Thanks for doing this Marc. Why can’t our very talented, media savvy people do a better job of PR.
Is it too many opinions? Too many cooks? Too many organizations? Too afraid to ruffle feathers for our small community? Too little agreement on messages? Are we running into a woke intersectional brick wall that has consumed much of our inteligencia and celebrities?
Personally I think we need a long term multi organizational team established to focus on and build support for Israel and Jews generally. While I have deep respect and even love for all Robert Kraft is doing (and this from a life long NYGiants fan) the message shouldn’t be just Jew hate. Rather it needs to be why Israel has every right to exist and is a moral, upstanding member of the community of nations. And needs to point to what it’s up against. Taking into account how small we are as a people and Israel is as a nation. This organization needs to react immediately to the lies and distortions we face. It must take on the MSM that seems to take Hamas words and pictures at face value. Much of what it needs to do is the hard research that people like me never see.
It’s requires messaging in a political campaign. The composition of the team might well call for the same types that lead political campaigns. It requires academics and all sorts of communication specialists . This will be expensive. but needs to be built now.
For me, your column Marc Schulman is the daily communication that keeps me feeling informed and sane. Thank you for that. Now the Q is how we manage to build an army to fight the communication war.
That is the million-dollar question. I have been discussing this for months but have not done anything. I was involved in such efforts in an earlier life, but that was almost a half-century ago. I have decided that the need is too great to continue to ignore, so I will at least try to devise a plan, but I would love anyone's input or ideas.
"October 7 and its aftermath have made two things very clear:
1. Israel's very right to exist is still disputed by a majority of Palestinians, as well as their countless supporters around the world.
2. Antisemitism is alive and kicking – in particular, in the universities that many would like to think of as the bastions of liberalism and tolerance, and which are currently shaping the worldview of the future Western leadership".
Suggest, Marc, that you reconsider the approach described in the above two statements.
First, the Hamas attack on October 7 may have been devastating to Israelis' sense of security but, it did not constitute an existential threat to the state. Hamas has no airforce, no tanks, no logistical base to carry out an invasion of Israel's heartland. It was at most a large raid. So why the hysteria? Second, I agree that Palestinians and their supporters (countless? Do we need more hyperbole?) would like to eliminate the Israeli state but why tie this to October 7? Israel has fought against the creation of a Palestinian state since 1917 and is intending to hold five million Palestinians stateless ad infinitum.
So, what's new? What's new is that the Hamas attack woke Israel and the world up to its dilemma, which is that the promise of this policy is conflict for another hundred years. My suggestion, to you and my fellow Israelis, is to reconsider ideas and policies based on fear of annihilation. In a risk-reward analysis, which path is better - a Sparta-like state or something else? We don't need more hysteria, hyperbole and propaganda. We need a positive vision for the future, as difficult it is to imagine today.
Thanks for doing this Marc. Why can’t our very talented, media savvy people do a better job of PR.
Is it too many opinions? Too many cooks? Too many organizations? Too afraid to ruffle feathers for our small community? Too little agreement on messages? Are we running into a woke intersectional brick wall that has consumed much of our inteligencia and celebrities?
Personally I think we need a long term multi organizational team established to focus on and build support for Israel and Jews generally. While I have deep respect and even love for all Robert Kraft is doing (and this from a life long NYGiants fan) the message shouldn’t be just Jew hate. Rather it needs to be why Israel has every right to exist and is a moral, upstanding member of the community of nations. And needs to point to what it’s up against. Taking into account how small we are as a people and Israel is as a nation. This organization needs to react immediately to the lies and distortions we face. It must take on the MSM that seems to take Hamas words and pictures at face value. Much of what it needs to do is the hard research that people like me never see.
It’s requires messaging in a political campaign. The composition of the team might well call for the same types that lead political campaigns. It requires academics and all sorts of communication specialists . This will be expensive. but needs to be built now.
I agree see what I wrote to Judith above any ideas would be great I will try to reach out to some people I know but this is not going to be easy
For me, your column Marc Schulman is the daily communication that keeps me feeling informed and sane. Thank you for that. Now the Q is how we manage to build an army to fight the communication war.
That is the million-dollar question. I have been discussing this for months but have not done anything. I was involved in such efforts in an earlier life, but that was almost a half-century ago. I have decided that the need is too great to continue to ignore, so I will at least try to devise a plan, but I would love anyone's input or ideas.
Re:
"October 7 and its aftermath have made two things very clear:
1. Israel's very right to exist is still disputed by a majority of Palestinians, as well as their countless supporters around the world.
2. Antisemitism is alive and kicking – in particular, in the universities that many would like to think of as the bastions of liberalism and tolerance, and which are currently shaping the worldview of the future Western leadership".
Suggest, Marc, that you reconsider the approach described in the above two statements.
First, the Hamas attack on October 7 may have been devastating to Israelis' sense of security but, it did not constitute an existential threat to the state. Hamas has no airforce, no tanks, no logistical base to carry out an invasion of Israel's heartland. It was at most a large raid. So why the hysteria? Second, I agree that Palestinians and their supporters (countless? Do we need more hyperbole?) would like to eliminate the Israeli state but why tie this to October 7? Israel has fought against the creation of a Palestinian state since 1917 and is intending to hold five million Palestinians stateless ad infinitum.
So, what's new? What's new is that the Hamas attack woke Israel and the world up to its dilemma, which is that the promise of this policy is conflict for another hundred years. My suggestion, to you and my fellow Israelis, is to reconsider ideas and policies based on fear of annihilation. In a risk-reward analysis, which path is better - a Sparta-like state or something else? We don't need more hysteria, hyperbole and propaganda. We need a positive vision for the future, as difficult it is to imagine today.