I’m also a “ keyboard warrior” but I’m convinced that the following things make Jews efforts to win the information war a false hope.
1) numbers: there’s 10’s of millions of them and only 15 million of us. They make louder noise
2) even those I call “the persuadables” are infected by what I identify is an antisemitic gene. That’s the only way to explain why intelligent otherwise thoughtful folks will immediately give credence to anti- Israel propaganda and default to a presumption that Jews did evil. It’s Why these say people accept mis-definition of “genocide” “apartheid” “colonialism” “self-defense” “proportionality” and others only when it comes to Jews.
3) the oppressors v oppressed narrative is fixed in multiple generations. So much so that a country of 9/million Jews can be seen as oppressing people who, worldwide out numbers them by multiples. And 15 million Jews worldwide can be blamed as the source of all evil.
4) the west is being Islamized at an astonishing rate. Indeed the reason Western Europe, NATO nations sat on their hands: fear of their jihadist population.
I think we should stop explaining why Jews should be allowed to live and be left alone. We need to learn how to defend ourselves, to fight kineticly and unashamedly when necessary and teach our children self-defense. And we must teach our children to live as proud Jews, marry Jews , have Jewish children to teach and survive and thrive as did our ancestors. We need to be “eternal people” who outlast the present haters despite their hate. We’ve done that for centuries.
Respectfully disagree. War is fought on many fronts. Netanyahu, it must be remembered, made his career on being a Netanyahu, it must be remembered, made his career on being an effective communicator on the history and rights of Israel. See my above post to Onnappeal. But…
Nope. I wasn’t replying to you. The person I was replying to vanished from the thread. He told me that if I had a wife or girlfriend, they deserved to be raped.
And no, it’s not a war. It’s a one-sided slaughter/genocide. War requires state to state conflict, and as we all know, the Palestinians are denied a state.
You must maintain the PR war, AIPAC, etc. Israel exists only because if the brilliant minds of it people, and military strength will not be enough. You are outnumbered, outgunned, out-economied by enemies.
From BIBI, the autobiography of your oft maligned PM. It is worth reading, As is the Less friendly THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF BENJAMIN NETANYAHU by Neil Lochery
The basic fact is that there are far more Muslims in the world than Jews. They have infiltrated „The West‘ coming from a world where there is no democracy, no critical thinking, only obeyance, Machism, obedience. „The West“ has transferred its "historical guilt" towards the Jews onto the rolling Islamists whom to contradict gets defamed as "racism". Everyone knows it, but no one dares to speak it out. Criticizing Islam gets labelled as „racism“ - „even“ by many Jews themselves -, while „criticizing“ Israel gets named „justified Israel Critics“. People are fed up with and disgusted by the prohibitions bans against naming the essentially racist Islam incapable of criticising itself. Now translate that into a 90 seconds TikTok Video without getting censored. To Gays who are that utterly DUMB to vote for „Queers in Palestine“, voting for themselves to be thrown off rooftops and who should rather land in mental institutions than watching Videos.
Not that I’m any expert but I believe reading (or writing) long articles on how Jews in general and Israel in particular need to improve at messaging is a big waste of time. No amount of messaging can overcome the general antisemitism of the world’s media or of the world’s political leaders.
Just be Jewish and proud of it and be prepared to defend yourself. And to all those spewing hatred and misinformation about Israel I am grateful that I have two middle fingers to offer in response.
As long as in the heart within, The Jewish soul yearns, and to the east, onward
An eye looks toward Zion
Our hope is not yet lost, The hope of two-thousand years, To be a free nation in our land, The Land of Zion, Jerusalem.
These deeply beautiful sentiments are calming, quietly moving, and inspiring, like Naomi Shemer’s “Jerusalem of Gold”
ירושלים של זהב
And my singing is transformative. She relaxes and falls asleep, and my voice deepens and gains resonance.
