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[Azure-Shalem Center] Noah Pollak - Israel has an image problem. Beginning with the 1982 Lebanon War, and accelerating rapidly after the start of the second Intifada in 2000, the Jewish state has come to be viewed in many quarters of enlightened opinion as a sinister presence on the world stage. Whether the crisis was al-Dura, Jenin, Lebanon, or the Gaza beach explosion, the Israeli response distinguished itself by the same blunders: A reflexive assumption of guilt; pre-emptive apologies, unnecessary self-criticism, and suspension of military action; the assertion of innocence only after the media storm had passed; and a refusal to push back rhetorically against individuals and organizations who have turned slandering Israel into such a disgracefully undemanding sport. On the conceptual level, Israeli strategists and spokespeople must come to understand the immense influence of symbolism, theater, and the repetition of defining anecdotes in modern warfare. In our age of global communication and the disproportionate influence of easily manipulable photographs and video, a new theater of war has been created. The battle is over images, narratives, and beliefs. What hangs in the balance is Israel's strategic position among democratic nations; its ability to sustain its own sense of moral clarity and national confidence against its enemies; the perseverance of Zionism as the animating ethos of the Jewish state; and the fulfillment of the central aspiration of creating a country in which Jews no longer feel intimidated by their assailants. Israel cannot change its enemies, but it must change how it fights them.
2007-10-26 01:00:00
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