Israel must learn the international language of human rights
Allowing the Israeli Zionist narrative to dictate our public relations is harming our international image.
By Gilad Heiman Tags: Israel news PalestiniansIsrael's international standing is at a nadir. Speeches by Israeli personalities are routinely heckled, arrest warrants are issued for Israeli leaders, international entertainment stars are warned of the economic consequences of performing in Israel and initiatives to boycott academics and others come up frequently. Our response is not stopping the erosion.
We have improved the official presence of the State of Israel on the Internet, Israeli emissaries visit college campuses and even the children of Sderot were mobilized for the battle. But despite all the efforts, our image is deteriorating steadily.
The main reason why is that we have not succeeded in speaking in the language of our listeners. I'm not referring to their mother tongue, but to their cultural language. Israeli public relations stems entirely from the Zionist Israeli narrative, without any genuine attempt being made to learn the language of human rights, which is dominant in international public discourse.
We expect the world to support us because we are more liberal, educated and democratic than our neighbors, without understanding that those very qualities cause the world to judge us more severely. The very fact that we are so similar to the Western countries leads the public in those countries to criticize us harshly, as to them we constitute an ugly reflection of themselves, as South Africa did in the past.
The time has come to change our behavior. In the contest to see who is more unfortunate, and which children are suffering more, those in Sderot or those in Gaza, we will always be the losers. Instead, we have to try to adopt the Western discourse on rights and back up what we say with deeds. The boycott of the Goldstone Commission was a mistake. Now we have to see how it can be mended.
It is important to differentiate between organizations that wish us ill and those that attack us because of our activities. There is no reason not to cooperate fully with human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and to adopt some of their recommendations as well. Perceiving the entire international discourse about rights as anti-Israeli is erroneous and harmful. Preserving human rights in the territories and East Jerusalem as far as possible is, first and foremost, an Israeli interest. We should not sacrifice security, but we have an obligation to be more attentive to the Palestinians. We don't always have to wait for the High Court of Justice to change the route of the separation fence or permit a detainee to appear before the court.
We can also stop treating Israeli human rights organizations as quasi-traitors and begin to adopt them and occasionally their recommendations as well. If the Israeli Defense Forces speaks with these organizations and takes their reports seriously instead of trying to silence them and seeks a solution to the problems they raise, there will be results in terms of public relations. Instead of trying to make sure our dirty laundry is not aired outside the country, we can clean things up at home and then the job of explaining our case will be much easier.
It is also important to make room for public protest. The Israel Defense Forces battle against demonstrators in Bil'in, which includes arrests and the use of substantial force, is one of the things that is causing Israel to become increasingly isolated. The State of Israel must encourage nonviolent struggle rather than fighting it. We need to know how to behave with moderation toward the demonstrators against the Gaza disengagement, toward students and the disabled and even the ultra-Orthodox - and the demonstrators of Bil'in as well. We can argue with their reasons and explain our position to them and to the world, but we should neither arrest them nor fire rubber bullets at them. The use of force against ideological demonstrators not only fails to prevent the demonstrations but usually also contributes to their expansion and to an intensification of public reaction.
Most important, we Israelis must also be taught the discourse of rights. The better we understand that the world is not willing to accept the continual undermining of human rights for reasons of security, and the more we ourselves adopt the discourse of rights, the easier we will find it to present our viewpoint to the world. The question of whether it is right to remove an Arab resident from his home in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem must be examined not only in accordance with the fine points of Israeli law, but also in accordance with how it conforms to the criteria of international law. Otherwise, we will win the battle for the house, but we are liable to lose the battle for the country.
The writer is a media consultant
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This article is just more of the same failed strategy. You try it... It doesn't work. You try it again... it still doesn't work. And again. And again... Israel is trying to enforce its version of history on the world. Thousands of years ago it could work. Not today. The only Israelis who will be still standing when the dust settles will be those that take a frank, blunt look at Israel's history, without trying to spin it or fluff it up. Nature will select against Israelis who choose to ignore reality. It is close.
