Poetry for Palestine

July 13, 2009 "FDL" — 
Imagine
for a moment you’re a general about to embark on a decisive military
campaign and your intelligence service secures a copy of your
opponent’s entire campaign strategy. You open it and you see his battle
plans laid out before you, key forces, weaponry, lines of attack,
points of weaknesses, etc. You suddenly understand just how weak his
forces are and precisely how to mercilessly attack and eviscerate him.
The plan makes you understand that his forces are largely based on
artifice and sham. It gives you confidence that you are entirely on the
right course and tells you how to stay on that course. Victory is
assured, your enemy’s defeat certain.

Douglas Bloomfield and Newsweek have done pretty close to that against the Israel lobby. Specifically, they’ve exposed a secret hasbara handbook written for The Israel Project by star Republican marketer, Frank Luntz.

The oddly-named Global Language Dictionary
(pdf) is a veritable goldmine of arguments, strategy, tactics. At 116
pages, it’s not for the faint of heart. But anyone who wants to get
inside the head of the Israel lobby must read this document. I know my
enthusiasm will mark me as a real I-P wonk, but this is the real deal
and worth spending some time parsing and deconstructing.

The
first thing to say is that the entire document is a pathetic piece of
propaganda. While it ostensibly is addressed to TIP’s leaders and
advises them how to shape a pro-Israel message when they lobby
Congress, the media and other critical power brokers, the entire thing
reeks of desperation and a lost cause.

It
goes without saying that the arguments offered are not only devoid of
truth, they’re devoid of rigor or credibility. There is literally no
substance to the claims offered on Israel’s behalf. It’s an empty
exercise in every sense of the word. Reading this makes you realize
that the entire Israel lobby edifice is a house of cards.

Perhaps
I’m letting my shock at the shabbiness of the Dictionary get the better
of me and overstating the case it reveals against the Lobby. After all,
any political network that exists for six decades and achieves as much
as this one has doesn’t topple overnight. But I’ll just have to let you
be the judge.

One aspect of this I find extraordinary and entirely dubious is the choice of the Republican campaign pollster Frank Luntz
to write this report. This indicates, as I’ve always maintained, that
the Lobby is totally tone deaf to the political environment. We have a
democratic president and two Houses of Congress under Democratic
control for the first time in a few decades. Pragmatic liberalism is
ascendant. Neo-conservatism and Bushian Republicanism are in retreat.
And who does TIP chose to make the case for Israel? A right-wing
Republican spinmeister. Remarkable. But one thing I must say is that
this is a good sign for our side. If our opponents are as wooden as
they appear, then they will topple themselves without needing much help
from us. The first chapter, 25 Rules for Effective Communication opens with:

The
first step to winning trust and friends for Israel is showing that you
care about peace for BOTH Israelis and Palestinians and, in particular,
a better future for every child. Indeed, the sequence of your
conversation is critical and you must start with empathy for BOTH sides
first. Open your conversation with strong proven messages such as:

“Israel
is committed to a better future for everyone – Israelis and
Palestinians alike. Israel wants the pain and suffering to end, and is
committed to working with the Palestinians toward a peaceful,
diplomatic solution where both sides can have a better future. Let this
be a time of hope and opportunity for both the Israeli and the
Palestinian people.”

The
first thing we learn is that this passage, as with everything else
printed in the handbook, is empty meaningless drivel. It’s a perfect
example of political three-card monty in which there appears to be a
card which isn’t there at all. It’s all a sham. There is no substance.
The rhetoric here is even worse than that offered by spokespeople like
Mark Regev on behalf of the Israeli government.

In
the following passage, we can see that Luntz has lifted shamelessly
lifted arguments from MEMRI and former Mossad officer, Itamar Marcus’
Palestine Media Watch. Others before me have demolished these tawdry
arguments, but it’s instructive to read the lies and distortions that
TIP instructs its representatives to parrot. Throughout, the document
drips noblesse oblige and fake concern for Palestinian children:

“As
a matter of principle, we believe that it is a basic right of children
to be raised without hate. We ask the Palestinian leadership to end the
culture of hate in Palestinian schools, 300 of which are named for
suicide bombers. Palestinian leaders should take textbooks out of
classrooms that show maps of the Middle East without Israel and that
glorify terrorism.”