“Michelle,” by Noam Bettan, Israel’s 2026 entry to Eurovision, like other Israeli entries to Eurovision, inspired millions globally, perhaps 10’s of millions, Leonard Cohen, no less than Bob Dylan, inspired generations. But while Dylan was ethnically Jewish, his only Jewish song was “Neighborhood Bully,” in 1983. Cohen’s work, like Dylan’s, was informed by Jewish civilization, themes, and culture, but he never stepped back from Judaism and Klal Yisroael.
We need more Jewish artists, comedians, singers, songwriter, thinkers, and writers to stand up, like Gal Godot, Scarlett Johansson, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, etc.
And maybe they should get together, buy 51% of the NY Times, today worth $11.95 Billion so for around $6.0 Billion, fire Nicholas Kristof, and change the editorial direction.
Jews have the biggest obstacle to overcome and that is the original blood libel; it never happened no matter what we used. The persuasion must follow that the Marxist, and now Islamist textbook. It starts with the youngest generation and it is slow, about 40 years. It takes money and a lot of money but we must do it - Elon Musk money. He is persuadable.
Joshua, this may be the article I've agreed with most.
What you're describing is exactly the problem. The battlefield changed decades ago, and we kept fighting the last war. Israel became brilliant at intelligence, technology, and military operations, while its opponents focused on narratives, slogans, symbols, education, media, and culture.
What frustrates me is that we still don't seem to grasp the scale of the challenge. We have thousands of talented people, organizations, writers, activists, and donors all doing good work, but there is very little coordination. It often feels like a thousand lights shining in a thousand different directions. Meanwhile, the other side has managed to create simple messages, simple symbols, and simple narratives that reach ordinary people instantly.
You're also right that most people are not ideological fanatics. They are busy. They are not reading policy papers or studying Middle East history. They respond to stories, emotion, repetition, and people they trust. Whether we like it or not, that's the battlefield now.
The only place where I would go even further is this: we need to start treating the information war as an actual war. Every war requires strategy, leadership, priorities, and coordination. Too often we seem content simply reacting while the other side sets the agenda.
Jews HAVE published ‚Comic“ films/videos that „won internationational Prices“ a.o. about the former Lebanon invasion. Would making comics about the imbecility of Islam or their supporters win „International Prices“ who get rewarded ny the same people that would necessarily be criticized in such videos ? You might as well believe in fairy tales. Islam and Leftists are fundamentally humourless, you can hold a thousand mirrors to them, they will only reject it and look away. Of course I“ m eager to see that translated into a 90 sec.TikTok video.
Israel is on its own, and as history shows, it always has been.
America has previously involved itself in conflicts in places like Iraq and Afghanistan in attempts to help local populations, a subject documented in numerous books. U.S. soldiers fought a thankless fight in environments where it was difficult to distinguish between friend and foe, yet America learned nothing from these experiences.
"Jew have over 3,000 years of history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. Everything Jews have was paid for, fought for, died for." Menachem Begin
"For the Israelis, there is no other home. There is no place to go back to. And the lesson of their history is very clear. Jews can never again risk life without a state, they can never again be a people without an army." Douglas Murray
You state, "The Arab world stopped trying to defeat Israel on the battlefield decades ago”. Not true. The Arab COUNTRIES may have stopped trying, but Arab militias supported by Iran have not stopped.
I believe that the phrase, “I've made up my mind, don’t confuse me with facts”, applies to the anti-semites of the world. The overwhelming volume of misinformation and disinformation on social media that confirms the mindset of the antisemites and antizionists is difficult to fight despite the efforts of people like Haviv Rettig Gur and organizations such as the Israeli Institute of New Zealand.
The persecution of the muslim Uyghurs in northwest China and Rohingya in Burma are probably unknown to the vast majority of college age adults as there are not hundreds of journalists reporting on their actions every day.
we need to counter the arguments that 1. The international community is in charge of how Jewishness is defined and who is or is not a Jew by asserting our exclusive right to define ourselves and that 2. Jewish Israelis are inherently illegal occupiers without International standing or right to self defense. So long as the nations erase us by redefining Jewishness or just asserting we have no legal right to survive under international law then the PR battle is lost before it is won. The same people raging through American streets shouting "there's no such thing as an illegal person" chant "there's no good settler but a dead settler" the next day. My acquaintances wil endorse CRT, DEI, and anti-racism and then gentile-splain to me that "Israel is evil".
