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World Union of Jewish Students Influencing Public Opinion |
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04 Aug 2002
Modified: 06 Aug 2002 |
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The first aim of Israel advocacy is to influence public opinion. Public opinion is very important to Israel, and Jewish communities around the world. Firstly, in the field of international relations, foreign policies are heavily influenced by politicians' perceived electoral interests. If politicians detect public support for Israel, they will be likely to support Israel themselves. |
METHODS TO USE WITH THE PUBLIC
Student support for Israel is valuable in and of itself.
Try to get student support, and the support of the general public, in the following ways:
* Put up emotive posters.
* Hold cultural evenings or Israel fairs, with falafel, belly-dancing, trance music, and so on.
* Run small components of larger campaigns, such as a briefing on the Middle East as part of a nuclear awareness week.
* Organize consumer boycotts of certain companies, and let their management and other companies know why they are being boycotted.
Remember to go off campus to get support from the general public. Often it is possible to work with schools, or near schools, to get support of children.
http://www.wujs.org.il/activist/features/campaigns/hasbara.shtml
Influencing Public Leaders
The second aim of Israel advocacy is to influence public leaders. It is possible for citizens to influence public officials and leaders directly. Politicians respond to public pressure. If politicians receive dozens of letters calling upon them to support Israel, they will be more likely to do so. Israel benefits from political support abroad, because it ensures a more sympathetic response to Israeli policies.
Influencing the Leaders and Opinion Formers of the Future
Campuses are the breeding ground for the next generation of politicians and opinion formers. For this reason, the third aim of student Israel advocacy is to influence campus leaders. Student union leaders might end up as government ministers, student journalists might end up as national newspaper editors. Because people often form and refine many of their political ideas at university, it is important for the long run security of Israel to try to influence student leaders and journalists to understand Israel and to be favourable towards her.
BEING PROACTIVE AND PROMOTING ISRAEL
Much of Israel advocacy concerns being reactive and defending Israel against unfair accusations. However it is important that Israel activists are proactive too.
Proactivity means taking the initiative and setting the agenda. It means being on the "attack", trying to create positive impressions of Israel. Audiences who have a favourable general impression of Israel are likely to respond favourably when specific issues arise. It is a mistake to only try to promote Israel when she is being strongly criticised in the press.
Why Be Proactive?
Agenda Setting
The person who sets the agenda will usually win the debate.
Reactivity forces Israel activists to be constantly on the defensive ("no, Israel is not all that bad"). However by setting the agenda Israel activists get to determine what to talk about, and can therefore discuss the things they feel help promote the pro-Israel message. Being proactive keeps the right issues in the public eye, and in the way Israel activists want them to be seen. It is much easier to get Palestinian activists defending Arafat against charges of being a corrupt terrorist than it is to explain to disinterested students that Ariel Sharon didn't kill anybody at Sabra and Chatilla (which of course he didn't).
It is much easier to feed students falafel at a party than to explain why Zionism isn't racism to a student who doesn't even know what national self-determination is.
People Believe What they Hear First
Uncritical audiences believe something if they hear it first and hear it often. People tend to believe the first thing they hear about a certain issue, and filter subsequent information they hear based on their current beliefs. Once people believe something, it is hard to convince them that they were wrong in the first place.
COMMUNICATION STYLES: POINT SCORING AND GENUINE DEBATE
There are two major approaches to communication to use during Israel advocacy. These two approaches are used in different situations, and are designed to achieve very different things. These two approaches - 'point scoring' and 'genuine debate' - require different techniques, and the Israel activist must know how to use each technique at the correct time.
Point Scoring
Point scoring is a method of communication that prioritises making certain points favourable to the speaker, and attacking opponents of the speaker by trying to undermine their positions. Point scoring communication ought to give the appearance of rational debate, whilst avoiding genuine discussion.
The aim of the Israel activist point scorer is to try to make as many comments that are positive about Israel as possible, whilst attacking certain Palestinian positions, and attempting to cultivate a dignified appearance.
Point scoring works because most audience members fail to analyse what they hear. Rather, they register only a key few points, and form a vague impression of whose 'argument' was stronger.
