Today’s Jerusalem Post runs a commentary by Professor Gil Troy which should be read by anyone who is fed up with the kind of reactive, take-action-only-after-the-roof-has-fallen-in approach that has been a characteristic of pro-Israeli advocacy for far too long. Troy pegs his piece off this year’s forthcoming “Israeli Apartheid Week” from March 1 to March 14, (yes, that’s right, their intellectual capacities do not even extend to knowing how many days there are in a week!). Events will be held in cities across the world and Troy sensibly suggests that action should be taken to ensure that the organisers and participants do not have things all their own way.
He offers for consideration a three-pronged strategy which he characterises as the “Three P’s”:
First, “Push-back”:
“We will rarely sway with mere facts someone who has swallowed the apartheid libel and drunk the anti-Israel Kool-Aid. Our target is wavering Jewish students and the vast uninformed and uninterested middle. We should play off the radical demonizers, making them look extreme and foolish as we demonstrate our informed commitment, our enlightened passion, the rightness and righteousness of our cause.”
Second, “Position Israel better”:
“The truth is our friend. Israel has compromised - and seen withdrawals from territory and other concessions “rewarded” with violence. Until critics deal with that, they are simply Israel-bashing with no real commitment to peace.”
Third, be “Proud of Israel”:
“[Israel is] an extraordinary old-new land, one of the great successes of the twentieth century, now leading the way technologically in the twenty-first century. Just as the US is not only defined by its racial troubles, and Canada not only defined by its linguistic tensions, Israel is not just about the Palestinians.”
Troy then moves from the strategic to the tactical, offering for consideration the “Three H’s”:
First, think “Horizontal”:
“…today’s informational, ideological and political playing field is vast, chaotic and democratic. Students, bloggers and activists should speak their minds, display their passions, forge their own relationships with Israel and express their pride as effectively, as creatively, as widely, as they can.”
Second, be “Hip” by:
“…singing, rapping or tweeting a new song of Zion, one that is relevant, resonant, inspirational, conversational, internalized among millions of pro-Israel and pro-democracy activists, rather than dictated from above or simply inherited from our ancestors.”
Thirdly, he suggests that pro-Israel groups should not be afraid to be “Hysterical” by which he means that Israel supporters should:
“…laugh among ourselves while mocking the heavy-handed propagandists who build their entire ideology on negation - investing time, money, energy in denigrating Israel rather than building anything constructive for Palestinians, or anyone else…”
Troy is a professor of history at Mcgill University currently on leave in Jeruslalem. His enthusiasm is infectious. He concludes his piece with words that should inspire us all:
“Wouldn’t it be great if next year, the anti-Israel forces canceled their annual festival of nihilism because the push-back they triggered simply wasn’t worth it? Now that’s a strategic goal worth pursuing.”
And so it is.
To read Gil’s piece in full, click here:
http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/troy/entry/let_s_mobilize_against_anti
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