zionism_unsettled_scan

• FOCUS
Israel's "Image Problem"
Hasbara Goes
to College
II
Ca".1puses are hotly
contested battlefields
for hearts and minds
in the hasbara project.
Numerous organizations,
including Hillel, Stand­
WithUs~ and Campus
Watch employ a variety
of strategies for shutting
down campus activities
and academiC inquiry
that promote criticism of
Israeli policy. including
blackballing professors
who dissent from the
dominant Zionist narrative,
pressuring university
administrators, and, in
the case of Hillel, enforcing
a closed-door policy
to Jewish student activities
that deviate from the
mainstream party line.
I: nl(41
Hasbara Handbook: Promoting
Israel on Campus
was produced in 2002
by Ihe World Union of
Jewish Students to provide
'Israel's college-age
supporters with advocacy
lools. [Available onlinel1
Israel's advocacy effort has become one of the world's
most efficient'and P,roductive," wr,ites jOUrn"alist,B,arak
Ravid, "b\Jt Israel nevertheless suffers from an image
problem."2 The Hebrew term for the Israeli advocacy
.. effort to which Ravid refers is hasbara. Depending
> on the context,' hasbara can mean "explanation:' "public
relations:' "media sp!n:' or" propaganda." ,
Ravid reports that multiple governinerlt bod,ies are involved
in Israel's hasbara initiatives, including the National
Information Directorate, the Prime Minister's Office, the
Foreign Ministry, the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora
Affairs Ministry, the IDF Spokesman's Office, the Tourism
Ministry, and the Jewish Agency. The Foreign Ministry
alone, Ravid reports,
invests an unprecedented annual sum of NIS 100 million
[$28.4 million] in branding Israel; in bringing over.experts,
academics and opinion makers; and in organizing
pro-Israel events around the globe (including the annual
Salute to Israel parade in New York City and the Israeli
film festival in Paris).3
The Jewish Agency for Israel is planning to spend $300
million annually for pro-Israel public relations programs
with a focus on-US campuses-where some fear Israel is
losing ground in the public opinion war. $100 million of
this fund would be supplied by the Israeli government4
Writing in the Forward, Nathaniel Popper explains,
The new approach to Israeli image control first began ...
with the founding of Israel21 e, a small California-liased
group that has worked with public relations experts to
place news stories about Israel that do not fOCus on the
conflict with the Palestinians. The orgcmization .. ,posts
artides about...medical and t~chnological advances in
Israeli laboratories.s
Volunteers complementthe work of consultants. The
Israeli,government, Ravi~ w.rites, "conducts an unofficial
advocacy effort involving hundreds of IsraelIs: and overseas
activists,' organizations and NGOs, along with non-Jewish
supporters; ... delivering IsraelI; messages mainly in the
Unitecj States and the EU. "6
In the United States, Peter Beinarj reports, "Groups
like AIPAC and the Presidents' Conference patrol public
disCourse, scolding people who contradict their-yi_~ion of
Israel .. ,;;'7 H~ continues, "Not-only does the.organized
American Jewish community mostly avoid public criticism
of the Israeli 'government, it tries to prevent others' from
leveling such criticism as well." 8
'
UkeBeinart, UK journalist Seth Freedman sees an "other,
darker side of Israeli hasbara ... ,the relentl~ss' pursuit of
anyone deemed a danger to the state, whether domestiC
diss-idents or external critics."9- More of:ten than not, he
writes, "the campaigns are based more on witch-hunts ,
and whitewashes than honest debate over the most
thorny issues surrounding the state."
Despite the massive resources employed to burnish Israel's
standing in the eyes of the international community, many
supporters of the Jewish state complain that Israel suffers
from a, poor international image and is losing'the public
relations war.
Increasingly, analysts are suggesting that Israel's "image
problem" is not a result of a poor public relations strategy
but, asRavid puts it, "a product olthe Israeli government's
polldes."-Seth Freedman, not mincing words, declares that
"Israel~ image problem will only disappear when the core
crimes committed in the name of the state cease, and the
Palestinians are dealt with equitably. "10
Swarthmore Says,I'Qpen Hillel!"
In I)!ecember 20n~ the student board of the S\yarthmore
c(J.lie~e :~irip\iS t:till~1 iS5~ed' a press release announcing
thei_r ~edsi.~n ~b b.i:an "Open HUh!I,"- an organization
whose pU~P.O!iie: is n~t' to ad.v.oc,Clte for one sinQle politi,CaI
v'iew, but rather to ,()pen_ up !iipace that encourages
dialogve Wi~hin th~ diverse ,arid plUralistic Jewish
'st!.ide"t body and ,th!! .hugElr ct,l1lm",unity •••• 11
The'Swart_hmore students' stClteri'ient affirmed that "all
aR!.-vi~'~()'rrif! tp walk througtfpur doo_rs and speak with
our tij!im6" ~nd ·~nder._o_ui'-:rO_ofi be they'Zlonlst, anti~Zion~
!st~ ;;~5t·:~!o~lst~ or ~c;;n:.zi9"·I,~t.,nl2 :
TheOpenHill~lmo~eme';tetneiged in 2012, mobilizing
against the. Hill.1 F~~ndatlon'5 "standards of partner-
. shlp.- which explicitly disallow ,evants critical of Israel.
Hillel rules ha've forced controversial cancellations at
seyeral urilv~r5itie~ncluding Avrahal11 Burg (former
sp~aker of th~ Israeli Knesset'.and_ author of the 2009
bQok Ttieil%cau5t,i$ Over) andBreaklng'th,e SiI,erice, an
IsraElil veterans' group that relates personal testjmonies
of humari rightS abuses perpetrated while In unlform.13
Meanwhile, the Hillel Foundation and the American
Israel Public Affairs Commillee (AIPAQ have pledged
their commitment to "working together to expand sup~
port for Israel on campus."14
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ZIONISM UNSETTLED