How To Score Points Whilst Avoiding Debate
Central to point scoring is the ability to disguise point scoring by giving the impression of genuine debate. Audience members can be alienated by undisguised attacks, so all point scoring needs to be disguised. To disguise point scoring, comments need to seem to be logical, and to follow from what was said before.
What Points To Make
Point scoring needs to be focused. Because the people listening to 'point scoring' are only paying partial attention, only two or three points have a chance of 'sticking'. For this reason, focus point scoring on a few points supporting Israel, and a few points pointing out weaknesses in Palestinian positions. These points should be made again and again, in as many forums as possible. If people hear something often enough they come to believe it. Attempts to make too many different points will result in the audience remembering nothing.
Possible Antisemitism
Where an act might have been motivated by Antisemitism, but this is unclear, it is often worth expressing some form of disapproval, but refraining from levelling public charges of Antisemitism. Depending upon the local situation, it is often worth expressing personal upset, saying that one was "hurt, as a Jew" by the controversial act.
PERSONAL POLITICS IN ISRAEL ADVOCACY
There is an argument that Jews living in the Diaspora have no right to get involved in debates about Israeli policy, and ought instead to support Israel's every action.
However, the fact remains that Israel activists are used by Israel for an important purpose, and this means that Jewish student activists around the world are involved, in some way, in the Israeli political process.
RUNNING A CAMPAIGN
Organized campaigns allow Jewish students to exert a huge influence on public opinion and the political process.
RESEARCH
Once a general idea of what the aim of a campaign is going to be has been obtained, and the organizational infrastructure for realizing the campaign is put together, one of the first things that needs to be done is research.
Although campaigns generally aren't conducted like intellectual arguments or debates, they do need to be backed up by facts and expertise. Before a campaign is launched, start gathering information from trust-worthy sources.
METHODS TO USE WITH THE PUBLIC
Student support for Israel is valuable in and of itself.
Try to get student support, and the support of the general public, in the following ways:
* Put up emotive posters.
* Hold cultural evenings or Israel fairs, with falafel, belly-dancing, trance music, and so on.
* Run small components of larger campaigns, such as a briefing on the Middle East as part of a nuclear awareness week.
* Organize consumer boycotts of certain companies, and let their management and other companies know why they are being boycotted.
Remember to go off campus to get support from the general public. Often it is possible to work with schools, or near schools, to get support of children.
FORGING CAMPUS ALLIANCES
Encouraging support for Israel on campus, and limiting anti-Israel activity on campus relies heavily on the ability of Jewish student groups to form strong alliances with other groups on campus. Support can then be traded on key issues, ensuring that Jewish students' interests are met.
Demonstrate Potential Strength
Jewish student involvement on campus needs to be recognized by mainstream campus groups. This is done by making Jewish student presence visible in a subtle way that other campus groups understand. For example, Jewish students can sit together, hold a visible 'caucus' meeting before a student council meeting, or if the situation on campus if comfortable, turn up at a meeting wearing 'Jewish' T-shirts.
Concentrate on Personal Relationships
Build personal relationships with campus leaders and opinion formers. This can be done in a variety of ways - extend invitations to key students to attend Jewish events, such as Friday night meals, speaker meetings, or parties.
If you have the money, you could even sponsor a trip to Israel for student journalists or such like. Meet individually with campus leaders and befriend them. Listen to them; find out what they believe is important. Whenever a student leader does something that went well, consider dropping them a note to say 'well done'.
Don't leave managing your relationships with campus leaders to chance. Be methodical. Make a target list of the key students that you will need as allies. If you want, even keep records of your conversations with them, and about them. Spread your net wide, and target students whom you believe are likely to become leaders on campus in the future.
