In the 1950s and 1960s, Israel was winning the publicity war. It was this spunky little nation that could quickly win wars against its more powerful and larger neighbors. It exported Kibbutzim, Jaffa Oranges, Tzena-Tzena, Hava Nagilah, and the hora. It was the haven for Jews who survived the holocaust, and event that people still remembered. It was a bulwark for democracy in the Middle East; a vital foreign policy piece to stop the USSR.
Today, Israel is losing the publicity war big-time. You need to look no further than your local college campus. To hear the media, and to hear the (often imported) students, Israel is responsible for the deaths of Palestinian citizens, initiated the war, oppressed the Palestinians, and is responsible for all things bad in the region. So let’s clear some things up. Although the leadership of Israel does not have spotless hands in how they have prosecuted this, there are lots of facts that are being conveniently omitted. There’s also the fact that Israel has gone from the underdog (a tiny country, albeit backed by the USA, against a coalition of Arab nations, backed by the USSR) to the entrenched leader (a moderately sized powerful country, backed by the USA, against an insurgency (or terrorist organization, depending on how you look at it). That changes how a country is viewed, PR-wise. Further, Israel is unique among the nations in that it is held to a higher standard: what would be acceptable for another nation to do is unacceptable for Israel because, being the center for three major religions, it is just supposed to behave to a higher standard.
So here are some facts:
- Fact: Hamas (not the Palestinians, not the Israelis) started this latest round when it kidnapped, raped, tortured, and killed innocent Israel citizens.
- Fact: Hamas (not the Palestinians) have prolonged this war by refusing to release those hostages to their families. They also haven’t presented any demands for their release.
- Fact: Hamas (not Israel) is the obstacle to a cease fire, refusing to accept any proposals. Proposals, by the way, which overwhelmingly favor the Palestianians, releasing 50-100 prisoners for single hostages.
- Fact: Hamas refuses to accept the existence of Israel, and has as a stated goal the destruction of the Israeli state. Israel, on the other hand, has repeatedly given up land to the Palestinians, recognizing new Palestinian states in Gaza and the West Bank. They have also given the Negev to Egypt, again, for peace.
- Fact: Hamas continues to place military facilities within and beneath, and to launch attacks from, civilian facilities. When Israel targets the source of attack, Hamas is intentionally putting its civilians in danger.
- Fact: Hamas repeatedly prevents aid for its civilians from reaching its civilians. It has demonstrated that it doesn’t care about the Palestinian people: It only cares about destroying Israel.
Yes, Israel exists within artificial boundaries created by the Balfour Declaration and the action of colonizing nations. Arguably, however, any state boundary is artificial, and the same declaration also created the other nations in the mideast from the remains of the Ottoman Empire. That said, Jews have been living in the area for over 3,000 years, so the argument about “ancestral lands” is a draw.
Yes, Netanyahu is a horrible leader, and has likely overprosecuted the war. He needs to go. But just as the Palestinian citizens shouldn’t be blamed for Hamas, the Israeli Citizens shouldn’t be blamed for Bibi’s actions. Both Hamas and Bibi need to go.
An additional key point is that Zionism is distinct from Israeli politics, and Judaism is distinct from Israeli politics. Zionism is the quest for a safe homeland for Jews. Read the writings of Theodor Hertzl. It is not, in and of itself, anti-Palestinian or even anti-Arab. There were many proposals for Jewish homelands. You can dislike how Israel behaves, and still believe in Zionism. As an analogy: You can dislike the current government of the US, and still love America. I’d estimate that about half of all Americans are in that situation today. Secondly, objecting to Israeli’s treatment of Palestinians should not devolve into Antisemitism. Judaism is a religion, and as such, does not speak against other religions and faiths. Don’t allow the protesters to turn dislike of Israel into hatred of Jews.
Fundamentally, it boils down to this: Hamas can stop this at any time: (1) Recognize Israel’s right to exist; (2) Return the hostages and any bodies; and (3) Stop using your civilians as shields for your military actions. If Hamas behaves like a responsible government, working for the people it represents, an equitable solution can be achieved. Solutions tried in the past haven’t worked, precisely because they have been one-sided: It was expected that Israel would give everything, even when to the other side there was nothing Israel could give that would satisfy them (except for the eradication of Israel). Recognize also that Hamas’ goal of the eradication of Israel would essentially be a goal congruent with Germany in the 1930s: genocide of a people with nowhere else to go, and who have been living on that same land for thousand of years.
True peace only will come when each side recognizes that the other side has the right to co-exist.
