The Israel Advocacy Handbook Justice for Jews and Israel: Making the case for Israel An Introduction to Israel Advocacy, Activism and Information Second Edition Copyright Copyright © 2009, 2010 Ami Isseroff, Zionism-Israel.com and Zio-Web volunteers Version of 5-Oct-10 11:50 This document is on the Web at http://zionism-israel.com/israel_advocacy.pdf which has the most updated reviewed version Table of Contents Executive Summary............................................................................................................1 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 Statement Of Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 Basic Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 4 Basics Of Advocacy And Persuasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 5 How People Form Opinions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 6 The Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 7 Narratives And Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 8 Language And Persuasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 9 Applying The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 10 Advocacy: Techniques and Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 11 Practical Grass Roots Activism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 12 Working With Community Institutions and Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 13 Using The Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 14 Issues For Proactive Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Appendix A: Anti-Israel Narratives................................................................................143 Appendix B: The Basic Zionist Narrative - What really happened................................151 Appendix C: In Depth Guide to Web Activism..............................................................155 Appendix D: Grass Roots Activism - A comprehensive guide......................................162 Appendix E: Web Resources about Israel Advocacy.....................................................182 Appendix F: Online Advocacy Training and Resources................................................191 Appendix G: Persuasion and Attitude Change Bibliography.........................................197 Israel Advocacy Handbook http://zionism-israel.com/Israel_Advocacy.pdf Executive Summary This handbook explains the principles of Zionist advocacy and how to apply them. The core issue of Israel advocacy is the right of the Jewish people to self-determination, to be a "free people in our own land." Arab denial of this right is the cause of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Resolving it is the prerequisite to peace. Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, is the target of a concerted attack. Israel advocacy is not meeting the challenge. Israel advocacy should not be confused with conventional advertising or "Jewish Education." Successful Israel advocacy should use issues opportunistically to educate the public and build an organization. It should focus on essentials. It should be based on outreach to the widest possible audience, not on partisan politics. It should emphasize shared values and universal emotional appeal. It should provide basic information. We should expose bogus 'issues' and so-called peace movements that are intent on denying the right of the Jewish people to self determination. Israel advocacy is pro-peace, because real peace will grant our fundamental rights. We need to take the fight to the streets and campuses using grass roots techniques of community organizers and social protest movements such as demonstrations, leaflets and Web sites. What it's about - Effective Israel advocacy: Stays focused on the core issue: Jewish right to self-determination; Is proactive rather than reactive; Appeals to common values; Provides basic information as a framework for understanding particular events; Is proactive for peace. How to do it - Effective advocacy: Appeals to emotions as well as intellect; Takes advantage of modern tools - especially the Internet; Reaches the widest possible audience, targeting and informing the unconvinced; Operates through grass roots efforts; Uses issues to build a movement; Builds coalitions and encourages cooperation when possible. What it is not about - Successful Israel advocacy: Never excludes or gratuitously insults groups or their respected leaders; Avoids lavish announcements about planned advocacy campaigns that have no follow-up; Is not about censoring anti-Zionist views; Does not preach to the convinced and is not "Zionist education"; Is not like "PR" that may be used to market products or political candidates. 5-Oct-10. Copyright (cid:211) 2009-2010 1 Israel Advocacy Handbook http://zionism-israel.com/Israel_Advocacy.pdf 1 Introduction This handbook is meant for Israel advocates, primarily volunteers. It is intended to give you better grounding and awareness of what you should be trying to accomplish, why it is worthwhile and how to accomplish it. Advocacy is best done by devoted amateurs who are convinced that their cause is right. An ideal or an ideology cannot be sold with gimmicks as if it was hand cream r breakfast cereal. If you don't believe in the ideals, you will not be able to convince anyone else, "Amateur," however, does not mean untrained or incompetent. Amateur enthusiasm must be combined with professional know-how and experience. Nobody can claim to have all the answers or an exclusive approach to advocacy. However the principles discussed in this book are accepted marketing and advocacy tenets. Most Israel advocacy groups do not follow them, and most would benefit from at least trying this approach. A brief summary of main points that characterize our approach is at the Proud Zionist1 Web page. If you do not need a detailed handbook refer to the Israel Advocacy Guide.2 If you don't believe in the ideals, you will not be able to convince anyone else. 1.1 How To Use This Handbook A