Its hard to understand why the gazan arab refugess cannot be absorbed by the other arb countries even iran and turkey even for a ten year respite like for jobs and study . They could even help the turks and iranians with human rights denialists .
Help the Palestinians return home to Egypt(Genesis 10-13&14)and bring peace!
lets discuss this and other topics on israelopia.com
This is exactly what must be done to restore the image of Israel abroad and reminding everyone it's a democracy.
is there any democracy in the middle east? a democracy respects the human rights, freedom of speech and expression and one man- one vote. democracy is not only on paper and self-evident, but it must be proven in practice and must be kept in repair and must be proven every time!
Frenchreader "The laws even Basic which discriminate inhabitants or citizens according to race, origin or religion would be unconstitutional in any western country, US first." Really so why in France do they want to intorduce laws baning the Hijab ? all over word there was discrimnating laws against citizens till late 1960s black were not allowed with the whites in Australia till today there are certain laws which are different and discriminating against the Native Australians In USa there are laws against Mexicans which some were native to America
Abdallah "Israel feels superior to Arabs and the world" Is that why Arab las till today forbid Jews from buying any land of Arabs ? is that Why in 1800 the Muslim Ottoman empire ihnvaded non Muslim Palestine and maded Dhimis on non beleivers? is that why quran 9:29 "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." ? is that why Islam said that allah changed only Jews (not any other people ) to pigs and monkeys ? who has the Superior complex here
Hi LS You said"Israel needn`t justify its actions to anyone. Just as no-one need automatically support Israel." If this makes sense to you, then Iran does not need to justify it's desire for Nuclear Weapons to anyone. What's good for the goose. . . . . Or are you a hypocrite???
Here is a person I would like to keep on board when we become one country
Israel needn't justify its actions to anyone. Just as no-one need automatically support Israel.
There is not a shred of evidence that any one with power in Israel is interested in implementing the suggestions, very good ones by the way, made by Heiman. He is correct that all the direction is in the opposite direction and those that do hold the power are interested seeing that it stays that way. His predictions are correct. Israel simply no longer has any moral credibility in the eyes of the international community.
Heiman speaks wisely, but too many Israelis do not want to listen. An obsession with committing excesses in the name of free land and God has prompted the threats to security. As long as Israel remains blindly committed to those values, peace cannot be forced when there is a destitute people such as the Palestinians. The Palestinians have suffered and are treated by Israelis as second class peoples within Israel and as less than human in the West Bank and Gaza. Failure to recognize such inequities contributes to the world's evolving image of Israel as no longer sharing the Western, even Judaeo-Christian, traditions. Historically many Western nations have been guilty of colonialism and shared many of the same Israeli attitudes we see today. However that does not validate Israeli behavior. For the most part, the Western world has learned from its past offensive behaviors, and it is time for that wisdom to be acquired by Israel.
Jews are trying to preserve their identity at the time when in the minds of "progressives" the goal of each nation should be watering it down. There was the time when Jews had same idea (to loose their Jewish identity and become Germans in Germany or French in France, etc) but then it went against general concesus and Jews were punished. Now the opposite is happening. Jews always will suffer because they are always ahead of "progressives" and therefore they always will be "wrong".
I don't think it is Israeli behavior but people like you that cause Israel to have a bad image.
The "West" criticizes Israel to a point that is ludicrous. They don't criticize as much people who blattantly abuse human rights, including the basic right to live. Darfur and Congo caught little international attention, not one tenth of the media coverage for the relatively harmless Israelo-Arab conflict. But Arab/Muslim countries own a large share of the petrol money and have a large part of the human population. While Jews have a much smaller influence.
did you even read the article or just the headline? "The very fact that we are so similar to the Western countries leads the public in those countries to criticize us harshly" NOT anti -semitisim , that is why the west does not put Israel in the same group as Darfur etc, etc because they think Israelis are BETTER than the third world dictator countries, they EXPECT human rights and International law to be followed here, the west isn't expecting so much from the D.R Congo!
