When the Jews take Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. - With all due respect to the upcoming Maccabiah Games in Israel, the real Jewish Olympics took place here, at least as far as displays of power are concerned, as AIPAC held its annual convention in the U.S. capital last week.

AIPAC is regarded as one of the most influential Jewish lobbies in Washington, if not the most influential. This means that whenever Congress approves the transfer of USD 2.5 billion in military aid to Israel, or when the U.S. supports Israel during a U.N. vote, the lobbyists have something to do with it.

This year’s AIPAC convention focused first and foremost on the Iranian threat. Nuclear experts presented doomsday scenarios regarding Iran’s nuclear capability, including models of nuclear reactors and an array of frightening charts, multimedia displays and graphs.

Those who preferred to focus on “lighter” issues were able to attend lectures on the anti-Israel campaign being waged on Hizbulah TV, the difficulties related to the disengagement plan, and the dangers posed by Palestinian terror.

There was not a lot of fun going on.

The real star

Among those who addressed the crowd were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senator Hillary Clinton, who gave a vehement speech that would put Interior Minister Uzi Landau to shame, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was greeted with great enthusiasm and warmth.

They all made a point of incorporating the words “freedom” and “democracy” into their speeches, and the audience responded with tremendous applause.

But the real star of the show was Natan Sharansky. In Israel he can resign from the government and no one gives it a second thought, but in the U.S. he is treated like a king.

U.S. President George W. Bush admires him; his book about democracy is on the best seller list, and American Jewry treats him as a Hollywood star. During the days when he was still a "Prisoner of Zion" called Antoly, everyone here was recruited to place pressure on the Soviets to release him. So, the chance to see him in real life was very exciting for everyone here.

Sharanky spoke and the audience received him with love, waiting in line to have photographs taken with him. And so did I.

How do you attract students?

Me? I arrived at AIPAC to share my view of public relations with the younger generation of AIPAC. The organization has many activists throughout campuses, some of whom are forced to battle anti-Israel propaganda on a daily basis.

Everyone has the same problem: How do you organize a pro-Israel event that will attract not only Zionistic Jews, but other students, too. What I recommended was quite revolutionary for them.  

I told them to screen an Israeli movie on campus and launch a large-scale advertising campaign.

Show the students that Israel has a movie industry, show them Israelis like to have a good time, that we also have bars and clubs. Let them know we have more to offer other than the conflict. Show them the day-to-day, beautiful, fun, sane Israel - something they don’t see on the news.

With the correct way of thinking you can attract a population that would never think of participating in an Israeli event.

Some were interested in the idea, but for most it was a deviation from the general type of public relations that usually says, "Listen carefully to the facts so that you can answer back every Palestinian who bothers you." While this may be correct for short term, an academic argument usually does not make a person change his opinions for long term.

If there is something I have learned during my journey to California with the “Israel at Heart” activists, it is that in order to arouse empathy, you have to show your audience you are like them. It is easy to hate someone that you don’t know, it is much harder to hate someone after you have been exposed to their beautiful culture.

- Eytan Schwartz, a 30-year old journalist from Tel Aviv, recently won Israel's most successful reality TV show, "The Ambassador." Schwartz will spend the upcoming year speaking about Israel on behalf of a non-profit advocacy organization, “Israel at Heart. ” He is writing a regular column about his experiences for Ynet and Ynetnews