handbook provides both general information and a detailed reference. Read this book once, casually, to get the general idea. Then use specific sections when you are planning a campaign, organizing a demonstration or preparing a flyer or advertisement. The PDF search feature should make it easy to find the specific information you need. 1.2 Getting More Information About Israel And Zionism This book explains the principles of advocacy. It provides examples of specific issues and events. It shows how they are used and abused in advocacy. However, the range and depth of information about the conflict, the history and the issues that you need to know are very large. Likewise, research on persuasion is a very large field. All the information could not possibly be presented in one document or learned in a few days. Don't despair. We will always be learning! For information about the conflict, use articles at http://zionism-israel.com and elsewhere, history books and other materials. Standwithus3 has a very competent introductory summary and survey of the history and issues. A larger introductory summary of the issues is in the ADL Israel Advocacy guide.4 You can find academic and practical 1 http://www.zionism-israel.com/proud_zionist.htm 2 http://www.zionism-israel.com/Israel_advocacy_guide.pdf 3 http://www.standwithus.com/images/online_booklets/israel_101/Israel%20101%20Distilled_April14,2008.pdf 4 http://www.adl.org/israel/advocacy/advocacy_guide_facts_UPDATED.PDF 5-Oct-10. Copyright (cid:211) 2009-2010 2 Israel Advocacy Handbook http://zionism-israel.com/Israel_Advocacy.pdf information about persuasion and advocacy in the articles and Web sites references in this handbook by searching the Web and of course, at good university libraries. A fairly balanced (not "Zionist") history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from earliest times is posted at MideastWeb.5 A summary of the history of Zionism is posted at Zionism & Israel.6 These two documents are also hyperlinked to various in-depth articles. These summaries should be supplemented by extensive study. Especially if you do not have ready access to a good library, learn how to do research using the facilities of the Web. Materials on the Web now include scientific journals available to those with university or other special accounts. It is not quite a substitute for a library yet, but the Web can provide you with a pretty fair education in the issues. Appendix E: Web Resources has a large list of resources on the Web for historical and Israel advocacy materials as well as news and views. Appendix F is devoted to online resources that teach the theory and practice of advocacy. Appendix G is a bibliography of sources related to advocacy and social change psychology. 5 http://mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm 6 http://zionism-israel.com/zionism_history.htm 5-Oct-10. Copyright (cid:211) 2009-2010 3 Israel Advocacy Handbook http://zionism-israel.com/Israel_Advocacy.pdf 2 Statement Of Need Since the foundation of the state of Israel and particularly in the last decade, there has been a dangerous and steady erosion in international perceptions regarding the legitimacy of Israel. At the same time, there is an erosion of support for Israel on particular issues in both the United States and Europe. The two problems are intimately related. The crisis is more serious in Europe than in the USA. There is not yet an Israel public relations disaster in the USA, where support levels generally hover between 50 and 63%, but even there, the problem cannot be ignored. 7 Ideas that used to be relegated to lunatic fringe groups have become popular in the United States and Europe. You can see, hear and feel the problem. It expresses itself in openly hostile media, in popular books by political personalities and others with titles like "Israel Apartheid" and "Israel Lobby" and in extreme cases, by demonstrators who scream "Jews to the gas." Popular British magazines see nothing wrong with showing a US flag with Jewish stars to illustrate "Zionist control," or a cartoon of an Israeli Prime Minister eating Palestinian children. Time Magazine recently expounded the thesis that Israeli Jews do not care about peace because they are too busy making money and enjoying the good life.8 Jewish anti-Zionism is not new. But now, some Jewish organizations are even willing to express support for the genocidal Hamas in one way or another. The wave of delegitimization propaganda is not an accident. It is part of an organized and systematic effort. An equal effort is needed to respond to it. Internet search engine results for keywords like "Zionism" or "Israel Apartheid" reveal a nightmare. Dozens of groups and Web sites "explain" the "pernicious" nature of Zionism, expound on imaginary Jewish and Zionist control of Europe and the USA and urge boycotts and divestment from Israel. The miasma is caused by a concerted effort to delegitimize the idea of Jewish self-determination. It is not confined to, or due to, a specific issue or action of Israel. Issues are used as platforms to rally support for the basic themes of destroying Israel and Zionism. 7 Gallup, Support for Israel in U.S. at 63%, Near Record High, February, 24 2010, http://www.gallup.com/poll/126155/support-israel-near-record-high.aspx 8 Vick, Karl, Why Israel doesn't care about peace. Time, September, 2, 2010, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2015602,00.html 5-Oct-10. Copyright (cid:211) 2009-2010 4 Israel Advocacy Handbook http://zionism-israel.com/Israel_Advocacy.pdf 2.1 Objective factors Undeniably, there are many objective reasons why Israel is unpopular, but these have been true for a great many years and have never really impacted Israel's popularity before. The odds against Zionism and the odds against the Jewish people have always been formidable. We have always succeeded by fighting smart and fighting tenaciously. Every battle and diplomatic confrontation we have won has been won against seemingly insurmountable odds. The advocacy battle is no different. Objective impediments are not reasons to give up, or excuses for failure, but factors to be reckoned with. We cannot fail failure means death, not only of individuals, but of an entire nation and culture. Instead of finding reasons why we ought to fail, we have to understand what we need to do to succeed. Undoubtedly, if Israel had the climate of Northern California and there were two billion Jews in the world, it would have been easier to set up and maintain a Jewish state, but a serious analysis must deal with reality as it is. Some factors to consider: • Influence of Persian Gulf oil; • Institutionalization of anti-Israel activities at the U.N. • Anti-Semitism; • Jewish anti-Zionism; • Resentment of Israeli policies. 