As a matter
of principle, children should not be raised to want to kill others or
themselves. Yet, day after day, Palestinian leadership pushes a culture
of hate that encourages even small children to become suicide bombers.

Iran-backed
Hamas’s public television in Gaza uses Sesame Street–type programming
to glorify suicide bombers. As a matter of principle, no child should
be abused in such a way. Palestinian children deserve better.”

As
a matter of principle I believe that no child (Israeli or Palestinian)
should be raised in fear that their mother, father, sister, brother,
grandmother or grandfather could be killed for no other reason than
they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and a
frightened, trigger hungry 18 year army recruit decides to make an
example of them.

As
for maps, before Frank Luntz or Itamar Marcus make their specious
claims about Palestinian textbooks, I’d like them to show me a single
Israeli textbook that features a map of Palestine. You will certainly
find Judea and Samaria. But will you find any acknowledgment of the
millions of Palestinians who live in the Territories?

Further,
the arguments are entirely dated. Suicide bombings were a serious
phenomenon in years past. But Palestinian militants have largely
abandoned this tactic, at least in part due to its unpopularity among
average Palestinians. You certainly wouldn’t know this from Frank
Luntz’s agitprop. It’s like he’s living in a time warp and its still
the first Intifada (circa 2000).

Clearly
differentiate between the Palestinian people and Hamas. There is an
immediate and clear distinction between the empathy Americans feel for
the Palestinians and the scorn they direct at Palestinian leadership.
Hamas is a terrorist organization – Americans get that already. But if
it sounds like you are attacking the Palestinian people (even though they elected Hamas) rather than their leadership, you will lose public support.

Another
characteristic of the Dictionary is the dubious distinctions it draws,
as in this example. There is no way to distinguish between the
Palestinian people and their leadership. In effect, the passage
concedes the illogic of its argument with this phrase: "even though
they elected Hamas." Of course they elected Hamas. That’s precisely the
point. They had an election and chose who they wanted to represent
them. So for the lobby to say they sympathize with Palestinians, but
not with the leaders they chose is an empty statement.

Yet another example of noblesse oblige (and it’s entirely dubious to claim that these words "work"):

WORDS THAT WORK

We
know that the Palestinians deserve leaders who will care about the well
being of their people, and who do not simply take hundreds of millions
of dollars in assistance from America and Europe, put them in Swiss
bank accounts, and use them to support terror instead of peace. The
Palestinians need books, not bombs. They want roads, not rockets.”

Clearly
passages like this are designed to score debate points but are entirely
devoid of accuracy. The claims of embezzlement, of course, go back to
the days when Yasir Arafat ran things and tolerated rampant Fatah
corruption. But Arafat has been dead for lo these many years. Someone
ought to roll over and tell Tchaichovsky and Frank Luntz the news.

As
for Palestinians wanting roads, they do. They’d like some of those
wonderful Israeli bypass roads that run directly through former
Palestinian farmland and whisk settlers from their settlement homes to
their jobs inside Israel proper. The same apartheid roads which are
off-limits to Palestinians.

One thing you’ve got to give Luntz, he’s not above stealing ideas from anyone, even Israeli peace activists (see italics):

MORE WORDS THAT WORK

“The obstacles on the road to a peaceful and prosperous Middle East are many. Israel recognizes that peace is made with one’s adversaries, not with one’s friends. But
peace can only be made with adversaries who want to make peace with
you. Terrorist organizations like Iran-backed Hezbollah, Hamas, and
Islamic Jihad are, by definition, opposed to peaceful co-existence, and
determined to prevent reconciliation. I ask you, how do you negotiate
with those who want you dead?”

There
is an amazing insularity in the arguments presented here, with
absolutely no conception that Palestinians feel precisely the same
emotions as Israelis. In other words, they too ask how and why they
should negotiate with a state of Israel that would just as soon kill
them as live with them in peace.

More obliviousness, with no awareness of the dark irony of this statement:

“We
may disagree about politics…But there is one fundamental principle
that all peoples from all parts of the globe will agree on: civilized
people do not target innocent women and children for death.”

