# 459 – Hasbarah

Hasbarah

Over 450 Letters I’ve written, and this is perhaps the first that is headlined in Hebrew.

Means ‘publicity/explanation/propaganda’.

[And by strange coincidence, a close friend wrote today: “Israel is losing the propaganda war.]

“More than 100 pro-Palestine rallies to take place across UK, say organisers” is one of today’s headlines in the UK’s Guardian.

You can’t blame me for giving up on my beloved UK. I see NO mention of Israel’s heartache of the hostages. Nor of the whereabouts of Hamas in the UK or any other foreign press.

Now it has been announced that Al Shifa is being force-evacuated by the IDF. We KNOW our army is acting as decently as possible under the terrible and dangerous circumstances. And we see what the foreign news is saying about us.

Ceasefire! Humanitarian Corridor! Stop the Genocide! Provide fuel, water, medical supplies!

No one, NOT ONE, says ‘Be Careful. Thousands of Hamas terrorists are still hiding among the people, and they’re still holding many hostages’. (It’s obvious that many hostages are dead – ‘collateral damage?’ Think about that. Hamas says hostages have been killed because of Israeli bombing. What else could it be?).

Can the Jews do anything right?

‘Jews are clever’. That seems to come up often. Well, they were the first to believe in one god. (Some people see that as clever). but almost the only other generality that can be thrown at the Jews is their ability to survive persecution as a minority. That survival has come as a result of several factors: unity, compassion, education, productivity, resulting in prosperity – and those factors helped create the vicious circle from which, throughout over 3,000 years, the Jews have been unable to escape.

Then came the pogroms, and the obvious need for a ‘homeland’. The idea grew, gained support. But, it was the Holocaust which broke the camel’s back.

So the Diaspora Jews joined those who had been living here ‘forever’ – such as Aviva’s family – we have the family tree going back to the Spanish Inquisition – and brought with them ‘Unity, compassion, education, productivity, resulting in prosperity’. But that was not enough to survive.

We had to learn to fight. We had to build an army, a navy, an air force, military intelligence, defensive systems. Even our peaceful kibbutzim were located in strategic positions in order to frustrate the enemy.

Still antisemitism did not go away. In fact, it acquired an additional name: anti-Zionism – or anti-Israel.

I know. This is not ‘fun-reading’. I would not blame those who skipped over these paragraphs.

But….don’t fall into the trap of thinking that Israel is ‘different’ to your country. Many of your countries are already experiencing intifadas. USA, UK, France. Spain, Kenya, Bali, New Zealand, Belgium are some which come quickly to mind. (Oh, and just about every Arab/Muslim country).

Why are you letting this happen?

Why are we losing the propaganda war? Sorry, but it’s time the spade is called ‘a spade’. For 2-3.000 years antisemitism raised and lowered its traditional and ancient head. It was expected to peak with the introduction of Zionism and the establishment of a home for the Jews. But it did not take 2 major factors into consideration: the dramatic rise and expansion of Islam, and ..social media, the ability to spread words, instantaneously.

In this case, the words are hate-filled, lie-filled and covered in antisemitism. There can be no other explanation!! Those few in the world who know Jews, or, better, have visited Israel, know that we are one of the few decent and moral peoples around.

Yes but:

– What about the right-wing policy-makers in today’s Israeli govt? They are disgusting, they came in using democracy in the worst way, they have only ruled Israel for 1 of its 75 years, and they will be out yesterday!!

– What about the settlers who go out and kill their Arab neighbours? When we throw out the current govt., we pray that such ugly exceptions will be thrown in jail. (You should also ask about the militant Arabs in the West Bank, but let’s stick to the subject).

– What about the Jews who march against Israel? Classic example of democracy.

– What about extreme religious? Extreme is always wrong. They are a minority, but we also are worried.

– What about the Jewish banks and people like George Soros? Sorry, next question…That’s classic antisemitism and/or conspiracy theorism. I don’t have the space in my life for that.

Btw, it is incredible and beautiful how this country has adopted the Blitz mentality. I know it’s ‘not the same’, but we have around 1/4 million currently internally displaced. These are refugees from the Negev region, many of whose homes have been destroyed – apart from the massacre of their families – and also from the northern border regions, away from Hezbollah’s rockets. These people are being looked after in every possible way.

Compassion. And what do these people have in common? No, not Judaism – some are not Jews. They are Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Druze, foreign workers. As far as the country is concerned, they are all Israeli, and need help.

75% of the country’s vegetables came from the Negev area, devastated by Hamas. 20% of the fruit. 7% of the milk. Nearly 80,000 normally work the farms: 45% Israeli, 33% foreign (mostly Thai) and almost ¼ were Palestinian. At least 32 Thai workers were killed on Oct 7, and 23 others became hostages. Over 10,000 Thai went home. 20,000 remain here.

Around 130,000 Palestinians worked in Israel before Oct 7. That’s non-Israelis from Gaza and the West Bank. Most worked in construction, but quite a few in agriculture. Currently, around 7,000 cross the border daily from the West Bank. None from Gaza.

Thank God for the volunteer pickers, milkers, gatherers from across the country and from overseas.

And not all these wonderful volunteers are Jewish. They just know this is a decent country.

Where does all this anti-Israel flag-waving come from? Do you really think it started because of the very tragic story emanating from Gaza? Gosh…wake up!

Finally, back to Gaza.

– Still not enough proof for of Hamas HQ in hospitals etc.

– Pressure on the IDF mounting to escape the label of genocide.

– Where are the hostages? Where are Hamas leaders?

– Have they moved to the south? Are we to face similar tragic stories there (expanded dramatically on Al Jazeera – which still blames Israel for killing 500 in the hospital)?

Stephen