s stance and calls for Israeli policy and action to be based on realities, not the least of which is intractable Jew/Israel hatred, would do well to have respected voices in their corner, such as Friedman who is onside with Obama.

    Oh yea, like who?

    If you respect him I’d run for cover. BB will fall with his first major give away or if he doesn’t reverse his building freeze in Sept.

    Friedman’s points do have some validity.

    Only in your wet dreams.

    Not only does it behoove Israel to invest mightily in PR, so too must diaspora Jewry.

    Write chain letters. That should work.

    It likely will not succeed in converting anti-semites to Jew lovers, but it could improve the chances that Obama’s juggernaut might be slowed, if not derailed and stopped altogether.

    Who wants it slowed? For me it’s progressing too slowly.

    I’m sure Martel will agree with me on this.

  39. Whatever you think of Thomas Friedman, his voice is influential amongst many Jews and non-Jews.

    Today on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, Friedman was stating that whereas Israel once had credible reasons for resisting negotiations with the Palestinians, claiming they were not real partners for peace, that is no longer the case.

    Friedman contended that the Palestinians under Abbas/Fayaad have established a government, political and economic institutions that Israel had rpeviously called on them to do and a security force to maintain order. In these circumstances Friedman says that Israel can no longer resist meaningful negotiations with the Abbas/Fayaad government with a view to establishing the 2 state solution.

    Netanyahu, Friedman stated is reluctant to move into meaningful negotiations and thus must be forced by Obama to do that.

    In a flamboyant flourish, Friedman said that with a big push from Obama, which is what is necessary, Netanyahu can then tell his caucaus and the Israeli people, that it is not he who wants to proceed to bring the 2 state solution to a final conclusion, but rather it is that “anti-semite in the White House, Obama” that is forcing him to move forward to that end game solution.

    Friedman’s points do have some validity.

    There are however, many followers of Israpundit and like minded Jews and non-Jews who would angrily reject Friedman’s take on this situation. They would cite various factors that reveal Abbas/Fayaad are really wolves, similar to, if not just like Hamas though they have cloaked themselves in sheep’s clothing. All these factors, in spite of whatever valid points Friedman made, would tend to mitigate against Israel proceeding with such negotiations as Friedman calls for.

    Friedman did not incidentally call for any meaningful pressure and conditions imposed on the Palestinians. His focus was on pressuring Israel.

    That said, Friedman as noted at the outset, does have his supporters amongst Jews and non-Jews. Doubtless, Obama would look to and perhaps even cite, Friedman’s views and Jews and Jewish organizations that would agree with Friedman, to justify his thinking and continued pressure on Israel.

    As regards anti-Israel PR, it is comprised of organized political lobby groups, NGO’s and various Muslim, Christian and even Jewish organizations and institutions. It also includes respected pundits who weigh into the issues as Friedman does.

    Contrary to what Ted Belman asserts, it should go without saying that pro-Israel PR that supports Netanyahu’s stance and calls for Israeli policy and action to be based on realities, not the least of which is intractable Jew/Israel hatred, would do well to have respected voices in their corner, such as Friedman who is onside with Obama.

    Not only does it behoove Israel to invest mightily in PR, so too must diaspora Jewry. It likely will not succeed in converting anti-semites to Jew lovers, but it could improve the chances that Obama’s juggernaut might be slowed, if not derailed and stopped altogether.

  40. GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT THERE.

    The problem is the liberal left media in the US. Take for instance the vote to support Israel by both the house and senate. The liberal left media made no mention of it. The bastards only report what they want the public to view as negative about Israel and they manage to color the coverage as such.

    Jews in America have to wake up demand the media to reflect the truth. How about boycotting, let the sponsors knew they will refrain from buying their products marketed on those networks.

    Nothing like hitting them in their pocketbook, that gets their attention.

  41. Here’s the only pr Israel will ever need. You fuck with the Jews, you die

    That’s a good start. Now establish a platform that you will stick to and defend to the end — the political and religious nature of the state, borders, etc. — and develop an infrastructure populated with ethical and competent officials to implement the plan. Start by canning Barak and creating a Ministry of Information headed by Caroline Glick.

