Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 07, 2011

"If the price is right"

Danny Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements, told U.S. officials that some settlers would be willing to move to Israel proper in exchange for financial compensation, according to confidential State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks.

His statements, which were made in closed-door meetings with U.S. diplomats in Israel in recent years, came in response to questions about a potential evacuation-compensation bill in the Knesset. When asked about the issue, Dayan replied: "I'm an economist, and I know that some people will take it if the price is right."

Guess what?

Some people who write for Ha'aretz would move to "occupied" Ariel if the price was right as well!

In both cases, the price would have to be steep to get people to move out of their homes and move elsewhere. This is not a big revelation, if you are being honest with yourself - which is something that Dayan is doing with his statement.

The difference is that a very significant percentage of Jews in Judea and Samaria do live there for ideological reasons, and they aren't going anywhere for any price. Look at how few Jews from Gaza took the money initially - and Gaza does not have nearly the importance to Judaism that the heart of the Land of Israel does.

Ha'aretz does not link to the actual cable, showing its lack of journalistic standards again, as other newspapers who received the cables generally had no problem showing the full text in context so people can make up their own minds. The cable is not at any of the Wikileaks sites I can find - I cannot find any new releases since March 25. The article claims that Dayan was inconsistent with his messages between American leaders and Jews in Judea and Samaria concerning illegal outposts, and that settler leaders are against vigilantes attacking Arabs at random.

More at Israel Matzav

UPDATE: Dayan tells Arutz-7:

"The main thing I said [at the meeting with American officials cited by Wikileaks] and on many other occasions," Dayan said today, "is that even if they offer bribes up to the sky, the number of people who will agree to accept it will be negligible – but that, Haaretz didn't say."

So maybe that's why Ha'aretz isn't releasing the actual memos! Al Jazeera and the Guardian assumed that no one would read them and show they were lying in their Wikileaks articles, but Ha'aretz evidently doesn't want to open up that possibility.

Israeli winery wins international competition

From AFP:

A young Israeli winemaker stood out among a pool of more than a thousand competitors to take the Wine ‘World Cup' in Italy.

Golan Heights Winery, founded in 1983 in Katzrin, Israel, beat thousands of winemakers over the weekend to take the top spot as the best wine producer in the world at the International Wine Competition. The award was announced just ahead of the 45th annual Vinitaly conference in Verona, Italy, an international wine show that attracts 47,000 visitors every year.

The award is presented to the producer who achieves the best overall results at the show, calculated as the sum of the highest scores for two wines which take medals in different categories. A panel of 105 oenologists and wine journalists participated in the judging.

The 3720 wines submitted came from 30 countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Venezuela.

Though the Israeli winemaker has won awards at Vinitaly in the past -- Grand Gold Medals in 2004 and 2006 -- this year's win marks the first time the Gran Vinitaly Special Award was bestowed to an Israeli wine-maker.

The chief winemaker for Golan Heights Winery is Victor Schoenfeld, a graduate of the University of California at Davis, who works alongside professional winemakers educated in California, Burgundy and Bordeaux. The wines are produced under three labels -- Yarden, Gamla and Golan --and are aged in oak barrels.

So now you now the types of wine to find for your Seder table.

Unlikely ice hockey champions - from Israel

I had missed this story last month:

An Israeli hockey team of children ages 11 to 13 took first place in an international tournament recently, beating 91 other teams – all without ever stepping on the ice prior to competition.

The kids, mostly from Bat Yam and Rishon Lezion, dreamed of practicing their hockey moves at a real hockey rink with real ice. Unfortunately the only hockey rink in the entire State of Israel is located up north in Metula, so the inventive team decided to play street hockey instead using rollerblades.

The team, consisting of 17 Israelis, recently competed in a Canadian tournament. They call themselves "The Bat Yam Club" despite the fact that the group members also come from Rishon Lezion as well as two other children from Ma'alot who regularly play ice hockey on real ice.

Many of the teams which took part in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament 2011 came from countries where ice hockey is very popular and played by tens of thousands of kids, including: Canada, the United States, Finland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and more.