Rather than all the essentially nonuseful rhetoric; Perhaps time to subject the perpetrators of such egregious rhetoric targeting Israel as a forerunner to eliminating our JewishPeople to effectively use the legal system, and make the perpetrators financially responsible for the consequential ‘damages’ caused. B.P.
Thanks. Finally an essay with some hope. Israel has fought and given so much. Optimism is a weapon we have to incorporate into our arsenal, otherwise no amount of bombs will produce a victory over the Jew haters.
I’m also a “ keyboard warrior” but I’m convinced that the following things make Jews efforts to win the information war a false hope.
1) numbers: there’s 10’s of millions of them and only 15 million of us. They make louder noise
2) even those I call “the persuadables” are infected by what I identify is an antisemitic gene. That’s the only way to explain why intelligent otherwise thoughtful folks will immediately give credence to anti- Israel propaganda and default to a presumption that Jews did evil. It’s Why these say people accept mis-definition of “genocide” “apartheid” “colonialism” “self-defense” “proportionality” and others only when it comes to Jews.
3) the oppressors v oppressed narrative is fixed in multiple generations. So much so that a country of 9/million Jews can be seen as oppressing people who, worldwide out numbers them by multiples. And 15 million Jews worldwide can be blamed as the source of all evil.
4) the west is being Islamized at an astonishing rate. Indeed the reason Western Europe, NATO nations sat on their hands: fear of their jihadist population.
I think we should stop explaining why Jews should be allowed to live and be left alone. We need to learn how to defend ourselves, to fight kineticly and unashamedly when necessary and teach our children self-defense. And we must teach our children to live as proud Jews, marry Jews , have Jewish children to teach and survive and thrive as did our ancestors. We need to be “eternal people” who outlast the present haters despite their hate. We’ve done that for centuries.
And Israel should keep killing the bad guys.
“I think we should stop explaining why Jews should be allowed to live and be left alone. “.. Right. “ it’s our land. Done explaining.
Respectfully disagree. War is fought on many fronts. Netanyahu, it must be remembered, made his career on being a Netanyahu, it must be remembered, made his career on being an effective communicator on the history and rights of Israel. See my above post to Onnappeal. But…
🇮🇱. Never forget- Never again
“Never Defenseless Again “
Nope. I wasn’t replying to you. The person I was replying to vanished from the thread. He told me that if I had a wife or girlfriend, they deserved to be raped.
And no, it’s not a war. It’s a one-sided slaughter/genocide. War requires state to state conflict, and as we all know, the Palestinians are denied a state.
You must maintain the PR war, AIPAC, etc. Israel exists only because if the brilliant minds of it people, and military strength will not be enough. You are outnumbered, outgunned, out-economied by enemies.
From BIBI, the autobiography of your oft maligned PM. It is worth reading, As is the Less friendly THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF BENJAMIN NETANYAHU by Neil Lochery
The basic fact is that there are far more Muslims in the world than Jews. They have infiltrated „The West‘ coming from a world where there is no democracy, no critical thinking, only obeyance, Machism, obedience. „The West“ has transferred its "historical guilt" towards the Jews onto the rolling Islamists whom to contradict gets defamed as "racism". Everyone knows it, but no one dares to speak it out. Criticizing Islam gets labelled as „racism“ - „even“ by many Jews themselves -, while „criticizing“ Israel gets named „justified Israel Critics“. People are fed up with and disgusted by the prohibitions bans against naming the essentially racist Islam incapable of criticising itself. Now translate that into a 90 seconds TikTok Video without getting censored. To Gays who are that utterly DUMB to vote for „Queers in Palestine“, voting for themselves to be thrown off rooftops and who should rather land in mental institutions than watching Videos.
