Jennifer Rubin tells Israel to get some self-confidence
Jennifer Rubin has an interesting take on the Hezliya conference which I read as her telling Israel to stop apologizing for our existence and get some self-confidence. One gets the feeling that for 11 years the same people, spouting the same positions, have been coming to Herzliya to describe how the rest of the world regards Israel and what an arduous task Israel faces in getting back into the world's good graces. You have to wonder why the Israelis bother. It seems to perpetuate the view that Israel is about strife and bad PR. There is that, but there is also a rich national experience that is crowded out of view.She has a good point.
Here's a suggestion: Invite Europeans and Americans to a conference entirely about Israel -- its economy, its technology, its archaeological findings and its absorption of refugees from other countries. That might at least teach the outside world about the real Israel, as opposed to the media creation that turns Israel into nothing more than a player at odds with the Palestinians, the Muslim countries, the Europeans, etc. Really, can you imagine Russia hosting an annual conference where the world comes to tell Russia about the occupation of Georgia, its testy relationship with other former Soviet states and the danger posed by Islamic radicals? I can't either.
Labels: Herzliya Conference, Jennifer Rubin
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:52 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with Jennifer. Our family was in Israel in summer of '06. What a gorgeous place. And we spent time there with some family friends of ours who are wrapped up in Israel's stellar high tech world. Fabulous.
Then the rockets came in. Their life went on uninterrupted. After some days of rockets flying, we came back to the US, where everyone was totally freaked out about this.
Bottom line, civilians sitting quietly under warcrime rocket attacks (not to mention suicide bombings) is not a good PR move. Over years of it, the outside world has let the rocketeers and bombers have a pass because of how little it seems to bother people right there in that region, including Israel. The case of effects (engineering level descriptions) has not been logically presented as the horror that it is. And now, as we've been trained over these years, people on the southern U.S. border are being expected to "absorb" similar attacks on civilians. Really, the Herzilya people would be the perfect ones to start one thrust that just deals with the badness of attacks on civilians and the response that those attacks should engender among civilized govts. Could even use Mumbai or Juarez as the site, rather than only Israel, if they think they could make the case stronger...
Stupid Jews beg the world to love them. I would be repelled by them and hate them.... wouldn't you have that reaction to someone with no self-confidence? Whining is not an attractive quality in a human being. Its an even less attractive quality in a country.
Somewhere along the way Israel lost pride in itself and in its accomplishments. That's the Israel people admired. Jennifer Rubin is right, if Israel doesn't stand up for itself, no will. Its high time Israel showed the world all the things it does and stop apologizing for being here.
Or things will continue to get worse in the future. What could go wrong indeed
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