Do
I hear any concern here for the "innocent women and children" of Gaza
who were slaughtered in their hundreds during the Gaza war? No, of
course not.

Of course, there is unintentionally comic discourse:

Don’t pretend that Israel is without mistakes or fault.
It’s not true and no one believes it. Pretending Israel is free from
errors does not pass the smell test. It will only make your listeners
question the veracity of everything else you say.

Admit
Israel make mistakes. Don’t specify them. Change the subject as quickly
as possible and hope no one notices what you’ve just conceded. And then
point out how much more guilty the Palestinians are than the Israelis
for the conflict.

Use humility.
“I know that in trying to defend its children and citizens from
terrorists that Israel has accidentally hurt innocent people. I know
it, and I’m sorry for it. But what can Israel do to defend itself? If
America had given up land for peace – and that land had been used for
launching rockets at America, what would America do?

Use
fake humility. Pretend that Israel is the U.S. and that there has been
no Occupation and no injustice perpetrated against Palestinians.
Pretend their lands have not been stolen. Pretend they have not been
turned into refugees in the hundreds of thousands. Pretend that Israel
has a right to expect Palestinians to behave like Canadians or
Mexicans, who have not had a border dispute with the U.S. in 150 years.

Here
is more fakery in the guise of concern. And note the conflation of
American Jews with Israelis as if we are them (a little identity
confusion?):

WORDS THAT WORK

“Are Israelis perfect? No. Do we make mistakes? Yes. But we want a better future, and we are working towards it.

And
we want Palestinians to have a better future as well. They deserve a
government that will eliminate the terror not only because it will make
my children safer—but also because it will make their children more
prosperous. When the terror ends, Israel will no longer need to have
challenging checkpoints to inspect goods and people. When the terror
ends we will no longer need a security fence.”

There is virtually no terror on the West Bank, yet 500 checkpoints remain there. Why? Tell me why, Mr. Luntz.

If there is a money quote in this document that reveals that the lobby is now running scared it is this:

We’re at a time in history when Jews in general (and Israelis in particular) are no longer perceived as the persecuted people. In fact, among American and European audiences—sophisticated, educated, opinionated, non-Jewish audiences—Israelis are often seen as the occupiers and the aggressors.
With that kind of baggage, it is critical that messages from the
pro-Israel spokespeople not come across as supercilious or
condescending.

More unintended irony:

WORDS THAT DON’T WORK

“We are prepared to allow them to build……”

If the Palestinians are to be seen as a trusted partner on the path to peace, they must not be subordinated, in perception or in practice, by the Israelis.

What is the Occupation if not "subordination" personified??

Here’s right back at ya, buddy:

WORDS THAT DO WORK

“Achieving
peaceful relationships requires the leadership…of both sides. And so
we ask the Palestinians … Stop using the language of incitement. Stop
using the language of violence. Stop using the language of threats. You
won’t achieve peace if your military leadership talks about war. You
won’t achieve peace if people talk about pushing others to the sea or
to the desert.”

Israel’s
military and political leaders speak the language of violence,
incitement and war virtually every day. No acknowledgment of that, of
course, by Luntz. As for "pushing Jews into the sea," I haven’t read a
real live Palestinian resident of the Occupied Territories make such a
statement in several decades. So this argument is circa 1970 or so.
Nice try though, Frank.

“Israelis know what it is like to live their lives with the daily threat of terrorism.

As do Palestinians.

Remind people – again and again – that Israel wants peace. Reason One: If Americans see no hope for peace—if they only see a continuation of a 2,000-year-long episode of “Family Feud”—Americans will not want their government to spend tax dollars or their President’s clout on helping Israel.

Bingo.
Here Luntz inadvertently speaks the truth. Israel wants peace in the
same vague way that a 13 year-old girl may want to be whoever the teen
idol of the moment happens to be. Israel has no plan. No means of
getting to peace. So to say that Israel wants peace is, once again,
meaningless. And the fear lurking in the hearts of the lobby is that
some day Israel will be exposed and Americans will abandon it because
they will come to understand that whatever Israel may claim it wants,
there will never be peace under terms acceptable to Israel. That will
be a day of reckoning that the lobby wants to avoid at all costs.