[antiwar-van] The Bankruptcy and Immorality of Zionist Hasbara

[hanna kawas]

http://www.jewishbulletin.ca/archives/June03/archives03Jun13-01.html

Jewish Western Bulletin, Vancouver, Canada

June 13, 2003


Leave Abraham out of your talk
Advocacy is not about content but about winning, says Olesker.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
There is an old New Yorker magazine cartoon in which a professor at a
lectern admits "I know so much, I don't know where to begin." The adage was
evidenced Sunday night in a vibrant meeting at which a small group of
Vancouver's most active advocates for Israel listened to – and debated
with – one of the world's top Israel advocacy communicators.

David Olesker, a Jerusalem-based communications expert who acknowledges that
his particular job description is hard to define, provides training and
factual ammunition to groups like the Canada-Israel Committee and the Israel
Defence Forces, as well as the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, the
powerhouse organization that provides much of the defence of Israel on
Washington's Capitol Hill.

One of Olesker's most important words of advice to advocates of Israel is to
"ration information." The British-born hasbara (public relations) maven,
whose official title is director of the Jewish Centre for Communications and
Advocacy Training, has what he calls the Uzbekistan Rule. He mimics the
imaginary ramblings of an Uzbeki advocate who informs his audience that, to
understand the Uzbeki present, one must first understand the Uzbeki past,
going back thousands of years and appreciating the nuance of language and
historical experience in order to achieve an appreciation of current events.

"People don't want to make that kind of investment to understand," he said.
"Too much is often worse than too little."

Olesker used the Uzbekistan Rule to gently criticize advocates of Israel who
begin an argument with "To understand events today, we must begin with
Abraham."

Jews have a built-in handicap in applying the Uzbekistan Rule, Olesker
added.

"Jews tend to be very content oriented," he said. "The 'bad guys' tend to be
very outcome oriented."

Jews, according to Olesker, tend to see it as more important to inform than
to convince, where critics of Israel will employ whatever methods
necessary – "And sometimes it's just a lie," he said – to gain a convert.

As an example, Olesker noted it is not always important to answer the
question at hand. A while back, Olesker was in South Africa and a caller on
a phone-in radio program compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the
apartheid government's treatment of blacks. Rather than apply intellectual
methods to debunking the accusation, Olesker chose instead to attack the
caller, accusing him of degrading the experience of millions of black South
Africans who had suffered under the racist regime.

Confronted by an audience member, who was dissatisfied that the accusation
of Israeli apartheid remained unchallenged, Olesker said that was a typical
Jewish response.

"Jews find this fundamentally very unsatisfying," he said. The Jewish
tradition is one of intellectual ferment, in which logic and debate are used
to convince, and rhetorical tricks are deemed unworthy. Advocates for
Israel, he said, devote too much attention to winning an argument for the
right reasons than winning it at all cost.

"Don't ever confuse your needs with the audience's need," he said,
emphasizing that winning an argument does not mean teaching someone about
Jewish history.

"Never confuse a dialogue situation with an advocacy situation," he said.
"Advocacy is about winning."

Other practical points Olesker offered were methods for swamping talk radio
programs and methods for turning statistical facts into personalized
stories.

"People relate to people," he said. "Tell stories about people.... Stories
work. Statistics don't."

As an example, Olesker offered the statistic that, since the latest intifada
began, there have been an average of 17 attempted fatal attacks against Jews
every day in Israel. That statistic does not have the same impact, he
argued, as telling an audience that when he wakes up every morning, he
wonders about the 17 Palestinians who are also waking up, preparing to die
or be killed in martyrdom that day.

Likewise, Olesker said that he always tells North Americans how the manager
of his local supermarket was murdered on his way to work one morning by a
terrorist. Not every North American can wrap their minds around what it is
like to live in a war zone, but everyone is at least vaguely familiar with a
supermarket manager, he said.

Israel's advocates also allow critics to set the "conceptual frame," Olesker
complained, with questions akin to "Is your brother out of prison yet, yes
or no?"

"They attack Israel and we respond," he said. Olesker's solution is what, in
politics, tends to be called "going negative." Instead of allowing the
advocates of the Arab world to set the agenda by attacking Israel, Olesker
said Israel's advocates must obtain and maintain the conceptual frame.

"The major problem facing the world from the Middle East today isn't
Israel," he said, adding that people should be pointing their fingers at
Islamism – the extremist, political aspect of Islam. Instead of just
reacting to criticism that paints Israel as the most evil force in the
region, Olesker recommends asking questions about why the world is not
outraged that the Muslims of northern Sudan enslave the Christian and
animist Sudanese of the south, or why Arab elementary school curricula
encourage toddlers to grow into suicide bombers or why Arab students don't
know any peace songs.

About 50 people attended the event in the Schara Tzedeck Synagogue
auditorium and the audience was remarkably engaged, aiming comments and
questions at Olesker almost from the moment he began speaking. Like the New
Yorker professor, it was obvious Olesker could have gone on all night
training Vancouver's advocates for Israel – the audience was highly
receptive, swarming Olesker with an enthusiasm almost matched by the
swarming of the refreshment table, after a meeting that had already lasted
nearly three hours.

The event was sponsored by National Conference of Synagogue Youth.

Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and commentator.
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