Here’s the story in Hebrew. In a nutshell:
Minister Gilad Erdan has organized a secret conference in Jerusalem, with 150 top supporters of Israel. American right wing pollster Frank Luntz [who has earlier stated that Zionism is becoming a dirty word for US elites] presented statistics:
– The Ministry of Tourism’s attempt to market Israel as a cool destination (girls and bikinis) has failed.
– Jewish American students have an increasingly negative image of Israel:
-Just 42% believe Israel wants peace.
-Just 38% believe “Israel is civilized and Western”.
-Just 31% believe Israel is a democracy.
– No less than 21% believe the US should side with the Palestinians.
The new, or not so new, agenda put forward by Luntz and co: Israel’s supporters should say that they are in favour of a dialogue and peace-building through diplomacy, and accuse BDS supporters of obstructing dialogue, and spreading hate.
So are the usual suspects going to come out of the woodworks and say that all of this is nothing?
Israel is even alienating the US Jewish population. That takes skill. The dominoes are going to start dropping on Israel within the next decade. I don’t believe there is anything Israel can do to stop it at this point.
Make your transition to an egalitarian democracy for all now before it’s too late. Transition from a position of strength before transition is forced upon you and more blood is shed.
Can’t blame the students, most went through heavy indoctrination from birth with Zionist ideals that mostly were fascist and neocolonialist with Judaism and Jewishness as a facade. Only need to spot one lie before the whole narrative coming undone, making these student end up being even more anti Zionist compared to the average progressive, considering the betrayal of trust and dishonesty they suffered in the hands of pro-Zionist Jews from their previous generation.
Yeah, but what’s the percentage of people who believe Israel isn’t as bad as Saudi Arabia, Mali and African “hell-holes” ? It must be quite a bit higher…and that’s gotta count for something!
History repeats. In the south, during the Revolutionary War, there were, in the same family, loyalists (fathers) and separatists (sons). We all know who won, but without guns — and w the press not for but against — it’s going to take much much much much longer.
I don’t know what Mr,Luntz has discovered concerning non-Jewish students. I’m writing this on the way home from the opening event in London Israel Apartheid Week, Malia Bouattia of (I think) the National Union of Students spoke of increasing BDS support in the UK student world – and certainly if the atmosphere was in even a slight degree representative of UK student opinion and if American students, who after all have the same facts to study as their British counterparts, have anything like the same sentiments, Luntz’s discoveries would be distressing to his hosts, The other speakers were Rafeef Ziadar on behalf of Palestinian Prisoners and, to wild applause, Steven Salaita, who explained a strategy (which maybe I didn’t quite follow) for impressing on those with a ‘visceral’ attachment to Zionism that they could never be comfortable with repressive Israel because the repressed always returns, I’m pleased to have seen him in the flesh – he’s a powerful and entertaining speaker.