Sovereign States Don't Do Hasbara
Noga Arbell
Israeli
hasbara fails for one simple reason:
People who obsessively try to justify
themselves sound like someone who really
does need to apologize • Sovereign states
do not jump through hoops, explain or ask
permission – they act, do what needs
getting done and nonchalantly brush off
the criticism • The best hasbara is none
at all.
When the
Israeli Prime Minister got up in the United
Nations and asked "In what
moral universe does genocide include
warning the enemy's civilian population to
get out of harm's way?", he
made a number of embarrassing rhetorical
mistakes, especially when one recalls that
Binyamin Netanyahu is considered a virtuoso in
the field. He repeated the absurd accusation
of genocide to an audience which included
those who may not have heard it, and by even
referring to it, gave it validity.
He also
asked a question whose answer, especially
considering the audience, was far from
obvious. They might reply, much like
Jon Stewart, "where can they
run?", thus turning Israel's sincere attempt
to protect civilian lives into a cynical PR
exercise to "adhere to international
standards" without really intending to avoid
civilian deaths.
Worst of
all, he is effectively asking permission. He
places himself at the judgment of his
audience. Even if the crowd itself were on his
side, this is nevertheless a fundamentally
flawed approach. It grants the crowd power
that no self-respecting state would grant it.
Whether Netanyahu appeals to his citizens or
judges, he should be placing before them a fait
accompli and not a murky vote.
The right of Israel to defend itself should
not even be up for debate. To take it off the
agenda, Israel needs to do a very simple
rhetorical move: Take it off the agenda. The
idea is so absurd it's not even worth
addressing.
Sovereign
states don't ask permission. They don't spend
all their time justifying themselves or asking
for sympathy. They know they're right. Their
right to exist, the right of their citizens to
life, freedom and happiness are so obvious to
them that they do not feel the need to have
these confirmed by their neighbors and allies.
Sometimes, when they really cross the line in
defending those rights, they ask forgiveness.
But even then, usually they don't.
Israeli
hasbara emissaries are dedicated and talented
people who simply don't understand the
fundamental problem in always trying to be
right: It's not believable.
When the Deputy
Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry tries to
explain in a TV interview that Hamas threatens
Israeli children while arguing that Israel is
doing its best to protect the children on both
sides, she loses credibility for both parts of
her argument. A sovereign state whose children
are truly threatened does not do a body count
before opening fire – it opens fire blindly,
indiscriminately, in an unstoppable rage.
Israel's
ability to stop, take a deep breath and act as
the responsible adult turns the threat it
claims to face as not truly a threat on the
most basic emotional level of any parent, of
anyone with a conscience who knows that if it
were their country, they would demand the
terrorists' head on a platter.
Because the
Spokesperson is seen as a liar, faith in her
claim that Israel is avoiding attacking
civilians is also damaged. And if you've been
following Palestinian spokespeople abroad, or
more – even the responses on social networks,
including in Israel, the arguments that Hamas
deliberately endangers Palestinian children
are rejected as unbelievable. The facts
themselves mean nothing whatsoever. The idea
that anyone would deliberately endanger their
children – like many human horrors – simply
does not register with people.
Netanyahu's
speech is a shining example of a fundamental
flaw in Israeli hasbara: It doesn't stop
apologizing and asking for support. It never
stops asking for permission. Other heads of
state used the UN platform to tell other
countries what to do. If we were a normal
country, our Prime Minister would point to his
audience with an accusatory finger and say,
"you did this!" He would accuse the "moderate"
Palestinian leadership of giving its children
over to Hamas with their never-ending
recalcitrance.
It is past time we stop
apologizing and start accusing the real
opponents of peace. "Moderate" Abu Mazen.
Photo: Flash90
He would
make full use of the equating of Hamas and
ISIS, and organization seen as a strategic
threat to the West, by making clear that the
failure to stop the former is a direct cause
of the rise of the latter. He would make clear
that to protect themselves they need to ensure
that Israel, which stands on the front lines
of the Islamist assault on the Western world,
needs to be defended. As a statement, not a
request. A demand, not a plea.
Our real
problem is not anti-Semitism, the Muslim or
even the settlements. Our real problem is our
desire to be loved. By arguing that Israel is
a small country surrounded by enemies and in
need of allies we neglect the fact they need
us no less than we need them. Just to show how
desperate we are to be liked, as opposed to
any other country on earth, we see the
virulent criticism against our country as
something positive to be listened to and
absorbed. As though there is truly
"constructive criticism" in the messy and
Machiavellian world of international politics.
The EU has
an article in every "association agreement" it
reaches with Middle Eastern countries which
deals with the preservation of Human Rights.
Only with Israel does the EU threaten every so
often to suspend the agreement for violating
this article. Only is Israel subject to the
possible of harming of bilateral ties based on
an issue not directly connected to them. Does
anyone seriously doubt that the human rights
situation in Israel is better than in Egypt or
Algeria? Does anyone doubt that Israeli
criticism of treatment of immigrants in Europe
would be contemptuously rejected
(justifiably!) as an unjustified attempt at
interfering in another country's internal
affairs?
What's Our
Dignity Worth?
The
"start-Up Nation" of Israel has invaluable
assets for a declining Europe. It provides a
unique contribution to the west by fighting
emerging Middle Eastern threats as the only
western forward post in the region with
intelligence and operational capabilities
which are second to none. It even has what to
contribute in helping to ensure and improve
moral standards in fighting terror. Time and
again, we try to cooperate with a world which
speaks of morals and justice but in truth is
run primarily by "honor, fear and interest."
We are so
desperate to be a member of the club of
liberal democracies that we don't even try to
use these assets as the price of admission,
but forgo them in the pointless hope that
we'll be loved enough on the merits to be
allowed to join. We reject with contempt the
idea of tying our support for fighting just
causes in exchange for support in fights no
less just.
[American "hasbara" in action:
the aircraft carrier USS Abraham
Lincoln.
Photo: US Navy (CC by 2.0)]
Even the
most moral countries (which are not Israel)
see first and foremost to their own interests.
They have no incentive to help Israel when the
price for this is paid in negative public
opinion in their own country and abroad, when
they can get what they want from Israel for
free. On the contrary, they have an incentive
to force Israel to standards no other country
is held to – and Israel agrees to them far too
often.
After the
Six Day War (in other words, right after the
infamous "occupation"), we were admired the
world over. Now we're just repeatedly used. We
sullied the victory – not the Arab states, not
anti-Semitism and not even "Peace Now."
Israel.
The Israeli leadership which keeps
begging for the world to "recognize Israel's
right to exist" are helping to cause horrific
damage to Israel throughout the world.
Sovereign
states don't ask permission, and Israel – as
opposed to many other countries – has nothing
to apologize for.
English
translation by Avi Woolf.
© Copyright
2014 — Mida.
All Rights Reserved
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