Israel might take a lesson from a seemingly unlikely source: America’s experience in Vietnam.
Like Vietnam, if Israel is ever going to truly win its long battle for existence, it must win over “hearts and minds.” While the U.S. military in Vietnam did a pretty good job of that among the Vietnamese for a while, our leaders back home failed to win enough hearts and minds on the home front to sustain the effort.
That failure is what ultimately enabled communist forces to take over the country, not any shortcomings of our troops who fought there.
As it continues to battle the thugs from Hamas, Israel needs to build more support among its allies in the West. It’s, of course, disturbing to see so much support for the terrorists among the public and even within the halls of Congress. While the enablers are in the minority to be sure, a vocal minority can still do a lot of damage. I think Israel has the opportunity to both build support and quiet its critics by deploying one weapon that they’ve underutilized: the nation of Israel itself.
In any large public dispute, we can characterize the sides as belonging to one of three groups: friends, fanatics, and fence-sitters. Friends generally don’t need a lot of attention. That isn’t to say they should be ignored but rather that the level of effort needed to keep them friends shouldn’t be overly taxing. Fanatics aren’t worth the time or effort to deal with; one must call out their lies, but otherwise, raving true believers are best ignored.
Ultimately, one wins in the court of public opinion by bringing the fence-sitters over to your side. It appears to me that there are a lot of fence-sitters in America right now, particularly among young people. While many in the younger generations may have found it chic to support Palestine, the realities of what Hamas has done and is doing have caused many to take a second look at the conflict in the Middle East.
For every recent college graduate foolish enough to carry a “Queers for Palestine” sign, I'll wager that there are more slowly realizing that a movement that doesn’t have a problem beheading babies might not find the rainbow flag particularly appealing.
How to turn them into friends? Show them Israel. Literally. Fly them into Tel Aviv and let them see the real Israel. I’ve been to several countries in the Middle East, finding some more enjoyable than others, but nothing comes close to the hospitality, the security, the cleanliness, and the charm of modern Israel. My wife and I toured the nation in 2019, and it was a revelation. It’s easy to cry apartheid and genocide typing on your computer in your dorm room. It isn’t once you actually go there and meet the people.
When you get to Israel, you see Arabs, Jewish Israelis, and Palestinians living together in peace. You learn that there are Palestinians and Arabs represented in the nation’s legislature. You can cross the border to those parts of Israel under the control of the Palestinian Authority. The people there are friendly and welcoming, but it’s a little different. Things aren’t as clean. The streets aren’t always as good. It isn’t horrible, but it’s not as nice. And eventually, you come to realize that the Palestinian problem isn’t about the Palestinian people. Not at all. It is and I think always has been about Palestinian leadership.
There’s a strong feeling among many of the Palestinians living in Israel that their leaders are corrupt. That is to say, the leadership of the Palestinian Authority is corrupt. Lots and lots of money comes in, and the common people see very little of it. With the convenient scapegoat of Israel at hand, and by extension America, it’s easy to take advantage of old prejudices.
It’s easy to fabricate charges of genocide and apartheid. But it’s hard to make those charges stick when you can see how things really are with your own eyes.
I would be surprised if even half the Palestinians living in Israel in peace believe one-tenth of the anti-Semitic propaganda. But, my-oh-my, how many Americans eat that up?
So why not bring in some fence-sitters, Israel? You give free trips to people of Jewish heritage under the birthright program. I’m not suggesting to open the gates to all gentiles, but why not to some? A limited number. You’ll do a good job of vetting them. Israel does that better than anybody else in the world. And reserve a few spots for those fence-sitters who have big followings on social media, especially among the younger generations.
I think the payback would be more than worth the cost. I think once you see the Holy Land and meet its caretakers, it’s hard to not be won over, hearts and minds.
