Rob Eshman

June 15, 2010

Six Steps to Better Israel PR

By Rob Eshman

Tweet

Share

In 1943, Ben Hecht, the greatest screenwriter who ever lived, grew frustrated with what he accurately predicted would be the unstopped slaughter of his fellow Jews in Europe. Drawing on his two most powerful weapons — words and Hollywood friends — he wrote a theatrical spectacle to publicize the fate of the Jews to the world.

Hecht’s pageant, “We Will Never Die,” was produced by Billy Rose and Ernst Lubitsch, with music by Kurt Weill and staging by Moss Hart. An audience of 40,000 packed Madison Square Garden over two nights in March 1943 to see it, and it played to huge crowds on a nationwide tour. On July 21, 1943, California Gov. Earl Warren and rows of Hollywood luminaries saw the final performance at the Hollywood Bowl, which was also broadcast nationally on NBC.

The popularity of the shows failed to impress its creator. “The pageant has accomplished nothing,” Hecht told Weill afterward. “Actually, all we have done is make a lot of Jews cry, which is not a unique accomplishment.”

Over the past several weeks, as press coverage of the Gaza-bound flotilla has peaked and ebbed, numerous Jews have determined that Israel’s biggest challenge is fighting bad PR.

I understand the frustration. I can understand the desire to start hiring consultants and developing campaigns and printing brochures and launching Web sites. But before that ball gets rolling, one piece of humble advice to the would-be PR saviors: Before you start funding solutions, you need to truly understand the problem.

Jews have been complaining about Israel’s bad PR for years — and for years there have been committees, consultants and campaigns tasked with improving it. Yet, here we find ourselves again, after all that genius and all that money, still not getting it right.

The problem is that, in our passion, we rush to solve a problem without really thinking it through. In that spirit, I offer six steps to a better understanding of Israel’s PR crisis.

1. Differentiate between critics and delegitimizers.

The international campaign aimed at undermining Israel is two-pronged. In a recent and incisive study, Reut, an Israeli think tank, has categorized these groups as a Middle East-based resistance network, which rejects Israel’s right to exist based on Islamist or Arab-nationalist ideology, and an international delegitimization network of activists and elites, which negates Israel’s right to exist based on ideological or philosophical reasons. Countering these distinct groups demands different, but coordinated, strategies. But it’s important to note that neither group includes supporters of Israel who are critical of its policies. Israel’s own left and right must find a common language to confront these two threats, even as they maintain their ability to criticize Israel and one another.

2. Go on the offensive.

Who makes up these resistance and delegitimization networks? Some fairly cockeyed people who adhere to ideologies that most sensible people would reject out of hand. The best defense is a good offense: Expose the organizers of these boycotts, the authors of these anti-Israel screeds, for what they are. Most people would rather live in Israel than Hamas-stan. Most people view America like Tom Friedman, not Noam Chomsky. “We must engage the critics,” Reut’s Gidi Grinstein told me, “and isolate the delegitimizers.”

3. Don’t give up on Hollywood; find a brave soul within it.

Ben Hecht was able to tap the talents of the leading entertainers of his day. Back then, as today, stars were reluctant to get involved in causes, especially Jewish ones. But Hecht’s willingness to take a leadership role galvanized Hollywood. To leverage the enormous power of celebrity, the effort needs just a single strong voice from within Hollywood.

4. Recognize that the enemy is more sophisticated than you, and less democratic.

When Israel has lost battles, usually it’s been from underestimating its enemies. The PR battle is no different. The Jenin “massacre,” the death of Mohammed al-Durra and the Gaza flotilla reveal a sophisticated use of horrific imagery to demonize Israel. In some ways, Hamas transformed itself from a terrorist group that uses media into a media group that uses terrorism. In this, it has learned from al-Qaeda, which now produces more communiqués than car bombs. Reut’s proposal to create a similarly sophisticated network of coordinated activists working on behalf of Israel is a smart start.

But even with that, we need to understand that a democracy like Israel will always be at some disadvantage to a group like Hamas. Hamas can freely employ lies, intimidate its dissenters and suppress information. Israeli Maj. Gen. (ret.) Danny Rothschild, director of The Institute for Policy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and chair of the annual Herzliya Conference, said on a visit to Los Angeles last week that Israel can’t afford to sacrifice reliability for speed of reply.

5. Understand that an enormous amount of goodwill exists toward a moderate Israel.

Read your history. Look at times when Israel received enormous outpourings of public support — after the Six-Day War, after the raid on Entebbe — when it was perceived to have acted to defend its right to exist. Look at the polls. Even after all the PR in the wake of the Gaza flotilla, only 19 percent of Americans believed Israel should be blamed for the episode. Almost 50 percent thought Israel acted justly. The battle is Israel’s to lose.

6. It’s not just about PR.

Great hasbarah (image-building), a final status agreement with the Palestinians, complete equality for Israeli Arabs and military strength are critical for Israel’s long-term well-being and necessary to win moderates and elites to Israel’s side. No one of those is a magic bullet that can eradicate those dedicated to Israel’s eradication — the deligitimizers will always be with us. However, to work for “good PR” is to support each of those goals as well.

There are a lot of people eager to lead the charge for better PR and a lot of donors ready to write them checks. But we must start by truly understanding the problem, or we will have succeeded in doing little more than getting Jews to cry over Israel’s bad rap — and that’s not hard to do.

A version of this article appeared in print.

---

Post your comment below!

Click here to return to the homepage.

COMMENTS

We welcome your feedback. Comments may not exceed 700 characters.