Israel was considered to be an underdog in the competition due to the fact that Israeli kids, unlike most of the children participating, only practice their hockey moves on dry ground using rollerblades instead of hockey skates. The Israeli team gets to play at the ice rink in Metula only a few times a year.

"We had five tournament matches, including the final match, and we won them all. The tournament organizers couldn't believe these kids, who barely even know what real ice hockey looks like," said Aaron Aharonovich, chairman of the Rishon Lezion hockey club.

That old black magic is in danger in Saudi Arabia

From Arab News, a story that never gets old:

A total of 30 officials of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) have been trained on how to deal with cases of black magic.

The three-day training program was held in the Eastern Province city of Al-Ahsa.

The commission has achieved remarkable successes in combating black magic in various parts of the country. It has set up nine specialized centers in the main cities to deal with black magicians.

The majority of people arrested for practicing black magic in the Kingdom are Africans and Indonesians.

According to a report received by Arab News, a single specialized center had dealt with 586 cases involving black magic, showing the enormity of the problem.

About 50 cases were reported in Jeddah alone in the first half of 2009. Gurayat and Qunfuda also reported high rates of black magic cases during that year.

The Riyadh governorate last year launched a campaign against black magicians and those who illegally treat people by reading from the Qur’an.

Only qualified Saudis are allowed to practice Qur’anic treatment methods. Expatriates practicing such treatments would be caught and deported.

I've seen plenty of articles about how the Commission is fighting black magic, but I hadn't heard that there are certified Quranic witch doctors before!

Thanks to Allah, I found a webpage that could explain this to me more fully. The author says "I graduated from the US, from where I obtained MA degree in clinical psychology. (Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy), too, I am qualified, since I have memorized the Holy Qur’an."

That site tells you all you need to know about how the Quran can heal you, but how black magic is evil. In fact, the entire reason the Jews did not follow the Prophet is because of a black magic spell! (More on the Jews here.)

I need to study it more fully so I can properly appreciate the role the Quran can play in curing various mental and physical problems. (This is not to be confused with camel urine, which cures other physical ailments.)

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Funny Passover video

From Ayeka:

(h/t JSing)

"Death to Zionist Saudis!"

From Iran's FARS:

Large numbers of Iranian students staged a rally in front of the UN office in Tehran to protest at the massacre of peaceful protestors in Bahrain and other Islamic countries in the region.

Protestors voiced their support for Muslims in Bahrain and other Islamic countries and underlined that they will continue their support for the oppressed people in those states.

The students chanted various slogans such as 'Allaho Akbar', 'Down with the USA', 'Down with the Zionist regime', 'Down with Zionist Saudis', 'Down with American-style Islam' and 'Saudi commits crimes and the UN backs it' to voice their support for people in Bahrain and other Islamic countries.

The students urged the Iranian government to dispatch voluntary forces to Bahrain and in other Islamic states.

Financial Times (behind paywall) reports

Iranian clerics and religious students abandoned their classes and staged protests inside their seminaries to show solidarity with Bahrain’s mainly Shia opposition and to denounce last month’s Saudi military intervention in the archipelago.

At gatherings in the holy cities of Qom and Mashhad, which were attended by senior clerics and aired live on state television on Wednesday, protesters shouted, “Death to Zionist Saudis” and, “The wicked Bahraini ruler is an enemy to Prophet [Mohammed]."

Of course, we already knew that Saudi Arabia was Zionist.

Which is not surprising, since many Muslims know that the Saudis themselves are Jews.

Those Zionists are everywhere!

Lunchtime Links

At least for EDT/CDT....

Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian asks where the other Goldstones are.

Jennifer Rubin reminds us that the US and the UN have agreements with Israel as well - and they are being reneged on.

HRW notices that journalists in the West Bank and Gaza are abused. No surprise there.

But what is a surprise is that not only are reporters threatened by Arab regimes, but they are also bribed.

On the same topic, the Muqata notices what happens in Gaza when a reporter notices that a "martyr" is still alive.

ITIC analyzes Hamas' response to Goldstone's change of heart (although not his possible reversal.)

(h/t Yerushalimey, Lenny, Greg)

Hamas steals a "martyr"'s body

Yesterday morning, Mohammed Shalha was killed at the Gaza border. The IDF said that was armed, the Arabs say he was merely gathering concrete for aggregate.

