Communicating Effectively About Israel

Communicating Effectively About Israel Engaging People Across the Spectrum February 24, 2016 ט"ו באדר א', התשע"ו Zeev Ben-Shachar

BTH Trailer

Mekonen

How we do it

Why we do it

Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock. American Playwright, Ben Hecht

The Danger of Zooming in

Freedom for Palestine

Elephants End the occupation and colonization of Arab lands post 1967 Right of Return for all Arab refugees Full equality within Israel one person, one vote

Outline Zoom Out Question Communicate

The Middle East Conflict

Sound Bites Conventional Slogans: Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East Israel champions human rights Israel invented the cellphone Israel is an Apartheid State Boycott Israel Allegation:

Israel is Guilty of Core Allegation: Colonialism Occupation Palestine was stolen from the indigenous Arabs

Israel is Guilty of Core Allegation: Colonialism Occupation Arab Refugee Problem / Right of Return Palestine was stolen from the indigenous Arabs

The Apartheid and BDS Triangle End the occupation and colonization of Arab lands post 1967 Right of Return for all Arab refugees Full equality within Israel one person, one vote 23

Israel Apartheid Week Trailer

What gives you the right? Divine rights Indigenous and native rights Legal rights Pioneering rights Internationally granted rights Rights of war

Ancient & Modern Israel First Temple Period

Ancient & Modern Israel Second Temple Period

Control over the land Canaanite rule King David conquers Jerusalem c1000 BCE * Independent Kingdoms of Judah and Israel c1000bce to c586 BCE Babylonian Conquest 587 BCE to 538 BCE Persian & Greco-Assyrian 538 BCE to 168 BCE ** Maccabean Revolt 168 BCE to 143 BCE ** Jewish rule (Hasmoneans) 142 BCE to 63 CE ** Roman and Byzantine 63 to 636 Rule of Arab Caliphates 636 to 1072 Seljuke (Turkish) rule 1072 to 1096 Crusader rule 1099 to 1291 Ayyubid rule 1175 to 1291 Mameluke (Albanian) rule 1291 to 1516 Ottoman rule 1516 to 1917 British Mandate 1917 to 1948 Jewish rule (modern Israel) 1948- * First Jewish Commonwealth ** Second Jewish Commonwealth, period of local sovereign control under imperial domination

Since biblical times, other than when the land was under Jewish rule, the country had always been colonized.

League of Nations Mandate for Palestine - 1920 Recognition Has Been Given to the Historical Connection of the Jewish People with Palestine and to the Grounds for Reconstituting their National Home in that Country. --- Preamble to the Mandate Resolution was accepted unanimously by all 51 member countries of the League of Nations: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, British India, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Persia, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of China, Romania, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Union of South Africa, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Original Mandate Territory

League of Nations Mandate - 1922

Outline Zoom Out Question Communicate

A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic

We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel. Former Prime Minister, Golda Meir

Using ACE Acknowledge: Brief response and explanation Context: Control the agenda End: Reinforce key points or Big Truth

Israel deliberately targeted civilians men, women and children in Gaza A: This is completely incorrect. Israel targeted Hamas infrastructure and terrorists while going to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. C: Many of these casualties were a direct result of Hamas using civilians as human shields. By transforming private homes and public institutions such as mosques, schools, and even hospitals into bases of operation, Hamas placed the Palestinian citizens in harm s way and effectively took the civilians of Gaza hostage. At the same time, Hamas directed its rockets at Israeli cities in an attempt to maximize Israeli civilian casualties. Close to a million Israeli citizens are under constant threat of Hamas rockets and mortar shells. Since the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Palestinian terrorists have indiscriminately fired thousands of rockets and mortar shells at Israeli men, women and children. E: It is Hamas that targets civilians. To achieve peace, the international community must hold Hamas accountable for its extremist ideology and commitment to terrorism.

A man calls you a pig. Do you walk around with a sign explaining that, in fact, you are not a pig? Do you hand out leaflets expostulating in detail upon the manifold differences between you and a pig ("A pig has a snout, I have a nose; a pig wallows in mud, I only occasionally step in a puddle, and then, of course, inadvertently...")? Do you stand on a soap box and discourse eruditely on why, in general, it is extremely not nice to call people pigs, and appeal to the populace to please have no truck with an individual rude and nasty enough to say such things about an upstanding citizen like yourself? Fellow Jews, where is your dignity? Where is your abhorrence of useless, thoughtless, counterproductive endeavor? --- Ze'ev Maghen, Chair of The Department of Middle Eastern History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed it's the only thing that ever has! Anthropologist, Margaret Mead