Vision to Reality: The Reut Blog

Posted in Basic Delegitimacy, National Security | Tagged Basic Delegitimacy, BDS, Boycotts Divestment & Sanctions, National Security | 5 Comments

5 Responses

1. on April 30, 2010 at 06:57 | Reply charles gorodess

   Dear Chevre,

   Yes, deligitimization is a problem but not, in my opinion, a tactical one. Both in Israel and the United States many Jews/Israelis are unhappy with the politics of the current administration with respect to the Arabs under their control. All the hasbara in the world by the greatest Madison Ave. publicity firm will not wash away the bad feeling about the current policies which the Netanyahu administration is pursuing.
   Probably some tactical adjustments may help at the margin. But for those in the Arab world who feel for their fellow Palestinian Arabs, as in Egypt and elsewhere, it is insulting and counter-productive to treat their feelings and attiltudes as if they were subject to manipulation.
   It may be that for those who are neither Arabs/Muslims and have no “skin in the game”, some sophisticated campaign may help at the margins. But there are fewer and fewer people who matter in international politics who can be diverted by mere cleverness alone.
   Anyone reading the European press much less the Egyptian press, for example, believe that anything short of getting our foot off the neck of the Palestinians will help.

   
   
2. on April 30, 2010 at 13:15 | Reply Frustrated from London

   So….I agree…what is being done about re-branding Israel. Who is going to co-ordinate this? We need to get our act together and sort out a proper structure with core messaging, lines to take etc and implement it

   I have done lots of government and public sector comms in non-Jewish world, some of it pretty successfully, and what we need is determination, rationality and FOCUS

   What is the next step? The time for action is NOW

   
   
3. on May 3, 2010 at 13:20 | Reply General

   Dear Charles

   Thanks for your comment. I agree that more and more Jews in the US are questioning their support for Israeli. I also agree that its not simply a problem of better Hasbara (although better coordination of messages etc would probably help Israel explain some of its policies better).

   Moreover, its clear that the continued conflict with the Palestinians is a major cause of the growing lack of sympathy Israel is experiencing. In our paper we write that “an Israeli and Palestinian comprehensive Permanent Status Agreement that establishes a Palestinian state and brings about an ‘end of conflict’ or ‘finality of claims’ would weaken the grounds of Israel’s delegitimization.” However, we also believe that even if such an agreement was achieved and implemented (which is far from easy given all of the structural difficulties on both sides and disagreements between Israel and the Palestinians), this wouldn’t end the delegitimization campaign against Israel. Those driving the campaign (rather than simply those critics of Israeli policy who often get harnessed into supporting it) are ideological opponents of a Jewish sovereign entity in the Middle East, rather than solely Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

   That doesn’t mean Israel shouldn’t take steps to end the conflict. It should. But we shouldn’t kid ourselves that delegitimization would end the moment the conflict does.

   Best

   Calev

   
   
4. on May 3, 2010 at 13:23 | Reply General

   ‘Frustrated’

   I think that branding is often more something that is organically ‘done’ rather than coordinated from the top.

   Having said that, the idea of the brand Israel project is currently being discussed within the government. What we at Reut suggest is that this project is given government support and it becomes a national project for Israel.

   Calev

   
   
5. on May 4, 2010 at 12:23 | Reply Frustrated

   Sometimes brand do grow organically but often they need a good ‘prune’ to make any sense.
   I am talking about clear focus on the messages we push and, maybe, using the People of Israel rather than just Israel which becomes the State of Israel ie Israeli Government which we in the Diaspora may not always approve of.
   It doesnt need to be heavy handed…but something like:

   The people of Israel are committed to peace/ they are prepared to make sacrifices etc

   Anyhow, I guess we shoudl be happy that the Government of Israel are taking this seriously.

   What we dont want to happen is that every Israeli as well as Israeli Officials are vilified in the same way the South Africans were in the 80s.