A Bit of Advice

Erik Arnold

 

Israel is engaged in a life and death struggle. On an almost daily basis, citizens of the Jewish State are subject to everything from shooting attacks to suicide bombings. On an equally frequent level, Israel is assaulted in the pages of the world's press and on the screens of the world's televisions. While Israel has occasionally responded militarily to the former threat, it has completely surrendered the field to the latter.

 

In boxing even the finest defensive fighter must exhibit some offensive skill in order to be successful, and so must a state counter the deliberate lies and poisonous propaganda spread by its antagonists or stand defeated in the realm of popular opinion. By remaining passive, Israel has allowed Arab views to stand virtually unchallenged.

 

One of the ways to change this situation is by imitating the foe and mounting a continuous public relations offensive. In order to influence the average mind certain facts must be stated over and over again and as often as possible; information must be condensed in such a way as to be accessible to a broad public. Emotional veins must be tapped and simplicity must be emphasized, thereby putting facts in a form more palpable to a mass audience.

 

To start with, the word "palestinian" must once again be returned to its traditional position as an adjective referring to Jews and things Jewish (as in the "Palestinian Talmud") and not to a specific Arab subgroup. The bogus nature of said subgroup, its lack of historical roots, and its existence as an essentially political weapon used to scourge Israel at the bar of world opinion must be endlessly repeated. Because of the misguided emphasis given in most quarters to a supposed "Israeli - Palestinian conflict" as the root cause of the current mid - eastern crisis, this redefinition is crucial.

 

The formation of the PLO in 1964, well before Israel's territorial acquisitions of the Six Day War, should be used to show that that body's intentions have always been the destruction of the "Zionist entity" and not merely the liberation of some "occupied territory." The terrorism committed by Arafat, Habash, Hawatmeh, Jibril et al. against civilians, including hijackings, the annihilation of whole families, the point blank, cold blooded  shootings of women and children, and the overall destruction of innocent lives should be used to deflate any notions of a Che Guevara - like, romanticized "war of liberation."  Survivors of terror should be sent to lecture at college campuses and to appear on television programs in order to put, as the Arabs and their supporters have done so well, a face on human suffering while also telling important truths hitherto ignored by the press.

 

It is important to emphasize that the Arab inhabitants of Israel (including Judea - Samaria) are merely the "avant - garde" of the hostile forces of the sons of Ishmael rather than a group of oppressed natives; they are unequal not because of "apartheid policies" but because they oppose the State's very existence; thus, they have automatically placed themselves in the position of fifth columnists. Paraphrasing Napoleon, they are "a dagger pointed at the heart of Israel." It needs to be stressed that Israel was created not to give equal rights to Arabs or to be a "state of its citizens," but as the fulfillment of the millennia long aspiration for a restored Jewish commonwealth after centuries of oppression by Christians and Muslims alike.

 

It is  important to show that Israel was created not solely as a solution to a European problem, but also to an Arab one. The historical abuse suffered by Jews at the hands of Arabs and Muslims must be underlined, with the placement being on the Jews' own liberation from centuries of Islamic tyranny.

 

The official Israeli treatment of the refugee question needs to accentuate the story of Jewish refugees forced to leave Islamic lands, totaling nearly 800,000, in place of the smaller number of hostile Arab fugitives. The population issue should be reformulated with the accent on Arab belligerence and Jewish affliction, thus standing the matter as it is now currently dealt with. presented, and understood, on its head. Active and passive Arab support for the invading armies of their confreres should be contrasted with the brutal attacks launched throughout the Mohammedan world against an ancient and pacific Jewish population. Indeed, the Jewish presence in some of these areas antedates that of both Arabs (North Africa) and Islam (Yemen), an important argument to use when statements are made regarding "native Arab rights" to Israel.

 

Mention should be made that all places outside the Arabian Peninsula today under Arab rule were once appropriated by force and are therefore "occupied lands." The myth of Israeli territorial greed should be compared with the record of Arab territorial expropriation. While Israel gave away the Sinai, the Arabs have yet to give away Syria, Morocco, and Algeria, among many other places in North Africa and the Middle East. The Jews had a legitimate historical claim to the earth which they plowed and the soil which they nourished with their blood; the Bedouin who swept through the Near East to the borders of France had no claim but that of religious fanaticism and the conquering urge formerly present in most nomadic tribes.

 

Stress must be laid on probably the most important point of all: failure by any and all governments in the Islamic world to accept the existence of a sovereign Jewish island in an Arab sea. It is this point, rooted in religious and ethnic intolerance, rather than yeshivas in Hebron, kosher butcher shops in eastern Jerusalem, or flower gardens on the Golan, that actuates Arab hatred and must be driven into the public's collective mind like a pick axe. Pogroms were launched against Jewish civilians as early as the 1920's, long before any Arabs fled from their homes.

 

The Israeli - Egyptian peace was triggered not by a change in any one Arab government's fundamental view but rather by Anwar Sadat's realization that his country could not conquer Israel via military means. To the end of his life the Egyptian president hoped to destroy Israel from within by a tranquility that would lead to a gradual de-judaization and subsequent arabization of the Jewish State and hence was not quite the great peacemaker of popular sentiment.

 

On the flip side, the Israeli government, in conjunction with influential diaspora organizations such as B'nai Brith and the World Jewish Congress, might set up "Israeli - Jewish culture houses" in various parts of the globe which would present a more positive aspect of Israeli life. Educational programs featuring film, music, dance, and food would be regular offerings on the organization's menu. Cultural interest usually betokens political sympathy or at least develops a wider understanding in those who evince it.

 

At the moment the above scheme may be utopian in outlook but this need not always be so. If and when the day comes in which an Israeli government arises that recognizes its role as guardian of the Jewish people and has the will to follow this task, what now seems unrealistic shall become everyday fact.