Firas Press reports that after the body was released to the hospital it was taken to a mosque and Fatah was holding the funeral there.

During the service, Hamas came and took the body to a Hamas mosque, saying that Fatah is not allowed to "adopt" any martyrs in Gaza.

Hamas is still adding "civilian" martyrs to its Cast Lead list

The Al Qassam Brigades website has a large section of "shahids" who were members of that terror group when they were killed, usually by Israel. They are always adding new entries, some from many years ago.

I just saw that at least three more "martyrs" that the PCHR and other human rights groups considered "civilian" were added recently. Two were already on my list of fake "civilians" from other sources, but it still verifies that the methods that my team used to count terrorists were valid.

The two old names I noticed are Ibrahim Youssef Nofal (#106) and Ahmed Badawi (#4).

The new name is #200, ‘Umar Ahmed Hassan Abu Sa’id. His Hamas obituary mentions that he joined the Qassam Brigades in 2004 and was adept at placing IEDs as well as digging tunnels.

And until now, he was counted as a "civilian" in every list I am aware of.

Good news! Only one third of PalArabs support stabbing babies to death!

A new poll by Hebrew University done together with the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research finds:

63% of the Palestinians oppose and 32% support the attack in the Itamar settlement in the West Bank in which a family of five was murdered.

If that isn't a sign of moderation, I don't know what is!

How wonderful it must feel for Israelis to walk around Arabs, secure in the knowledge that only one out of every three would happily cheer their families being butchered. I mean, if you have to take an Arab cab, odds are a solid 2-1 that the driver does not pray for you and your children to die a horrible death.

This is a positive sign that needs to be publicized. Those Israelis who are skeptical of any real sort of peace agreement must now be able to sleep better at night, knowing that the Arabs who celebrate the heinous slaughtering of babies and toddlers are outnumbered.

And this is after Israel withdrew from Lebanon, Gaza and Area A of the West Bank, and after Israel has been dismantling checkpoints, helping the PA economy, sending tons of humanitarian aid to an enemy entity in Gaza, stopping the physical expansion of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria outside their boundaries for many years, and implementing a 10 month building freeze. Just imagine how much more peaceful the Palestinian Arabs would be if Israel did more!

As always, this calls for more compromise on Israel's part to reward this great sign of moderation and peacefulness.

We need more optimism in the Middle East. I think this qualifies.

(h/t Dan)

Fatah groups ask Hamas to return their weapons

From Ma'an:

Fatah-affiliated militant groups in the Gaza Strip have asked the Hamas government to return the weapons seized from fighters in 2007 when the Islamist movement took control of the coastal enclave.

Twelve divisions of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades asked to be rearmed in a letter to the government.

"Our fighters are on alert to confront any Israeli aggression, incursion, or folly," the letter said, asking for the return of their weapons in order to fight the threat.

The signatories of the statement included the Ahmad Abu Ar-Reish Brigades, Jihad Amarein Brigades, Sami Al-Ghoul Brigades, Nabil Mas'oud Brigades, Ayman Juda Brigades, Faris Al-Leil Brigades, Engineering and Manufacturing Brigades, Muhammad Siyam Brigades, Raed Al-Karmi Brigades, Luay Qanna Brigades, Marwan Zalloum Brigades and Palestinian Commandos Brigades.

Look at all those peaceful-sounding Fatah divisions - all with allegiance to the leader of Fatah, that well-known peacemaker Mahmoud Abbas.

From YNet:

A mystery still engulfs the airstrike which took place near the airport in Sudan's main port city of Port Sudan on Tuesday, as the Sudanese media released first images of the strike's scene

According to a state government official, an unidentified plane bombed a car driving in the vicinity of the airport, killing two people. The aircraft flew in from the Red Sea but it was not clear to whom it belonged, Ahmed Tahir, the speaker of parliament in the Red Sea state where the port city is located, told Reuters.

The plane involved in the strike was "foreign", the Sudan media center said later. The report, quoting a member of parliament, said the car was on the road leading to the Port Sudan airport when it was attacked by the plane, which was following it.

