The War Of Words That Israel Must Start Winning

Dear Friends,

Below please find a strong article on the importance of PR and the unfortunate lack of proper PR by Israel.

What the author did not write about and we would like to add, is that as long as Israel's leaders are incapable of declaring, loud and clear, that the entire Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel,and that we have a right to settle, expand and build in it because it IS OURS, there will never be a proper government PR. For PR (hasbara) can be succesful only when someone really believes in the justness of his cause.

Sadly, with political leaders who are willing to capitulate to the arab enemy and who have no problem giving away parts of our G-d given Biblical homeland to that enemy, there will not be any proper PR coming from the government offices.

The task of local and international hasbara and activism is thus left in the hands of the Zionist Land of Israel grassroots organizations, who unfortunately , unlike the leftist organizations who receive millions from the European Union and other Jew haters, have very little funding and thus cannot do the job they so much want to do.

Food for thought.....

Nadia Matar
Women in Green

[This guest blog was written by Tabatha Caplan, creator of the A Jew With A View blog. Tabatha is a freelance journalist living in Britain. She is also a strong supporter of Israel with a keen insight into Israel's standing among the Gentile nations. Be sure to check out her blog.]

I almost got lynched last week. My crime? I dared to defend Israel in public. I even — brace yourselves — declared myself a Zionist. I might as well have confessed to torturing tiny animals, given the horrified response. Within minutes, a relaxed dinner party became a veritable contest to see who could most malign Israel.

It's a tad traumatic being the sole Zionist in any gathering these days. Israel-bashing has become a national sport in many countries. Post the IDF [Israel Defense Force] strikes on Gaza and the court of public opinion hasn't just judged Israel "guilty"; rather, Israel has been hung, drawn and quartered. The Arab nations have failed, thus far, to destroy the physical Israel, but their revisionism of Middle East history is winning hearts, minds and newspaper columns across the globe.

Slowly but surely, the world is coming round to the Arab lie that Jews are the 'aliens' in the Middle East. Tell most people that the very term 'Palestinian' always included the Palestinian Jews who have inhabited the region for 3,500 years — continuously — and they'll just smile pityingly, and claim you've been hoodwinked by 'zionist propaganda'.

And oh, the bitter irony of this particular slur! Because by any objective standards, Israel's PR is dire. It has been for a while, actually. Back in 2002, the Jerusalem Centre For Public Affairs published a detailed report, in which it noted:

The Israel State Comptroller's report released on October 7, 2002, levelled unprecedented criticism on Israel's public relations efforts. The State Comptroller revealed that 'since its establishment in 1948, Israel's intelligence organs have not succeeded to respond to the broad-based propaganda and incitement by the Arab world.'

During Operation Cast Lead, I sat with my head in my hands, as a series of increasingly inarticulate figures 'represented' Israel. Do the powers-that-be scour the streets to find the least sympathetic, least sophisticated, least effective spokespeople? It would almost appear so.

For full article click here