The Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public
Diplomacy just published
research that describes the links between various BDS-promoting
entities and terrorist organizations such as the People’s Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas.
The report confirms (as if more confirmation was necessary) that – far
from being the grassroots human rights movement it poses as – BDS is in fact an
operational asset in the ongoing war against the Jewish state.
The infographic that accompanied the report, which has been
making the rounds over the last week, reminded me of other illustrations of how
propaganda and “direct action” (i.e., terrorism) fit together into an
integrated militant strategy.
This work represents two strands of public diplomacy being
carried out by the Israeli government that demonstrate their seriousness with the
propaganda as well as kinetic battlefield: high-profile exposing of war
organizations posing as peace groups, and keen use of communication methods (in
this case infographics) that cut through the word clutter often characterizing
pro-Israel commentary.
Given how well organizations much less resourced than government
agencies have made use of such tools (I’m thinking especially about NGO Monitor
and its BDS Sewer System
animated graphic that eloquently communicates the way politicized NGOs launder
accusations against Israel to fuel BDS and other propaganda campaigns), it’s
nice to see Israeli political leaders leveraging modern communication
techniques to spread the truth as well as our opponents use them to spread
lies.
While specifics are always vital when planning strategy and
tactics, it is equally important to keep in mind the big picture into which
these specifics fit.
For instance, the prime movers in the war against the Jewish
nation state are the other nations who declared war on that state at its birth,
a war that continues to this day. As I
noted when describing the odds Israel faces in her
military situation:
A majority of countries
that make up the Arab League are in a formal declared state of war against
Israel and, taken together, these states have a combined population of close to
350 million and combined armies of over a hundred million soldiers. This
number does not include irregular forces like the terrorist armies of Hezbollah
in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. If we also want to take economics into
consideration, Israel’s economy (with a GDP of approximately $300 billion) is
one twentieth the size of the economies of her combined enemies.
The years 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 (and possibly 1982) are often
invoked to mark times when this long-term war erupted into actual shooting
between national armies, but every year in between these dates can also be
characterized as periods when formal military clashes were replaced by
irregular action (referred to as guerilla warfare and terrorism, depending on
who you talk to and when). This supports
the notion that 1948, 1967 et al should not be considered distinct wars, but
rather seen as battles in a long-war that stretches back almost a century.
Alongside kinetic actions involving people actually shooting
at one another, there has also been a parallel propaganda effort that again
begin with Israel’s nation-state enemies (i.e., the countries making up the
Arab League). Coupled with allies,
including another 20+ non-Arab Muslim states and states who once described
themselves as “non-aligned”) this “automatic majority” exercises power inherent
in numbers to corrupt organizations like the United Nations, turning them into
a propaganda arm for a war against a member state.
The purpose of the propaganda branch of the war against
Israel is to (1) make Israel’s destruction seem virtuous vs. horrifying; and
(2) provide support to military actors by limiting Israel’s options with regard
to allowable military responses. Again quoting
previous analysis of this situation, current activity by BDS and
similar anti-Israel propaganda campaigns can be characterized as follows:
·
When there is not a shooting war going on, BDS advocates run Israel
Apartheid Week events and other similar programs designed to paint Israel as so
hideous that any action taken against it should be considered moral.
·
During “quiet” periods when groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are
readying for the next war (by collecting weapons, building rockets or digging
terror tunnels) these “peace advocates” say and do nothing to limit that war
preparation.
·
Once a shooting war breaks out, they take to the streets condemning
Israel’s counterattack and demanding a ceasefire as soon as the aggression of
Israel’s enemies start bearing a price.
Taken together, these actions demonstrate
not just a political movement playing a military role (by justifying attacks
against Israel and then trying to limit the Jewish state’s military options
once those attacks begin) but a foe with clear-cut and militant goals: to see
Israel destroyed or weakened to the point where someone else can handles the
trigger pulling.
If we keep
these fundamentals in mind, details regarding the actual makeup of the network
providing this propaganda support to the ongoing war against the Jewish state put
vital flesh on the skeleton outlined above.
And such knowledge can help us better understand what we’re dealing with
when we deal with BDS and make sensible decisions regarding what to do about
it.