In January 2009, a convoy of arms smugglers was hit by unidentified aircraft in Sudan's eastern Red Sea state according to Sudanese authorities, a strike that some reports said may have been carried out by Israel to stop weapons bound for Gaza.

A total of 119 people were killed in that strike near Sudan's border with Egypt, according to state media.

Sudan is a known as a smuggling route exploited by terror groups. Last month, Egyptian security forces claimed that they seized five vehicles transporting weapons to the Gaza Strip. It was reported the weapons were seized along the Sudan-Egypt border and included mortar bombs, grenades, rifles and explosives.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office declined to comment on Tuesday's attack.

Palestine Press Agency indirectly quotes Sudanese intelligence officials as saying that the two killed were a Palestinian Arab - and an Iranian.

More details on how terrorists infiltrated Itamar

YNet shows how Itamar's security failed on the night of the massacre:

The alarm system of the electronic fence surrounding the West Bank outpost of Itamar goes off at exactly 8:59 pm.

Over the next three minutes, seven more warning messages register on the computer screen in the settlement's operation room, indicating that someone might be trying to breach section 20 of the fence. A security officer scours the specified area, but does not find anything unusual.

Things return to normal, with the approval of the settlement's security coordinator, who does not arrive on the scene. No military force is alerted.

That same night, five members of the Fogel family are stabbed to death.

No one sees the terrorists slip in or out of Itamar. They walk around town undisturbed for over two hours.

Itamar is protected by guards provided by a private company, Nof Yam Security. The town's security coordinator, an IDF subordinate, is in charge of these guards. On the night of the attack, guard Yuri Antropov was securing the settlement, answering to coordinator Matanya Ben-Shitrit.

The infiltration took place at a blind spot, hidden by trees and unseen by the town's security cameras. "The area wasn't exposed because the Civil Administration objected," an element of the Samaria defense establishment said. "The IDF knows very well that it is a dead spot. I didn't ask for exposure because it wasn't something achievable." Only after the attack was the area cleared of trees.

If section 20 of the fence was under surveillance, the terrorists could have been identified. But Ben-Shitrit, the security coordinator, said that a camera was not installed because there was no one to finance it. "If the IDF agreed to install a camera here, it would have been here a long time ago," he said.

Moreover, the security guard, who arrived on the scene minutes after the alarm went off, surveyed the area using only his vehicle's head lights. He did not carry a searchlight or night vision equipment; he did not even have a flashlight with him.

According to the defense establishment element, the settlement and the regional council were supposed to equip the guards with flashlights and searchlights, while the army is supposed to provide the night vision devices.

The "smart" fence surrounding the settlement was designed to identify movements caused by touch, cutting or shaking. The computer screen registers the time of the breach, the time that the alarm was turned off by the guard, and the time that the breach was terminated.

"This case did not seem suspicious because animals sometimes touch or collide with the fence for many minutes," Antropov said.

"It was irrelevant because it was a routine occurrence," Ben-Shitrit added. "There can be a shift with 200 fence collisions caused by animals."

But a security source claimed that if the guard was properly trained, he would have realized that it wasn't an animal rocking the fence.

While the fence does not differentiate between animal and human touch, the length of the alarms should have raised suspicion. Out of the eight warning messages that registered on the screen that evening, the longest one lasted 18 seconds.

"According to a test done after the terrorist attack, it takes 10 seconds on average to get through the fence," Antropov said. "A fat tracker got past the fence with a jump, and there was a shock that lasted maybe a few seconds."

Antropov noted that he and his fellow guards did not train extensively on the fence system.
"We were ordered to treat each warning in the dead spot in the same manner, regardless of how long it lasted, by sending a patrolman out," he said. "Only after the attack did the technician explain to us the different lengths."

This security failure had deadly consequences.

All of this is entirely consistent with what Itamar's mayor and his wife said in my interview with them.

The execrable Mondoweiss has a thread where they claim, based on their expert knowledge of course, that Itamar's mayor is lying, that it is impossible to climb such a fence, that there are no blind spots, and that Itamar's security was unbreakable. Comparing that thread with the YNet story is a nice lesson in how much practitioners of misoziony will cling to lies - and even still insist that it was a Jew or a foreign worker that massacred the Fogels.

