Making Israel’s case
Foreign Ministry’s PR department exists physically but remains incompetent in practice
While the League of Nations Mandate recognized the issue of statehood for the Jewish people in 1919, as did its successor, the United Nations in 1947, many people around the globe, laymen and scholars alike, continue to misunderstand Israel’s case in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even today, they wonder why the State of Israel occupies the West Bank and Gaza, refuses to give the Palestinians their land and won’t agree to the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homes in Israel.
While Israeli governments have always been willing to make drastic concessions for peace, many key issues are only vaguely explained. For too long, the Hasbara Department (Public Relations Department) at the Israeli Foreign Ministry has existed physically but remained incompetent in functionality, unable to clearly present Israel’s case to the world. The government must reinvent the department and direct more funds towards it so that it can effectively put forth Israel’s arguments in a professional, organized manner.
While the world believes that Israel is an expansionist country, in truth our leaders have instead chosen diplomatic isolationism and silence. Because of this, Israel suffers from a global misunderstanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Today’s wars are not only fought on the battlefield but also take place in front of the cameras, in the press and media and on the internet. Israel must be on the offensive, pointing, for instance, to the numerous failed agreements that Arab leaders have purposely ignored over the years. Since the Peel commission of 1937 proposed two states, Arab and Jewish side by side, Arab leaders have consistently prevented the establishment of a separate Palestinian state on various occasions, forcing the Palestinian people to live in squalid refugee camps and Israelis to live in constant terror.
Repel anti-Israeli propaganda
Israel needs to explain to the world that historically, Jewish national aspirations existed long before any Arab even thought of claiming British Palestine as their own. In addition, the 1917 Balfour Declaration did not give Israel the right to a state in Israel, but instead recognized a pre-existing right the Jewish people have to a national state in their ancestral homeland.Israel needs to launch a campaign initiative aimed at the international community and explain step-by-step what Israel’s policies are and why. For instance, people need to understand that Israel has a right to secure boundaries and has a right to demand this as part of any peace negotiations. Israel has a very sturdy argument in proving that a return to the 1967 borders (1949 ceasefire armistice lines) is not conducive to peace and would spell certain disaster for the future of Israel and its citizens.
Furthermore, the international community must recognize that Israel is especially interested in making peace with its neighbors as has already been successfully achieved with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
The Foreign Ministry needs to form a reliable group of individuals who will successfully present Israel’s
case to the world and repel the false anti-Israel propaganda the Arab world works to promulgate.
As we have seen from last year’s Second Lebanon War, there is currently no single competent body to handle Israel’s global message. If we do not succeed in establishing such a body, the same failures of last year’s pitiful hasbara efforts will be repeated next time, when we need it most.
Israel Kasnett is a writer and lives in Efrat