I must own up to being a member of "The Left." I assure you we don't make up anything, but merely report what Israel does. Once again Israel refuses to examine itself, and instead of changing its behavior it merely wants to use zionist propaganda to deceive the world. Too late for that, my friend. The world sees what Israel does, and fancy words will not change world opinion.
Every time Israel is confronted by it's Human Rights record, someone goes and says: "what about those 56 Muslim countries?" What about them? Are you saying that none of those countries isn't in violation of HR? Or is it that they are Muslim countries, which precludes them from having freedom of speech or of honoring Human Rights? I don't see in these countries forceful confiscation of a house in order to build a parking lot! While some are in violation of HR, most of them aren't, and those that are suffer for it. I myself live in what some of you term "Muslim country", even though it is a secular one(religious tag to a country is a bit outdated), and we do have freedom of speech, democracy, and Human Rights, far more then Israel seems to have today. All that in a "Muslim country". Look to yourself, not to someone else. These values are for the good of Israel, not those 56 countries. Saying that someone is worst than you doesn't lessen the mistake. It is just childish.
It is the Palestinians who are threztened with terror and genocide. Not really surprising that they have learned to resist, primarily non-violently. They might as well resist with violence, since Israel attacks all of them regardless, but fortunately for Israel, the Palestinians are a peaceful people and are truly the ones who turn the other cheek.
Without the Westbank, Israel will be more endangered than ever. How can we live on a narrow strip like this with neighbours who still would like to destroy us? The end of occupation wouldn't end the brutal hostility from the Arab side. Otherwise I wouldn't have a problem with giving up most territories
Israel's standing is a result of a delegitimization campaign led by the Western Left. It is sad that the Israeli Left is so eagerly on the bandwagon, sawing off the own branch that they live on.
your comment is farcical ! human rights in chna ? 56 muslim countries?? 30 african countries ? 20 s american countires ?
Human rights was and is part of the zionist narrative. But human rights does not mean turning the other cheek when threatened with terror and genocide. Your concept of Jews is so old fashioned!!
If you let the Arabs decide by their behavior and actions whether or not you are going to treat them like humans, you make yourself dependent of them for what you will be and do. Strong people do not allow that to happen and act according to their own beliefs and convictions what is best for themselves. Countries that take human rights seriously, also when it may hurt them on the short term, are successfull, dynamic, flourishing and creative both culturally as economically on the long term and they earn respect, goodwill and admiration and authority in the world. Thanks to the world wide web billions are now seeing this and before you say 'China', it is my conviction that China absolutely will have it's human rights uproars or revolution and maybe a series of crisises. Strange sort of Jews that let others decide what Jews will be like I say. Human Rights are not only a blessing for the taker but also for the giver.
There are several world-renowned programs for the study of public international law. They are, in effect, global hubs for thinking and study on international law, including the international language of human rights. It is high time that Israel, which has every resource necessary to join this elite club, lumbers out of its insomnia and bureaucratic mediocrity to do so. My message is very simple. The change sought in this article will not begin to happen until Hebrew University creates an English-language LLM in International Law that includes an advisory board of internationally renowned Jewish jurists and experts in public international law.
by the midgests of the press and politics. Innocent Afghanis are being killed every day in drone strikes and otherwise but Herman sees "Israel in nadir".. Top of kapoism and cringing
Israel's reputation has shrunk in the world not because it's too harsh toward the Arabs, but because it's much too lenient. Worrying about the "human rights" of people who are trying to murder us does not make the world respect us, just the opposite. If Israel is despised in the world, it's because its leaders radiate weakness and lack of confidence in the justice of their own cause, and because they allow their enemies to commit outrages against Jews without making them pay the ultimate price for it.
