ISRAEL: Where We Mean “Never Again”
I recently had to do a paper about improving how students percieve Israel on American Campuses, here is my paper.
Executive Summary
Throughout campuses across the United States, Israel has been branded as a military bully that terrorizes their Palestinian neighbors. Israel is often portrayed as the aggressor in the Middle East, and anti-Israel groups are growing in numbers and in influence. Although there are several pro-Israel organizations that deal with college campuses and thousands of committed activists, the fact remains that Israel is still often perceived as the aggressor. In the virtual world that we now live in Israel is often demonized by images, YouTube videos, and blogs that portray them as a militaristic power that ignores the human rights of her Arab neighbors. In today’s world Israel finds itself in a great danger of losing the war of world’s public opinion.
My recommendation would be for Israeli Hasbara to raise awareness to the large number of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) that are actively helping the African refugees who are in Israel. Currently there are over 10,000 African refugees who have fled their war-torn countries in order to find a better life in Israel. In the US today there are groups across that are actively raising awareness of the human rights violations in Africa. These Save Africa groups are large in numbers and are seen as being leaders in human rights issues. With an effective Hasbara campaign that promotes the work that Israeli NGOs are doing, it will change public perception and Israel would be branded as a country deeply committed to human rights.
Context and Importance of the Problem
The problem for Israel is that they are seen as an uncompassionate militaristic power that denies basic human rights to the Arabs. The root of this problem is that Israel is losing the war in virtual world, and American supporters of Israel are forced to justify images that make Israel look like war hungry monsters.
Until recently Israel has paid little attention to how their own nation branding and how the rest of the world perceives them. This costly mistake has only increased the strength of detractor’s arguments and left Israel supports with very difficult images to explain.
On today’s college campuses the anti-Israel sentiment is growing stronger. There are a large number of professors are critical of Israel and its policies recently two of the most influential academics, John Mearshimer of University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard University, wrote a book titled “The Israel Lobby” where they claim that America being an ally of Israel is not in America’s best interest. There are numerous divestment campaigns from campuses ranging from Wayne State University to Duke University to UC Berkeley. Additionally, an anti-Israel group known as the Students for Justice in Palestine has over 40 chapters across the US.
The importance of Israel generating a positive public opinion on college campuses are far reaching. College campuses are where future leaders and policy makers are still forming their viewpoints on several key issues. At such an influential point in someone’s life it is of great importance of the pro-Israel community to help them shape their viewpoint of Israel, instead of trying to influence them once they are already in power.
Also, college campuses are a hotbed of political activism. College students organize rallies and protests that often make the front-page of the news. It is important for Israel for these people to view Israel in a positive light instead of the current situation where they often times carry signs that say “Stop Israeli Apartheid” or “End Israeli Occupation.”
Critique of Policy Options
On US Campuses today there are countless organizations, thousands of students, and millions of dollars which are dedicated to the mission of Hasbara. These student organizations are often times focused on explaining the role of the Middle East through the Israeli perspective, and justifying Israel’s use of force. The problem with this strategy is that they are still focusing on the conflict and they are ignoring all the work that Israel and Israelis do in the name of Tikkum Olom.
As a former student on an American campus that was active in Hasbara, I saw why this strategy was problematic firsthand. Although Israel may be the underdog in the real world battle front, it is extremely difficult to win this argument when one considers the role of the virtual world. In the words of the famous expression a picture is worth a thousand words, and when there is a widespread picture of a young Palestinian boy throwing a rock at an Israeli tank it becomes hard to make the case that Israel is the one fighting for self-survival. Hasbara campaigns would benefit from focusing on Israeli efforts of Tikkum Olom as opposed to trying to repaint the picture of the military conflict.
Another critique of the current Hasbara system in the US is that there are is little collaboration between the numerous organizations that are all committed to improving Israel’s public image. For example if a student wants to get politically active on their campus they should contact AIPAC in Washington, DC, if a student wants to do an event focusing on social aspects of Israel he should contact StandWithUs located in California, and if a student wants to learn how to articulate Israel’s point of view they should contact the David Project in Boston. With this current system most pro-Israel students involved in Hasbara are not even aware of all the groups that exist, and for the advocates that are aware of these different organizations they often times do not know which one would be the most useful to contact. If these groups were better coordinated they would be better at providing information and training for students who want to implement a Hasbara Campaign on their own campus.
Policy Recommendations
There are several different ways for the pro-Israel community on American campuses to improve the effectiveness of their Hasbara campaign by promoting the work of Israeli NGOs with African Refugees. One idea would be to bring a speaker to their campus who is an African Refugee that is currently living in Israel. This would presumably draw a large crowd of students who are concerned and committed to human rights and they wanted to hear first hand accounts of the horrors of the refugee’s region. The speaker would finish his speech by talking about the reasons he fled to Israel and how the Israeli people have worked with him to help him start a new life.
Another proposal would be for Hasbara groups to do campus-wide fund-raisers for the Israeli NGOs that work with the African refugees. This would be a good opportunity for students from all backgrounds to learn about the work that Israelis are doing with African refugees. Also by having students give money to the cause it will help them identify more with the Israeli NGOs and make them feel like they are taking on an active role in helping these refugees.
An effective Hasbara campaign that promoted the humanitarian work that Israelis would be categorized as Blue Ocean Strategy that used the tool of brotherhood. The horrors of the situation in Africa are well known, but until now no organization or country has been recognized as taking an active role in helping these people. In order to improve the public perception of Israel and the work that Israelis are doing to help the refugees we will promote the slogan of: Israel Where We Mean “Never Again.”
Recommended Sources for Additional Information
Websites for Pro-Israel Organizations in the United States
StandWithUs
David Project
AIPAC Campus Resources
Israel on Campus Coalition
Websites about NGOs for African Refugees in Israel
Fugee Fridays
Arab Refugee Development Center
Big Brother Big Sisters of Israel