Video: Babies discuss the Middle East situation

Elder poster sighting at NYU

Atlas Shrugs has photos of a BDS protest and pro-Israel counterprotest at NYU today.

One of the counterprotesters decided to use my advertisement that has been making the rounds in some California papers as a placard - something I never really thought of.

Here are the pro-Israel rally-ers:

And a close-up of the person who is holding my poster:

Nice to know that my efforts are paying off!

(h/t BH in Iowa)

Palestine, 1792

From The New Universal Gazetteer; or, Geographical Dictionary. [With] Atlas, By Clement Cruttwell, 1792, under the entry for Palestine:

The population of this country is also greatly diminished; but at present no certain calculation can be given of it, as the number of inhabitants continually varies, on account of the Bedouin Arabs, who always come hither at certain periods from Arabia, and the country beyond the Jordan, in. order to feed their flocks.

If this country has lost its ancient splendour by the destruction of its cities, and the decrease of its population, it still retains its natural advantages, being beautifully variegated with mountains, hills, and delightful plains.

Its climate is exceedingly good. It seldom rains here ; but this deficiency is supplied by most abundant dews. The cold is never excessive; and if the summer heats are great, they are, however, mitigated by a periodical breeze, which renders them supportable.

Palestine abounds with every thing almost that is useful or necessary for the life of man. It produces wheat, barley, pulse of all kinds, fruits, wine, and oil, in such plenty, that though a part only of the country is cultivated, great quantities of these articles are distributed in the neighbouring provinces of Syria, and even transported to Europe, particularly wheat, barley, and pulse.

With regard to domestic and wild animals, it produces various kinds, many of which are not known in Europe. Cotton grows bere in great perfection, particularly in Samaria and Galilee. Among its productions may be reckoned also silk, tobacco, drugs, and aromatic herbs. The fields and woods, m the proper seasons, abound with flowers of every species ; but notwithstanding those advantages which it enjoys, all Palestine is not cultivated with the fame care as the vast plains of Galilee and Samaria. I observed that the mountainous country towards Jerusalem was more barren than any other part; but there is no reason to suppose; that it has always been in the same condition. The cause of its being at present neglected is, the want of population; for the inhabitants have abandoned the mountains, and retired to the plains, where agriculture is attended with less labour, and where they find mor econveniencies for their cattle.

Even in Galilee and Samaria there are many parts still uncultivated; but, as they abound with grass, they afford pasture to the cattle, which form the whole riches of the Arabs. These people, therefore, would quarrel much sooner for a sheep-fold than for a large tract of country; and, indeed, the only wars which they carry on are undertaken in order that they may rob each other of their oxen, camels, sheep, horses, or goats.

Egyptian presidential candidate obsessed with Israel

From FARS News:

Secretary-General of Egypt's Amal Party Magdi Hussein said confronting Israeli plans in occupied Palestine and supporting the Palestinian nation stand atop his agenda for presidential campaign.

Speaking in an interview with FNA on Tuesday, Hussein announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in Egypt to help establish democracy in his country and materialize people's demands.

Hussein said "confrontation against the Zionist plans in occupied Palestine", among others, is his top priority on the scene of foreign policy.

He viewed Egypt's relations with the Zionist regime as detrimental to his country.

He said "contents and clauses of the agreements signed between Egypt and Israel will certainly be revised" if he is elected president.

Perhaps he is trying to outdo ElBaradei.

It is certainly heartwarming that Egyptians are so unified on one issue: how much they hate their peace partner.

Why do I have the impression that the US will continue to give $2 billion a year to Egypt even if they completely abrogate Camp David?

Worst. Ethnic. Cleansing. Ever.

Hamas' Palestine Times website reports that according to Gaza's Ministry of the Interior, 1142 children were born in Gaza last week.

And the same source claims 100 people died during the week.

(Historically, many Palestinian Arabs would cover up deaths in UNRWA camps in order to get more food and services for their families. Because the only way to lose your refugee status, according to UNRWA, is to die.)

More girls getting abducted in Egypt

Al Masry al Youm is quoted in Arabic media as saying that there has been an increase in the number of girls who are being snatched in Egypt since the revolution.

