New paradigm needed

Editorial

A whole new paradigm is necessary to combat the delegitimization of Israel in the global arena, according to a couple of Israeli thinkers writing recently on Ynet.

Eitan Haber, a noted Israeli political adviser, suggests creating some sort of amorphous pseudo-army of hasbara-bearers to counter the delegitimization of Israel taking place on the world stage.

“What we need today is an immense, well-resourced body that would aim to win the hearts of billions of human beings wherever they are, in a bid to turn the tide; a body that would aim to cover whole states and continents and use all available (non-military) tools and all means at our disposal (and while at it, possibly also wake up the Jewish people from its current stupor),” Haber writes.

Haber gets a thumbs-up from the president of NGO Watch, Prof. Gerald Steinberg, who adds that a new approach is necessary.

“Criticism and debate on particular policies is an appropriate part of all democratic societies,” Steinberg states simply. “Blanket delegitimization is not.”

Steinberg suggests drawing a line in the sand between policy-specific criticism and blanket delegitimization – then calling out those who cross it.

“The funders and enablers, particularly the anonymous officials in European governments, need to be ... exposed,” Steinberg writes. “In parallel, we need alliance with those who agree on the wider principles of Israel’s place among the nations, despite polity differences, including on settlements and other issues.”

Haber and Steinberg are both right, of course. But they fail to get take the issue to its conclusion.

In reality, we already have the kind of network of friends Haber proposes, especially in North America. The problem is not on this end.

The underlying premise – the very idea that resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict is the lynchpin for long-range peace in the region – is a dangerous position from which to begin. Accepting the Arab claim that grievances against Israel are the accelerant of this conflict is to start from an ideological hole from which we will never be able to clamber.

The grievances most Arab countries have against Israel relate not to Israeli policies, but to Israel’s existence. This conflict exists and continues because of an almost universal Arab and Muslim refusal to accept the presence of a Jewish state in the world, or at least in the neighborhood. Any attempt to resolve that impasse to the satisfaction of the Arab world must be met with apprehension and resolve.

In almost every country, from Morocco in the west to Malaysia in the east, Israel is scapegoated in forms traditionally reserved for Jews. To varying extents, in “friendly” places like Cairo and Amman, to the halls of power in Damascus and Tehran, where Jews are sworn enemies, as well as much closer to home, in Hamas’ Gaza and Fatah’s West Bank, not just Israelis, but Jews, are demonized in ways as dehumanizing as the process of mass brainwashing preceding the Shoah.

In the current atmosphere, there is little Israel can do – no amount of quasi-military mobilization of dedicated college activists or blue-haired Zionists will alter the trajectory of this problem until the real root is named, confronted and somehow defeated. Delegitimization of Israel among university students in Europe and North America is a comparatively minor problem considering the inferno of anti-Jewish rage being stoked from one end of the Muslim world to the other.

“The world was and will always be cynical,” Haber warns. “[German Chancellor Angela] Merkel and [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy are looking to the future and counting potential voters. They still try to be Israel’s friends, for the time being, yet the anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist shouts are already making their way from the streets to their offices. What will they be doing in the face of millions of Muslims in Europe?”

Haber almost names the problem here. Migrants from countries with antisemitic political leaders, clergy, curricula and media bring with them carefully cultured hatreds, superstitions and mythologies about Jews. This problem does not lie with Israel and, while some sort of new mobilization of unprecedented magnitude among Jews and our allies would do no harm, the problem will not be resolved by Israel and its friends.

Jews and our allies can rail against the blatant scapegoating and antisemitism masquerading as “pro-Palestinian” advocacy. But until a fundamental reshaping of official Arab and Muslim positions toward Jews takes place, most of the Israel advocacy we do in North America, Europe, at the United Nations, in the media and online will not make a dent.

Arabs and Muslims need to address this deep problem within their own environments. This is the new paradigm we need and few, if any, even those who recognize the magnitude of the crisis, are openly naming that problem.

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