2.1.1 Persian Gulf Oil Iran (not an Arab country). Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain and Qatar have leveraged their monopoly on oil to influence foreign policy, and use petrodollars to fund propaganda that favors their causes. This has always been true, British objections to a Jewish state were founded on fears of losing Saudi oil, a strategic asset. Before the Six Day War, Aramco executives tried to bring pressure on the United States to favor the Arabs, and after the Yom Kippur war, fear of an Arab oil boycott helped the passage of the infamous U.N. "Zionism is Racism" resolution. The Saudis in particular have been generous in endowing universities in the United States. But the oil factor always existed. Leverage created by oil is used against Israel, but it is also used to further respect for Islam an burnish its image, and by non-Arab states such as Iran against Arab States. None of the Arab states bordering Israel have much oil. Israel advocacy should emphasize the influence of oil-greed on foreign policy and should document the stupendous sums spent by the "Arab Lobby." But oil cannot be held up as the excuse for Idrael's image problems. 2.1.2 Anti-Israel activities at the U.N. The Arab states, together with the former Soviet Union, turned the U.N. into a center of anti-Israel activity. As long as the Soviet bloc existed, this activity could be carried out through the General 5-Oct-10. Copyright (cid:211) 2009-2010 5 Israel Advocacy Handbook http://zionism-israel.com/Israel_Advocacy.pdf Assembly and the Security Council, and the UNRWA, a refugee agency created in order to perpetuate the Palestinian Arab refugee problem. After the Six Day War, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, anti-Israel activities moved to new channels at the U.N. The secretariat Department of Palestinian Rights (DPR), the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 all are unique institutions. The DPR has 16 full time employees, compared to 20 employees for all the other secretariat departments. The CEIRPP maintains a network of NGOs and sponsors NGO conferences like the Durban conference which manufacture anti-Israel resolutions according to a formula. The U.N. spends millions of dollars on ant-Israel resolutions, activities and funding through these different agencies. Most of the money is provided by the United States and Europe.9 The U.N. devotes such attention to no other state, no other people and no other conflict. But the major channel for anti-Israel activities is the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) which cranks out numerous resolutions accusing Israel of war crimes and other violations, and mentioning no other country. This was formerly the Human Rights Commission. Attempts to reform this body, dominated by Muslim states, have been futile.10 Israeli and Zionist diplomatic and advocacy efforts to counter this network are sporadic and ineffectual. Most Israelis and most Israel advocates do not understand the weight given to issues by the prestige of the U.N. and most Zionist activists are only vaguely aware of the existence of these U.N. departments and institutions, or the part played in them by European and American support and funding. Particularly egregious U.N. - sponsored initiatives such as the first Durban conference or the Goldstone report stir some protests, but there is no attempt to attack or discredit any of the vast anti-Israel infrastructure of the U.N. or to educate the general public about it. The isolated protests by Zionist partisans and the Israeli government are therefore interpreted by the naive public as further evidence that Zionists ignore "human rights" and "international law." Israel's opponents spare no effort to exploit these resolutions, and the opposition they engender, to portray Israel as indifferent to human suffering. Inevitably, U.N. activities have influenced large NGOs, so that now the prestigious Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have taken up the anti-Israel crusade. 2.1.3 Anti-Semitism There is no doubt that anti-Israel propaganda exploits classic anti-Semitic themes and uses anti-Semitic motifs to further its aims, often substituting "Zionists" for "Jews" in tiresome slogans such as "Zionists control the press," "Zionists control the government." The Palestinian-inspired libel that the IDF kills Palestinians to harvest their organs for transplants11 is a reincarnation of the blood libel story that is still 9 Isseroff, Ami, The Question of Palestine at the U.N. http://zionism-israel.com/issues/The_Question_Of_Palestine.html 10 AJIRI Report Number 6, THE “REFORMED” UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL BEGINS::IT’S DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN, July, 2006 http://www.zionism-israel.com/issues/Question_of_Palestine_UN_Human_Rights_II.pdf; 11 Sofer, Roni, Swedish daily: IDF killed Palestinians for organs, YNET, August, 18. 