  42. PR is only one component of management and Israel is so poorly managed that were she a corporation, she would have had to file for bankruptcy years ago. Imagine if Jack Welch of GE had no overriding objective as CEO or failed to communicate that goal to shareholders, employees, and investors. Imagine if his strategy for achieving company objectives shifted constantly under pressure from that same group of stakeholders or his competition. The organization would have no mission, no coherent message, no consistent direction, and no disciplined strategy for achieving its aims. It would constantly be playing defense against more focused adversaries (Hamas), investor scrutiny (diaspora Jews), and market forces vying for control of the company (the Quartet). In short, it would look like modern Israel.

  43. Here’s the only pr Israel will ever need. You fuck with the Jews, you die. Short. Sweet. Monosyllablic, so even the Palestinians can understand.

  44. “She should continue to provide her friends with the truth so that they maintain their friendship lest they be infected as well.”

    What “friends???”

    Christians? Not our problem.

    We must stand on our own two feet and stop worrying what the goyim think about us already.

    Trust in God and His Torah, and that means fowllowing halacha, and depending on our own efforts.

    It’s time to stop worrying about the West, and what they think of us. We must let go of their silly customs and stop thinking that they are our own, when in fact they are artifacts of our exile in the Western world.

    This is great illness that the Ashkenzim must get over already.

    Separation from both Yishma’el AND Esau is the only answer.

    See: “Judeo-Christian Values”

  45. Israeli PR: You can’t fight the devil

    1. Every ideology needs a narrative which makes them the good guys. It also needs an opponent who personifies evil, to rally the troops and give them a unity of purpose.
    2. White european and american liberal/leftism started as an ideology, but has now become a religion of brainwashed fanatics.
    3. The white liberal/leftist religion believes that the white race are genetically evil devils, and non-whites are simple, primitive, pure people who just need to be enlightened to achieve dominance. The white liberal/leftists see themselves as the “angels” whose job it is to provide that enlightenment to the non-white masses.
    4. The dominance of non-whites can only be achieved when the evil conservative whites are rendered powerless.
    5. This is done by flooding historically white nations with non-whites, subjecting the accomplishments of white civilization to endless disparagement, glorifying non-white “civilization” (muslims and mexicans), and encouraging whites to have as few children as possible.
    6. The notion of an entire race voluntarily committing slow-motion suicide because of a religion of self-loathing is pretty amazing (but who you gonna believe, your lying eyes or me?).
    7. The liberal/leftists have now designated Jewish Israel as the little Satan, and are obsessed with its total destruction. They have made Jewish Israel into their main symbolic enemy, the whitest of white nations, the only real nazis, the greatest obstacle to world peace, which can only come about when Jewish Israel has been destroyed, white civiization neutralized, and the one world government dominated by non-whites emerges.
    8. The obsession with destroying Jewish Israel is as great for white liberal/leftists, as the obsession for destroying european Jews was for the german christian hitler. (Look at the anti-Israel votes in the UN, and the unprecedented out of proportion world outrage over the flotilla incident.)
    9. The idea that you can still reason with liberal/leftists, and that Jewish Israel just needs a little more effective PR, is simply delusional.
    10. And Jewish Israel’s greatest danger is from within; namely, that many of its political parties, Israeli media (HaAretz), the Israeli judiciary and academia, not only share that delusion, but actually join the liberal/leftists outside of Israel in working for its destruction.

    I mean, who needs muslims when you have liberal/leftists?

  46. Overly reductive, as is the p;ost just below this one. Example: you state that the press ignores as does Obama what Turkey is up to. Not so:
    http://bit.ly/9mvsUt
    perhaps time to look within. Israel is lovely and democracy, Hamas was elected and all the US can hope for is that they get unelected. The US needs to focus on Abbas and making a deal with him to cut Gaza out and isolate it further.

  47. To start with there is a coalition of forces including antisemites, leftists and Islamists, that are dedicated to Israel’s destruction. They couldn’t care less about truth and justice so a better PR campaign would be irrelevant. Then there is the main stream media that presents news to support their agenda rather than the truth. The fact that they suppressed the flotilla videos, which made Israel’s case better than a thousand words could have, is testimony to this fact. They have constructed a narrative in support of their agenda and any facts that are not in keeping with it, are ignored.

    Exactly. What made Mossad so effective in the past was its silence. Silence is a major part of what instills fear, which as I constantly say, is what keeps our enemies on edge.