Form Alliances with Powerful Groups
The point of mobilising Jewish students to get involved on campus, and of befriending campus leaders, is to allow the forging of alliances with powerful groups on campus. If Jewish students work together as a strong electoral block, if Jewish representatives in clubs and societies are busy trying to strengthen a pro-Israel agenda on campus, and if Jewish leaders are friendly with the leaders of other campus groups, it ought to be possible to form strong alliances. Student leaders will recognise that Jewish support on key issues could be helpful. Where these same student leaders have no strong opposition to a 'Jewish agenda' - such as support for Israel, support for ethnic minorities, and such like - they will likely be willing to support these issues in return for support on other issues by Jewish students.
Which groups to try to form alliances with obviously depends upon the situation on each individual campus. In general, alliances should be made with groups that are either natural allies or else neutral towards Israel and the Jews. For example, middle-of-the-road political groups, some moderate Christian groups, and ethnic minority groups where these aren't dominated by radical Moslems. The more powerful a group is on campus, the more useful an ally they will make. Take a long-term approach to alliances - it is often worth giving support to a group even when it doesn't give any immediate benefit, just to build reliance and obligation on their part.
Exchange Support on Key Issues
Once an alliance is formed, and there is a general understanding that support will be exchanged on key issues, begin to exploit this relationship. Use the fact that Jewish students are highly active on campus to deliver support to allies on certain issues; in return for Jewish support, ensure that allies deliver votes and support on issues that are important to Jewish students.
It is possible to be pretty open about trading support, but of course it is important to keep in mind university and student union regulations.
PREPARING A SPEECH FOR HASBARA
GATHERING MATERIALS AND INFORMATION
Hasbara is not about factual argument. However, it is still important to prepare strong arguments and points, even if they wouldn't really stand up to closer examination.
Hasbara is not the same as an International Relations or philosophy essay. However, although hasbara is often more about the emotional than the factual, it is important to be prepared with facts and figures.
Hasbara speakers need to be familiar with the topics that they are going to be dealing with. It is important to read before preparing to talk about Israel - if you don't know what the Lebanon War was, you won't be able to say why Israel wasn't directly responsible for the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. Collect information about the subjects you are going to be talking about, take notes, and make sure you are generally familiar with the background to things.
Use Inclusive Language
Try to use language that allows your audience to identify with the pro-Israel cause. For example, instead of saying 'Palestinian terrorism is a danger to stability in the Middle East' use the more inclusive 'we all understand what a danger to Middle East stability Palestinian terrorism is…'
PERSONAL STORIES AND HUMOR
Powerful speeches engage the emotions. Personal stories, or stories told from a human dimension, can often do this well. What better way to make a point about victims of terror than to tell a story about them? More powerful than telling a story about a child in hospital who might never walk again is telling a story about one's own visit to see that child in hospital, and how sad it was to see it. This, rightly or wrongly, gets the audience to tune in, listen, and take notice. It is much easier to listen to a story, especially an emotionally charged one, than to listen to abstract concepts.
PREPARE VISUAL AIDS AND MATERIALS
Particularly in the field of hasbara it is important to use any possible avenue to get one's point across. Use overheads, slides, pictures, flyers, and handouts to reinforce the message conveyed in a speech.
If pictures speak a thousand words then it makes sense to use some pictures to strengthen an argument.
QUESTIONS
Hasbara is about setting the agenda. If somebody uses a question to make a point, it doesn't need to be answered, only addressed.
LETTERS TO POLITICIANS
REASONS TO WRITE TO POLITICIANS
Politicians consider each letter they receive to be representative of 100s of voters' feelings on a subject. If a politician receives a handful of letters in support of Israel, they are likely to believe that their voters support Israel. Grassroots pressure won't get a politician to radically alter their views, but it might well give them the confidence to act on their pro-Israel feelings.
Thanking a politician after they do something to help Israel will encourage them to continue in the same vein.
Conversely, grassroots pressure on politicians who are generally hostile to Israel might persuade them that they will be punished by the electorate if they don't moderate their actions.
HOW TO WRITE TO POLITICIANS
Identify as a Concerned Citizen
Politicians are quick to discount letters that they see as part of organised campaigns conducted by pressure groups. For this reason, letter writers should identify themselves as concerned citizens, and not as members of organisations.
http://www.wujs.org.il/activist/features/campaigns/hasbara.shtml
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