Letters to the Editor, Jerusalem Post

jpost.com

The PR front

When I saw the headline “Fire with fire” above a lengthy June 8 letter by Norman A. Bailey and Efraim A. Cohen about MK Nachman Shai’s June 5 opinion piece “Hasbara vs public diplomacy” (Observations, June 5), I thought I would be reading something new and dynamic. Alas not. It was the same, tired bleat about the “dissemination of the truth of what Israel stands for and is doing.”

The offering of education pre-supposes its willing acceptance.

Our enemies consider they know quite enough about us and do not need further instruction.

Certainly the truth should be told – not about us, but about them.

What is needed is a well funded, energetic NGO dedicated to amassing (and disseminating) information about the hypocrisy and lies spread by the bodies (scholastic, commercial, professional, etc.) that advocate the use of boycotts to undermine the state. Such an NGO could say and do things not permitted to politicians or exponents of political correctness.

Short of slander or libel against individuals, no holds should be barred.

OSCAR DAVIES, Jerusalem

In their letter, Norman A. Bailey and Efraim A. Cohen laid it all out clearly.

The wonderful independent groups fighting for Israel’s PR are not able to single-handedly put us in the fore of the battle, and the letter mentions why able diplomats and government officials have never been able to put us ahead. The issue was serious many years ago; today, the almost global results of our ineffective PR are obvious to all.

Cohen’s previous Jerusalem Post letters and op-eds have always been carefully thought out and worth reading. This letter shows not only his concern for the PR of our country, but a lucid and intelligent solution that would be money well spent.

Let’s get on with it, and let’s hear more from Efraim A. Cohen in your paper.

image from

EVELYN ROSS, Herzliya

In “Hasbara vs public diplomacy,” Nachman Shai hit the nail on the head by stating what many activists, individuals and groups that our organization, CoHaV, comes into contact with have been saying for years, that “while the Foreign Ministry is busy working with other governments through diplomatic channels, every single Israeli citizen should be working as a unique individual to promote public diplomacy. We need to connect and communicate with other individuals and create a global network that can deal with the many public diplomacy challenges we’re facing.”

This is exactly what CoHaV, a coalition of public diplomacy groups (the word hasbara should be cast into the trash) has been trying to do by making contact with as many groups and individuals as possible to understand what they are doing and how their ideas can help other groups develop. What is equally important is for the Foreign Ministry to work more closely with these citizen- action groups so that all work toward an aim of common policy.

The activists in Israel probably comprise a quite minuscule segment of the population. It is vital to encourage the public at large to learn to communicate the country’s true face.

The development of the Ambassadors Online program at Haifa University, and the Young Ambassadors program at local schools, is aimed to provide a flow of activists who can counter the challenges of the anti-Israel campaigns.

STUART PALMER, Haifa

The writer is chairman of CoHaV.