How else should Israel be judged? "We expect the world to support us because we are more liberal, educated and democratic than our neighbors, without understanding that those very qualities cause the world to judge us more severely"
Human rights was always part of the zionist narrative? Oh really.....that would explain Israel's current stance. Maybe it was once long, long ago but not now. Now the IDF gives basically non-violent protest-organisers the terrorist-treatment. And yet Israel wonders why it's increasingly isolated.
You think "learning the language" of human rights will help . If you can just describe what you are doing with the right words everything will be ok , we wont have to change what we are doing at all. Here's a hundred scheckles now go out and BUY a clue
Israel has to be itself, and not try to conform to the standards of foreigners. Israel can only succeed by leading, not by following. If Israel accepts that the laws of the nations are above the laws of God that were given to us on Mount Sinai, we are truly doomed.
Speaking the language of "human rights" will avail Israel nothing. There isn't a nation on Earth that wouldn't brush aside these so-called rights in an instant if their survival was threatened. Human rights talk is usually a hypocritical sham that masks an ulterior political agenda, usually of the leftist variety. When the Arabs start fulfilling their human responsibilities, such as not educating their children to murder Jews, perhaps then we can start to consider their human rights.
These points are, indeed, important. The problem is that human rights is more than discourse it is action. You are correct, there are a lot of shoulds that Israel needs to be doing. However, it is less than likely that Israel will take the positive human rights actions you suggest. The current Government consists of parties that have little connection, discursive or otherwise, to human rights. It seems that every action that this government takes, from speech to expelling Palestinians from their homes, to torture and ill treatment goes against even the minimalism of the purely pragmatic human rights suggestions you make (i.e. lets talk human rights so that they will criticize us less, rather than lets obey human rights dictates because as people we are obligated to the law and the values of the HR regime).
Just recently Ambassador Oren did try to encourage diverse ideas and questions at the U California Irvine. He was shouted down despite pleas to remain and discuss.At Oxford a student shouted 'Slaughter the Jews.' All these and many more neo fascist hooliganism get ignored by post zionists like Heiman whose recommendations just does not fit the facts. And by the way, Human rights was always part of the zionist narrative.
The laws even Basic which discriminate inhabitants or citizens according to race, origin or religion would be unconstitutional in any western country, US first.
Is it ever wrong to question Israel's stance on Human Rights- Yes. But in this case the questioning is simply revisionist history and more importantly a denial of the human right of Jews to exist freely in their country without threat of death, etc...Stop telling the people who brought monotheism and human rights to the forefront of the world about these concepts...SHAME ON YOU FOR QUESTIONING OUR RIGHT TO EXIST WHEN OTHERS DUE SO DAILY AND WITH SUCH HATRED!
we arabs know how to win. we control oil. the rest is trivial.
For Israel's defenders, the turn of fortune dates back only to the very near past,, say the Camp David or the evacuation of Gaza or what event. But the reality is that the wholle world is realized the extent of the heist of Palestine from the Arabs. UN 194, 242 and countless other resolution where the flagrant opposition by the US made the whole world system a joke. Also, it is now being realized what a minority , Jewish influence in the US, has exact a horrible toll on it's foreign policy and the lip service defense of Democracy. The horrible massacre of Sept 11 need not be isolated from the feel by the Arabs of being shafted with the Jewish state in their midst and US support of the autocratic regime that only benefited the ruling regime and not the populace.
If some changes like these will be done Israel will not remains Israel because the main sentiment which an Israeli should feel is that the world is against "us" no matter what we are doing,and the second sentiment is that "we" are always right because we are the more moral and smart people of the world.How Peres said like a parrot:"the only one wealth we have is our human stuff".
End the occupation. Compensate the refugees. Pull out the settlers.
Israel feels superior to Arabs and the world that why it never will have respect from it's neighbors it's neighbors do it for u s intrests only