Five girls have disappeared in recent weeks.

EoZ Hasbara article published (UPDATED)

The Spring 2011 issue of Young Israel Viewpoint has just come out, and it deals with Zionism today.

It has many well-known contributors: Danny Ayalon, Yudi Edelstein, Nobel-Prize winner Prof. Yisroel Aumann, Melanie Phillips, the people who run LatmaTV, StandWithUs, Honest Reporting, Camera...and one other guy:

It is funny to see my anonymous self in print:

The PDF of this issue is now online but why should you have to wait to read what I wrote? Here's my article:

It is no secret that Israel has a severe problem with hasbara. Over the past forty years, the Jewish state has been slowly but surely been transformed in the public eye from a tiny nation proudly defending itself from annihilation into a state that is perceived as an oppressor, a human rights violator, and – to many of its detractors – to one of the most evil regimes on the planet.

Most Zionists who follow the news know how absurd these characterizations are. We also know that Israel is, to put it charitably, inconsistent in getting its message across properly to the world. Everyone complains about it, and everyone has their own ideas on how to fix it – but very few people are actually doing anything about it themselves.

This is a shame, because everyone who is reading this article can help Israel, starting today.

I have a pro-Israel blog, Elder of Ziyon. I have written thousands of articles about Israel and the Arab world over the past six years, and I get a fair number of readers. Lately, I have been using my blog as a laboratory to test out different ways of getting the message across. I can track the number of readers for any particular post, how many times people “tweet” the post and how many link to it on Facebook and other social media sites. Using these methods I can see what works and what doesn’t. The lessons are valuable not only to bloggers but to everyone who cares about helping Israel.

One problem that we Jews have is that we are too logical. Thousands of years of studying Gemara may have made us good at arguing, but it also convinced us that anyone can be swayed by a good argument. So we happily read and write long texts explaining why the “settlements” are legal, why US Resolution 242 does not imply that Israel must stay within the Green Line, and why a blockade of Gaza does not flout international law.

Our enemies, on the other hand, spend their time reaching people on an emotional level. They show photos and videos of crowded camps, of bombed out buildings, of old women crying.

In the real world, the emotional argument wins.

As much as we like to pretend that everyone shares the Jewish love for an innovative and logical thought process, in reality people usually make up their minds about Israel (and everything else) based on their gut. If a person who is not already emotionally invested in the argument one way or the other sees a tear-jerking film that pushes one side of the story, nine times out of ten that person will instinctively gravitate towards the side that pulled at his or her heartstrings.

We need to prioritize our emotional arguments. We need to talk about our deep connection to the land of Israel. We need to emphasize how we have cried every year over the destruction of the Temples. We need to show the human toll that would result from hundreds of thousands of Jews who the world wants to uproot from their homes. We need to describe the pain that would result from losing Har HaZeitim again, and what happened to it during those tragic 19 years that Arabs had control.

Not only is our emotional connection to the Land far deeper than anyone else’s, but no one can argue against love and fear. Emotions are our most potent weapon, but one that we are ceding almost completely to those who hate Israel. We know that we are right from a legal, historical and moral perspective – but we need to humanize the message.

It is not only the message that must hit emotional chords – but also the media that the message is communicated in. People respond to messages that are visceral, and that hit all of their senses. Powerpoints, posters, songs, poetry, film, novels, plays, even cuisine - all need to be employed to impact people on every possible level. Text alone generally does not have the same impact as more visual media.

On the Internet, the goal is to create something that will “go viral” – that ordinary people will see and want to forward to their friends. Videos do better than written articles, and humor is possibly the biggest weapon of all. Most of us have seen Latma’s “We Con the World” video created last year, and it was hugely effective with millions of views on YouTube. Why? Because it was funny, timely, and visceral.

While defending Israel is important, it is vital to go on the offensive. No one wins any games by only playing defense. The fact is that every accusation made against Israel – true or false – can be made much more plausibly and effectively against Israel’s neighbors and enemies. Attack the abysmal human rights records of the Arabs themselves. Publicize how nearly every Arab country has laws that specifically deny citizenship to Palestinians alone.