2009, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3763958,00.html 5-Oct-10. Copyright (cid:211) 2009-2010 6 Israel Advocacy Handbook http://zionism-israel.com/Israel_Advocacy.pdf current in many Arab countries.12 Time Magazine's complaint that Israelis do not want peace because the are too busy making money tried to play on the "Jews love money" shibboleth.13 While anti-Semitism should be pointed out, it is useless to dwell on the subject. The people who fall for this propaganda are probably anti-Semitic. They won't be impressed by your arguments, and they will deny that they are anti-Semitic. European and American Christians are anti-Muslim as well, but this hasn't done much to advance the cause of Israel. Anti-Semitism is a fact of Jewish existence in the Diaspora and should not surprise us. The creation of a Jewish state cannot put an end to anti-Semitism, it can only make the Jews less vulnerable to attack and better organized to resist anti-Semitism. Anti-Semites will use supposed misdeeds of Israel against Jews. Anti-Zionists will use anti-Semitic beliefs, culture, slogans and symbols against Israel. The confounding of issue and themes produces a dangerous situation that has permeated Jewish communal life in every Diaspora country for the past century. Zionism is predicated on the assumption that ant-Semitism will never go away in the Diaspora. The struggle against anti-Semitism in the Diaspora has been going on for over two centuries. It is predicated on the assumption that anti-Semitism will be banished by "progress," a characteristic belief of 19th century liberalism. Whatever the merits of this approach, groups founded to fight ant-Semitism abroad such as The Bnai Brith ADL should not be engaging in Israel advocacy, and Israel advocacy groups should not be fighting anti-Semitism. However, it often very difficult to distinguish between anti-Semitism and so-called anti-Zionism. 2.1.4 Jewish anti-Zionism Some Jews have always been against Zionism for ideological or religious reasons.14 Palestinians and their supporters have formed alliances with anti-Zionist groups and have specifically targeted "progressive" Jews. Anti-Zionist Jews must be taken into account and addressed, but Israel advocacy should not consist solely of fighting with these people. The are usually committed to their positions and for reasons that have very little do with Israeli actions or facts and will not support Israel under any circumstances. Jews who support the Palestinian position are a distraction. They are a very visible and very vocal minority. They are convenient for the Palestinian cause, as they an be trotted out to counter the argument that a particular claim is "anti-Semitic." 2.1.5 Resentment of Israeli policies Israeli governments and their personnel make mistakes and come and go. Israel advocates should never feel obligated to defend every policy and ever utterance of every minister against all challengers, but some advocacy groups do. They fall into the trap of fighting according to the rules made by the other side. This has produced an absurd situation in which Israel is made to look like a rights violator in comparison with one party, totalitarian, brutal, reactionary dictatorships such as Syria, Libya and Iran. The best reply regarding a policy decision, official or personality you can't defend, is to explain that you 12 Blood Libel. http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/blood_libel.htm 13 Vick, Karl, Why Israel doesn't care about peace. Time, September, 2, 2010, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2015602,00.html 14 5-Oct-10. Copyright (cid:211) 2009-2010 7 Israel Advocacy Handbook http://zionism-israel.com/Israel_Advocacy.pdf don't necessarily agree with everything that America or another country does, but that is not grounds for wiping out that country and its people or subjecting them to terror attacks. 2.2 A New Strategy Is Needed Obviously, whatever Israel advocates have been doing, it has not worked very well. Advocacy efforts do not get enough attention from the Israel government and enough funding from private financial resources, but doing a lot more of the same thing is not going to be good enough. In some cases, "advocacy" is actually making the problem worse. This handbook is predicated on the assumption that Israel advocacy needs to learn from the opposition and from our own mistakes and build a new strategy, based on these principles: • Aiming for outreach; • Purveying a universal message; • Taking up issues proactively; • Providing basic information; • Focusing on the core issues; • Doing advocacy rather than "PR"; • Promoting grass roots efforts; • Using the Web and Internet. Obviously, whatever Israel advocates have been doing, it has not worked very well. Aiming for outreach - Jews constitute about 2% of the U.S. population, and are even a smaller minority in Europe. It is absurd and hopeless to try to build an advocacy network or a movement based exclusively on this tiny and often socially isolated minority. Unfortunately, that is what Israel advocacy movements do. Their messages are directed at Jews, often in closed forums or "Jewish" venues such as Hillel. They think they are doing Israel advocacy, when at most they might be doing "Jewish education." We have to reach the vast majority of people, who are not Jewish. This can only be done by advocacy that is conscious that it is talking to the world, that doesn't label itself as extremist in the eyes of others, that forms strategic alliances with non-Jewish groups that have common interests. That's how anti-Israel advocates managed to get the attention of church groups, unions, students and academics. Purveying a universal message - Israel and Zionism are not just about Jews. They are about freedom, social progress, democracy and other ideals that appeal to large groups in the Western world. Our message has to be couched in these terms. Being sensitive to what the audience hears - Audiences do not always hear messages in the same way as the people who create those messages understand them. A speech by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu complaining of "hypocrisy" of international institutions that criticize Israel may have been well-received 5-Oct-10. Copyright (cid:211) 2009-2010 8