Posted on 06/06/2010 10:34:40 PM PDT by Ari Bussel
Loss of Human Life (The New Frontier) by Ari Bussel
“It's a very upsetting situation, but I do wish other actions had been possible, not resulting in loss of life. Israel is very vulnerable and it's frightening.” A reader’s comment to our Postcards
“Israel seeks to justify response to flotilla - Regret for deaths missing” The Epoch Times
In 2006, Israel’s enemies have shown to Israel and to the world that the country that once defeated the Arab armies in the Six Days War in 1967 has lost its edge. As a result, Israel’s deterrence suffered greatly, while she rushed to freshen up, train and change operational readiness.
In 2009, following Operation Cast Lead and Israel’s incursion into Gaza, her enemies succeeded in creating an imaginary bubble of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The bubble continued to grow and expand, undergoing a metamorphosis to include atrocities and war crimes committed (see Judge Goldstone’s Report) and the ongoing slaughter of young Palestinian males for harvesting their organs.
But underneath the blood libels, it was the non-existent humanitarian crisis that will forever remain embedded in our minds. Almost 31,000 truckloads of goods passed from Israel in 2009 and some 738,576 tons of aid were imported into Gaza. These figures and the reality on the ground are being totally ignored; so successful was the 2009 crop of deceit and lies.
This past week a new crisis has evolved, with a Flotilla of Lies, a Convoy of Terror against Israel, now brought about the next attack on Israel. “Nine bullets were shot into a kid’s head” is probably a confusion of “nine terrorists dead after attempting a premeditated lynch of Israeli soldiers.”
Notwithstanding the inaccuracy, Israel’s repeated offers and attempts at resolving the situation are completely ignored. The sole concern: Israel brutally murdered nine innocent peace activists. Their affiliation with known terror organizations and their premeditated stated objective of becoming martyrs interests no one.
We have graduated from a humanitarian crisis to committing war crimes, murdering civilians. Thus, it is expected that a wave of lawsuits will follow, officials government and international bodies will convene, condemnations will continue and Israeli officials be barred from landing in many friendly nations.
More worrisome is the new wave of anti-Semitic (anti-Jew and anti-Israeli) attacks that will soon erupt in multiple locations around the world. These are all now justified by Israel’s so-called own doing. Simply put, Israel deserves to be punished.
What should Israel do? I would urge Israel to take action on two fronts, neither of which is Israeli PR efforts.
First, Israel should have contingency plans to welcome and absorb a wave of new immigrants. As attacks against Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora become commonplace, people will look for escape routes. Today there is a shelter, and that is the Jewish State. She might be in disarray, but she is ours forever. Let us not wait until the waves of refugees start arriving (or need to be evacuated) to the Jewish Homeland to react by improvisation. Let us prepare an action plan now.
Second, Israel must change direction and respond with like-manner and similar or greater magnitude to each attack on her. When rockets are launched at civilian centers, the response must be immediate. If the claim is that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza because of Israel, the free flow of goods, fuel and electricity should stop.
When Palestinian officials burn Israeli goods, then all products by Palestinians must be boycotted. Palestinian workers should be prevented from working at the same factories whose goods are being boycotted. If Turkey sponsors a humanitarian flotilla to Gaza, Israel should sponsor one to aid the Kurds.
“Like for like” is simple common sense, but it will not work as long as Israel cares more about others than her own continued existence. We need to worry first about our own well being. The Gazans managed to import weapons and amass such an arsenal that all of Israel’s lower half is in danger. How did this happen when Gaza is under siege and naval blockade? Apparently, when there is a need, there is a will, and when there is a will, things happen.
Israelis will find an answer objecting to each line item, mocking the proposal as anti-humanitarian and extreme at its outset. Apparently, only the enemy can do as it wishes. And so Israel falls victim once again to her own blindness of faith.
Instead, Israel is now preoccupied with her failures in PR. Public Diplomacy is not a magic wand. The infatuation with efforts on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and various other social networks is important, a necessary but insufficient condition.
During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli officials were congratulating themselves on a job well done. I reported extensively about that phenomenon when it was obvious to any bystander outside of Israel she was losing the PR war. The reason was simple: Israeli officials were comparing their performance with the utter failures of the Second War in Lebanon. Indeed, they were doing considerably better (for instance, talking in a coordinated manner via one office of the IDF’s Spokesperson). Yet, the enemy was already miles ahead.
Likewise in 2010, Israelis have suddenly discovered the Public Diplomacy Front and started acting. The framework existed, ministerial positions and staff filled, offices rented, budgets and resources were spent, yet none was used to the purpose intended until the day AFTER the Flotilla of Lies was stopped in International Waters.
While Israel now disseminates information and has started using her global contingency of Jewish and other supporters throughout the world, it is still insufficient to counter the barrage of lies daily. The world is swarming with drones constantly impregnating our wildest imagination against Israel.
Israel’s enemies are too far advanced, and lest Israel regroups and attacks, on each front in which she is being attacked, all the PR efforts are doomed to fail. Israel’s enemies were taught well by their Nazi mentors. They exceed their teachers’ expectation in every respect.
Twisting, to those new to the Public Diplomacy Front, is extremely easy to implement. Take the pictures of the Holocaust, for instance, and Photoshop like pictures of Palestinians. Even more easily, take the pictures of the IDF Spokesperson’s unit, and add doubts (“it is impossible to ascertain the authenticity or the identities of those in the pictures,” or “it is fabricated information” or simply “Zionist Propaganda”) or attach new headlines “Israeli elite soldiers defeated by peace activists.” The Internet has opened up new and highly successful paths to hatred.
Israel has found a new focus: Hasbarah (public diplomacy). There are those who would say we have begun so late in the game playing catch up will be nearly impossible. I say differently: The best PR will not do any good when the words, video clips and even parodies and songs are not backed up by a matching action. Lack of substance simply puts us in an inferior position.
“No sane country would tolerate rockets launched at her,” yet Israel has done nothing for eight long years for fear of being criticized. “We will not allow the humanitarian convoys to reach Gaza” and then going out of our way to transfer the aid and send the activists on their way to a heroes welcome. “We will not allow an international investigation,” yet immediately thereafter acquiescing to that very demand.
Will anyone take Israel seriously in face of empty talk? Our enemies clearly do not.
### In the series “Postcards from Israel—Postcards from America,” Ari Bussel and Norma Zager invite readers to view and experience an Israel and her politics through their eyes, an Israel visitors rarely discover.
This point—and often—counter-point presentation is sprinkled with humor and sadness and attempts to tackle serious and relevant issues of the day. The series began in 2008, appears both in print in the USA and on numerous websites and is followed regularly by readership from around the world.
© “Postcards from Israel—Postcards from America,” June, 2010 Contact: aribussel@gmail.com
“I lift up my eyes to the hills-Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth…Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep…” Psalm 121
“If Turkey sponsors a humanitarian flotilla to Gaza, Israel should sponsor one to aid the Kurds.”
How does one organize a flotilla to a landlocked people?
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