Arab nations constantly attack Israel to distract their people from their own human rights violations. The recent riots in Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen Egypt and Jordan – and the deadly police responses – prove that Israel is not the problem in the Middle East, not by a long shot. The Arab and Islamic dictatorships, where there is no freedom of expression or of the press, are the ones who need to be put on the defensive.

Beyond that, we need to publicize the good things that come out of Israel every day. Art, dance, fiction, scientific achievements, medical advances – we know it is amazing, but the world doesn't get to see these parts of the country.

So how can you, personally, help?

There are two basic ways to help: by creating pro-Israel content, and by publicizing the best content that is made by others.

For those who have the ability, creativity and time, by far the best thing to do is to apply the concepts of emotional and visceral media to the creation of pro-Israel videos, songs or song parodies, articles, comics, or even video-games and phone apps. One of my readers says that a good romance novel with a strong, masculine Zionist protagonist could do wonders to change Israel's image among those that read them.

Challenge yourself to distill a pro-Israel argument into a 140-character tweet (or even a bumper sticker.) Think outside the box and use your talents! Then send your efforts to popular Zionist websites to get publicized.

Think of ways that Zionist messages can be made available to the world. Do you have interesting video of your last visit to Israel that shows a side of the country that the news media ignores? Upload it to YouTube!

Once one of my readers sent me a photo taken in the Rami Levy supermarket in Gush Etzion, showing a smiling religious Jew joking with an Arab woman. I put it on my blog, to show how life really looks in Judea and Samaria, and a number of European websites picked up the story. A simple thing like that humanizes the “settlers” that the world regards as faceless, evil creatures.

Are you going to a fundraising dinner with a terrific speaker? Take video of the speech and upload it to YouTube. I did this with a speech by Mike Huckabee and thousands of people viewed it – people who would never have even known about it otherwise.

Don’t just write letters to the editor of a local paper – post them on the Internet, too. Make sure that everything you write remains somewhere permanent on the web so that search engines can find it. Put them on a blog (easy to set up) or email them to influential sites, so your points can be seen by many more people.

If you are multilingual, translate the best pro-Israel articles you see into other languages and post or forward them to spread the message. There is a real hunger for pro-Israel content in Europe, and if you can break the language barrier, it can make a big difference.

If an anti-Israel article bothers you, take the time to examine where the logical fallacies are - they are often subtle and such an exercise can hone your own ability to defend Israel. Learn how to take apart an argument from anti-Israel writers, point by point (called “fisking” on the Internet) and expose the lies that they build their essays on. When a good criticism is written quickly after an influential anti-Israel article, it can blunt the effect considerably – but speed is of the essence.

Write your own articles for so-called "citizen journalism" sites that already have a built-in audience. Such sites are often indexed prominently by Google and Bing, and they often lean against Israel so that pro-Israel articles can make a splash.

I don't think that on-line comments on articles in newspapers is necessarily the best way to spend your time, but it is worthwhile to put short pro-Israel messages in the comments if only to show that not everyone agrees with the haters who flood these sites. And don't only put Zionist messages in political sites – if it is appropriate, mentioning Israeli companies in financial sites or Israeli novelists in book sites is very powerful.

If you love to read, Amazon book reviews are a very good way to reach an intelligent, articulate audience.

If you don’t have the time or talent to create content, you can still be a wizard at publicizing good pro-Israel articles and videos. Twitter and Facebook are the major tools you cannot ignore, and they can help make good material get tons of views. Grow your “friend” lists so that your own influence grows, and copy or link to the best articles and videos on Facebook and Twitter.

It is also worthwhile to join social bookmarking sites like Reddit, PopURLs and Delicious. If some material is interesting, people will read it, rate it and link to it themselves.

Similarly, take good material you find and post them to popular message boards. Old fashioned email is essential as well – share your discoveries with friends.

The important point is to publicize the best material. This amplifies the effectiveness of the pro-Israel message immensely - and it only takes a few seconds to retweet or click a Facebook "Like" button that most websites and online magazines have.

Don’t complain about how others aren’t doing enough to help Israel. The Internet allows you to do it yourself, and you can make a real impact!

UPDATE: The magazine is online and you can download it as a PDF.