And what does this have to do with winning the battle of ideas?
Not everything: There will still be many occasions when the case for Israel will have to be made in the usual places, before the usual audiences, with the usual arguments.
But arid fields can be plowed only so many times. Israel needs to win the battle of ideas in places, and among people, where it can do more than just maintain an intellectual stalemate. It needs to do so not through mainstream or social media, where Israel’s enemies have the advantages of scale and moral fervor, but in small-group settings among thoughtful people who exert a quiet but powerful influence in their respective countries and communities. It must put Israel’s greatest strength to the fore, which is the quality of its human capital, not its uneven efforts at hasbara. It should have confidence that, for all the loud haters, there are also potential admirers who can be engaged in long-term relationships without asking them to take a political position. It should have faith that the best way to get other people to support Israel isn’t by making arguments, but by inviting them to fall in love with a country and its people.
As in personal affairs, so, too, in international ones: People tend to find reasons to like, and defend, what they already love. The core problem with most pro-Israel arguments is that they ignore this basic point of human psychology, trying to win the argument first and the person second. The point of the Israel Centers is to win the person, first and last.
I have no illusions that this idea can be brought off on the cheap or that it can achieve a quick payoff. It’s a philanthropic commitment of many millions of dollars to a decades-long project. If that seems too costly or time-consuming, consider the cost, and the waste, of doing things as before while expecting different results.
(full article online)
For 20 years, I have been giving speeches to predominantly Jewish audiences on Israel-related subjects. Few of those speeches go by wi...
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