About Us Israelis - Singling Us Out

Unfortunately, our reputation as a people, unjustly and harmfully, is targeted by our politically motivated foes. These biased and one-sided advocates of the Arab, Iranian and Palestinian political agendas are claiming false and outrageous claims against us, with no proof whatsoever on the ground. Yet, their massive numbers, their growing presence in university campuses around the world, their oil-industry-generated money, their conniving ways of dealing with the international media, their mischievous tactics of spreading disinformation, their automatic majority in international organizations and their growing political strength (due to their growing numbers in and around the countries of the world), leaves us Israelis unable to match their overwhelming influence on international public opinion.

So, to our great misfortune, the false and biased labels stick.

The Coast of Tel Aviv As Captured From Old Jaffa

(Photo Courtesy of Israel Ministry of Tourism)

I never blame ordinary citizens of the world for criticizing us. I don't even blame them when their criticism becomes sheer hatred. In some countries around the world it is simply a matter of available - or unavailable - information. In others – indoctrination. People are intelligent. They think for themselves and construct their own worldview. They do it in light of the information presented to them. When they hear, day in and day out, from their own respected news media corporations, that Israelis are vicious, ruthless occupiers, that they are war mongers who support a Nazi-like or an apartheid regime, and receive images to support these claims, they form their opinion on the matter accordingly. 
The only problem here is balance – or the lack of it.

Living abroad, receiving all their information about the events unfolding in Israel on a daily basis, Israelis finds themselves shocked and offended by local or by international media coverage of these same events. It usually boosts the narrative of the "underdog" and adds conveniently collected images to fit that narrative. Rarely do you get to see and hear the other side's story. If it happens, it would never match the emphasis the underdog's narrative is getting or the intensity of its arguments.

Humans are compassionate. Thank God for that. Their instinct-based inclination would usually be to support the underdog in a story – any story. We all identify with the underdog characters in a movie we see or in a book we read. The only trouble is that the underdog is not necessarily always right, or just or humane. When the Palestinians launch a rocket attack or send suicide bombers to kill Israeli civilians, targeting intentionally helpless innocent people - woman and children included - they are not right or just or humane. Nothing can justify such inhumane atrocities. They have a mission to innihilate the Jewish state and kill the Jews, as the Hamas charter proudly states. 
Covering the Israeli response to the usually unprovoked terrorist actions against us launched by the "underdog" without showing the whole picture, without telling the full story, has unfortunately become common in recent years. It provides a great source of images for our foes to use against us cynically.   

Being such a small people used to be isolated and sigled out in international forums, used to the one-sided coverage by the international news media (which sometimes act out of fear of the oil-rich Arab wrath), Israelis feel helpless, powerless and vulnerable. This does not mean we are sitting idly-by. We do have excellent diplomats working in our embassies and consulates around the world. But these skilled professionals, who fight to safeguard our people's reputation and honor, are a drop in the ocean considering the overwhelming capacity of Arab, Iranian and Palestinian disinformation machines.

The Sea of Galilee

The result is the isolation of a people based on lies and misconceptions. Worse, this false and vicious filth that is thrown at our face on a regular basis is done with no comparison to other countries.  "…those who single out Israel for unique criticism not directed against countries with far worse human rights records," wrote Prof. Alan Dershovitz in the introduction to his remarkable book The case for Israel, "are themselves guilty of international bigotry."

For us Israelis, singling us out time and again is unacceptable. It creates a wall of distrust between us and most of the international political community (not the peoples – mind you). We feel mistreated and we feel isolated. This comes on top of other considerations I outlined in previous articles in this blog and will outline in future ones. Feeling this way – can you blame us for being suspicious about the different political initiatives concerning our region that are coming frequently our way? Can you blame us for having our shields always wide open?

"Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is vile," wrote New York Times' Columnist Thomas L. Friedman a few years ago. "Singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction – out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East – is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest." (New York Times, October 16, 2002).

I guess in our cynical world, it is not enough for a country to be the only liberal-democracy in a region packed with corrupt and despotic regimes, to share universal values with the most advanced peoples of the world, to have one of the most respected judicial systems in the world, to produce Nobel Prize winners in numbers relatively unmatched, to contribute to humanity in many fields such as medicine, hi-technology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, agriculture, etc., to assist nations in dire straits time and again (the last ones were Haiti and Japan), to prove the peace-loving nature of its people by keeping a sustainable peace with two of its once fiercest enemies, to secede the land of its forefathers to the Palestinians twice in the past in hope of marching toward peace (and getting terror in return) and to extend its hand in peace to its enemies time and again.

So, if the truth matters to you, remember this before constructing your worldview about us Israelis.