Privacy Policy

Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.

Terms of Service

JewishJournal.com has rules for its commenting community.Get all the details.

6 steps for better Israeli PR:

1) Rob Eshman and all those who know how Israel can have better PR should make aliyah and put their lives where their mouths are.

2-6) 1) Rob Eshman and all those who know how Israel can have better PR should make aliyah and put their lives where their mouths are.

Comment by paul jeser on 6/16/10 at 3:12 pm

The importance of understanding a problem before applying a mass solution is absolutely on target!
Two minor qualifications to an other wise excellent article: “hasbarah” really means “explication”—a demand to use our rational mind to explain rather than to move people, and the goal of pleasing the need of others to see a “moderate” Israel is a limiting qualification for Israel PR

Comment by Irving S. White on 6/16/10 at 3:39 pm

A very illuminating article. It’s one of the few I’ve seen that directly addresses the problem of Israeli positive PR- or lack thereof. Some very good strategies are offered.

Comment by Sylvia Moscovitz on 6/16/10 at 4:24 pm

I couldn’t agree more and I don’t understand why this hasn’t been said a lot sooner, and by more people. It is distressing that Jews, who are so expert at doing PR for others, do such a miserable job when it comes to handling it on behalf of Israel.

Comment by andi3 on 6/16/10 at 5:38 pm

One thing that Israel can do that shows that they are indeed the good guys is to leave the settlements in the West Bank. If there ever will be relative peace in that part of the world, it will come as a result of a two state solution. If there is a Palestine in the West Bank, having the Jewish settlements there would be similar to having North Korean or Iran settlements in America. After all the Egyptians and the Israelis may not be bosom buddies but at least they are not shooting at each other!

Comment by Al Newman on 6/16/10 at 5:56 pm

The essence is all in Item 6. Israel must commit NOW to a legitimate final status negotiated bilaterally. But not to win anyone “to Israel’s side.” No, rather to the side of peace. A solution that is imposed, or that wins favor only for one side will not be successful. Great wars have been fought (France & Germany, China & Japan), but we would not seek a final status that favors only one side. All parties must have confidence in the process, and accept and advance together with the agreement.

Comment by Eric A Gordon on 6/16/10 at 7:00 pm

Forget # 6. Arabs do NOT want peace, they want Israel gone. Every public statement in Arabic rejects Israel, calls for its annihilation, and the murder of Jews.  Arab “hate Israel” incitement is in their schools, mosques, media. Only if ARABS demonstrate a total turn-around in words and deeds, and ARABS “take risks for peace” can Israel have hope for a safe future.  As of now, it’s not happening.

Comment by Roberta E, Dzubow on 6/16/10 at 7:29 pm

I would like to publish this article in my web site:PA for Israel.
Please, send me a permissin.
my web site:
http://www.rslissak.com

Comment by dr.rivka shpak lissak on 6/16/10 at 11:16 pm

Israel’s problem is not its poor public relations but its behavior. While US Jews mindlessly defend its actions,  the rest of the world sees the truth on TV and its own media which is not as protective of Israel as is our own.

With the mainstream churches in the lead, non-Jewish Americans are holding Israel’s crimes up to public scrutiny. It behooves US Jews to think how Israel’s actions are going to impact their own lives and act accordingly.

Comment by HollywoodJeff on 6/17/10 at 12:34 am

PART 1 OF 2:
Good analysis and explication of the problems of Israel’s fast-deteriorating worldwide PR.  I thought nos.1-3 were most cogent and action-oriented, while nos. 4-6 got a bit philosophical/theoretical.

For 1 & 2, the Jewish Journal and its sister-pubs around the World should gather data and do their journalistic best to spread the intelligence as widely as possible. 

Alan Thaler

Comment by Alan Thaler on 6/17/10 at 2:15 am

PART 2 OF 2:  For #3, I nominate Steven Spielberg as a brave Hollywood Jew, who would not be adversely affected by taking a strong stance in support of Israel (much like Ben Hecht wasn’t).

Recalling that all the heads of all the Hollywood studios then were Jews, it actually stinks that Ben Hecht was the Man of the Hour, instead of a group of largely Reform Jewish machers under the spell of Rabbi Magnin at that time.

Just my feedback to your piece, eagerly read and applauded.

Alan Thaler

Comment by Alan Thaler on 6/17/10 at 2:21 am

A GREAT piece Rob. Well done! Now let’s see who can get ‘down and dirty’ and produce some workable solutions without resorting to tried, tested and failed techniques.Best Charlie

Comment by charlie salem on 6/17/10 at 3:04 am

One addition to Rob’s thoughtful suggestions; stop being burdened with liberal guilt. Leaving Gaza caused more deaths and injuries to Jewish children than maintaining the buffer They even destroyed the greenhouses and irrigation systems left behind as gifts. We are dealing with a culture of hate. We have to stop being obsessed about how to make them like us. To believe otherwise is suicidal. They have no desire to get us to like them.

Rafi Guber

Comment by Rafael Guber on 6/17/10 at 6:31 am

A good article as far as it goes, but I agree with those who think that good PR cannot replace good government and superior political skills.  When a goal is decided upon and the strategies which will implement that goal are set; the strategies will avail nothing if the tactics are out of phase with the strategies.  That is one of the major problems with the current Israeli government policies; the right hand does not what the right hand is doing, much less what the left hand is hiding.

Comment by arieh zimmerman on 6/17/10 at 1:31 pm

Post a Comment

Name:
Email:

Type the word you see below:

Comment:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?