They Don’t Like Us – Should We Care?
May 17, 2012 15:09 by Simon PloskerIn such a climate, the delegitimization campaign against Israel can grow and spread, giving rise to more attempts at BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions), not to mention a corresponding rise in anti-Semitic sentiment directed against Jewish populations in those countries.
That’s why it is imperative that Israel and her supporters take the results of this BBC survey seriously, starting with the positives. The country that Israel most depends on for diplomatic cover and military support is the United States, where views on Israel have actually improved.
And what of the remaining global 50% who did not answer in the negative concerning Israel? While only 21% held positive views, it means that there are still some 29% of neutrals or undecideds who can potentially be converted either way. It would also be foolish to disregard making inroads into the negatives.
We may not be able to convert all of these people into card-carrying Zionists and it may be unrealistic to expect to turn these negative trends around in a short period of time, particularly given the lack of peace between Israel and the Palestinians as well as the wider view of Israel as another cog in a very unstable Middle East.
There is, however, plenty that can and should be done, starting with holding the media to account for the often biased and one-sided reporting from Israel.
Ensuring that Israel is fairly represented in the media just might be enough to open the eyes of the public to the possibility that there is another side to the story coming out of the Middle East – a story that doesn’t need to endow Israel with the status of a pariah in the company of Iran, Pakistan or North Korea.
The Israeli state and the IDF are steadily improving. Where a flotilla or flytilla would have previously ended in a PR catastrophe now barely register with the media. Where Nakba Day protests would have ended in violence and global accusations of Israeli brutality we now see nothing more than a storm in a teacup.
So if we are capable of at least putting something of a lid on things, please don’t tell me that the game is lost. That 21% of people who are positively disposed towards Israel is a virtual army of advocates. This may be a David v Goliath situation but we know how that turned out.
All it takes is the click of a mouse button, the forwarding of an interesting article, or the writing of an email to the letters page of the local newspaper.
Let’s turn off that drip, drip of negative headlines and articles and start slowly drying out the swamp of anti-Israel bias.
Please consider clicking +1, Tweet, Like or linking to this article on your blog or website. This article is only effective if it reaches a large readership, especially through the Google search engine. Creating a link to this page with the text “BBC Country Poll Israel” helps this article reach the first page search results for the term.
Image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com, flickr/proimos.
Robman
11:40 am
May 24, 2012
No doubt about it, Bush dropped the ball after 9-11. On 9-12-01, he should have reinstated the draft, and from there, put Saudia on notice that if they didn’t clean up their act, we’d do it for them, and we’d hang them all from the same lamp post as our troops marched through Mecca. They’d have likely told us to get lost…and then we should have made good on our threats, and dealt with Iran as well.
Bush was from the Vietnam generation, however, and like most of them – Democrat or Republican – he had no guts whatsoever. “Go shopping”…what a pathetic response!!!
Anyway, “m”, thanks for the kind words. If you want more doses of sanity, check out the following website and subscribe:
http://www.truthprovider.com
ButSeriously: This next election will tell us a lot. Your dire predictions for the U.S. may be true, but I have a guarded optimism that we’ll step back from the abyss.
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0
BUTSeriously
1:01 pm
May 24, 2012
“ButSeriously: This next election will tell us a lot. Your dire predictions for the U.S. may be true, but I have a guarded optimism that we’ll step back from the abyss.”
Great damage has been done, but America will bounce back stronger than before and prove her as an intrinsically varied species from Europe. The Islamic terror threat is not America’s fault and one created and fostered by Europe.
Re Bush’s action of 9/11, Saudi Arabia is a new manufactured country and quite an illegal one, created in secret when oil was discovered. Had America done a take-over as payback and just compensation, the world would have supported her or had no right of disagreement. There is no hope of talking with these regimes – this is the lesson from Israel the past 60 years.
Agree or Disagree:
2 
0
BUTSeriously
1:53 pm
May 24, 2012
Tribute to this man – it takes guts and a bad career move to be like him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeGYAfh9A1k&feature=related
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0
Steve Bronfman
2:33 am
May 25, 2012
Since the BBC only reports negatively on Israel and often distorts the truth to present Israel in the worst light possible then surely they are just reporting on their own handiwork?
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
5 
0
BUTSeriously
3:03 am
May 25, 2012
The BBC is supported by its governments, the reason it gets away with its non-free-speech BS. Its like that in Iranian and Saudi media. Blame historical antisemitic HMAS for its Al Jazeera mode media.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
4 
0
BUTSeriously
4:34 am
May 25, 2012
Some Christians appear fighting for Israel more so than Jews:
http://www.pjtn.org/?p=4615&utm_source=MAY+2012+NEWSLETTER+AND+UPDATES&utm_campaign=PJTN+May+Newsletter&utm_medium=socialshare
Agree or Disagree:
2 
0
Yona
6:51 am
May 25, 2012
If Israel is such a horrible state, then why does it need such strict immigration laws?. Just imagine: If the borders were to be opened, the country would soon be overrun by desperate asylum seekers from all the bloody, corrupt dictatorships around the world, including many muslim ones.
This poll story is just too plump for belief.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
4 
0
Leon Kushner
6:04 pm
May 25, 2012
Of course we should care. But to what extent and what to do about it are the real questions. If you find that most of the people you know hate you, surely you would care. You won’t like it, but you should try to find out why. Once you’ve ascertained the reason(s) you must consider them objectively and honestly. If you find that the reasons are well founded, then you should change your behavior and actions. However if you find that the reasons are ill founded then you should continue your behavior, identify the real reasons for the hatred and those responsible for publicizing it, push your own agenda, try to find like minded supporters of your behavior/actions and most importantly strengthen your position to ensure that those that hate you, do not cause you physical harm.
In Israel’s case, they must remain strong and united both in word and action. We cannot change the opinions of millions of brain washed people who hate us but we can and push our own good image and ethics out there for the rest of the world to see. Most importantly, Israel should do what’s in her best interests. Trying to appease the rest of the world is not a solution and is doomed to fail.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
6 
0
SBSteelers
9:06 pm
May 25, 2012
Churchill once said that if a new dark age emerged the new world would rise to save the old. I believe that can be stretched into the 21st century toward Israel as well. Most Americans don’t think like Europeans thankfully – especially on the right of the American political spectrum. The majority of Americans are center-right. And its not close. The American center-right are fiercely pro Israel. I believe most British are also center-right. The left may own the press and spin everything to fit their anti Israel agenda – and they may be loud – but loudness doesn’t make righteousness.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
5 
0
BUTSeriously
3:20 am
May 26, 2012
“I believe most British are also center-right.”
Sadly, this is a mythical belief when it comes to Jews and Israel. Briton is European in this regard. Britain started the whole ball rolling of today’s Anti-Israelism, general Islamic terrorism and UN/EU bashing of the Jewish state and keeps its flame burning. We shy away from this truth because Britain is closely aligned with America in other ways.
We applaud Churchill, forgetting he said and did nothing of the corruption of the Balfour, and supported it with heinous terms like ‘compromise’ for the removal of some 80% of a tiny land, at the helm of the holocaust:
“IT WILL BE A HISTORIC COMPROMISE TO GRANT TWO STATES IN THE MIDDLE-EAST – ONE FOR THE JEWS AND ONE FOR THE ARABS”
That is the worst Post-W.W.II crime of all, its onus falls directly on Britain. It is the factor which legitimized today’s Islamic terror and serial 2-state demands at the UN, and Britain above all fosters it when Britain above all should be negating such poor math. Its time the evils of Britain were put on the table.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
5 
0