I'll be honest about my perspective here - keyboard warrior in London.
It has taken me A LOT of reading to understand Israel's history and the struggles of the Jewish people.
And I know there's a lot I don't understand or am yet to learn.
But knowing what I know has made me an ally through and through.
Now how to bundle what I know into a 30 second tiktok.
Have to change the narrative FROM a longtime oppression of the Palestinians to defense of an Arab world hellbent on pleasing mohammed!
GOD BLESS ISRAEL AND ITS PEOPLE
Not that I’m any expert but I believe reading (or writing) long articles on how Jews in general and Israel in particular need to improve at messaging is a big waste of time. No amount of messaging can overcome the general antisemitism of the world’s media or of the world’s political leaders.
Just be Jewish and proud of it and be prepared to defend yourself. And to all those spewing hatred and misinformation about Israel I am grateful that I have two middle fingers to offer in response.
My granddaughter, less than a year old, I sing her to sleep with Hatikvah.
כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה,
וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח, קָדִימָה, עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה,
עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ, הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם, לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ, אֶרֶץ צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם.
As long as in the heart within, The Jewish soul yearns, and to the east, onward
An eye looks toward Zion
Our hope is not yet lost, The hope of two-thousand years, To be a free nation in our land, The Land of Zion, Jerusalem.
These deeply beautiful sentiments are calming, quietly moving, and inspiring, like Naomi Shemer’s “Jerusalem of Gold”
ירושלים של זהב
And my singing is transformative. She relaxes and falls asleep, and my voice deepens and gains resonance.
“Michelle,” by Noam Bettan, Israel’s 2026 entry to Eurovision, like other Israeli entries to Eurovision, inspired millions globally, perhaps 10’s of millions, Leonard Cohen, no less than Bob Dylan, inspired generations. But while Dylan was ethnically Jewish, his only Jewish song was “Neighborhood Bully,” in 1983. Cohen’s work, like Dylan’s, was informed by Jewish civilization, themes, and culture, but he never stepped back from Judaism and Klal Yisroael.
We need more Jewish artists, comedians, singers, songwriter, thinkers, and writers to stand up, like Gal Godot, Scarlett Johansson, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, etc.
And maybe they should get together, buy 51% of the NY Times, today worth $11.95 Billion so for around $6.0 Billion, fire Nicholas Kristof, and change the editorial direction.
Jews have the biggest obstacle to overcome and that is the original blood libel; it never happened no matter what we used. The persuasion must follow that the Marxist, and now Islamist textbook. It starts with the youngest generation and it is slow, about 40 years. It takes money and a lot of money but we must do it - Elon Musk money. He is persuadable.
Joshua, this may be the article I've agreed with most.
What you're describing is exactly the problem. The battlefield changed decades ago, and we kept fighting the last war. Israel became brilliant at intelligence, technology, and military operations, while its opponents focused on narratives, slogans, symbols, education, media, and culture.
What frustrates me is that we still don't seem to grasp the scale of the challenge. We have thousands of talented people, organizations, writers, activists, and donors all doing good work, but there is very little coordination. It often feels like a thousand lights shining in a thousand different directions. Meanwhile, the other side has managed to create simple messages, simple symbols, and simple narratives that reach ordinary people instantly.
You're also right that most people are not ideological fanatics. They are busy. They are not reading policy papers or studying Middle East history. They respond to stories, emotion, repetition, and people they trust. Whether we like it or not, that's the battlefield now.
The only place where I would go even further is this: we need to start treating the information war as an actual war. Every war requires strategy, leadership, priorities, and coordination. Too often we seem content simply reacting while the other side sets the agenda.
In any case, excellent article.
Jews HAVE published ‚Comic“ films/videos that „won internationational Prices“ a.o. about the former Lebanon invasion. Would making comics about the imbecility of Islam or their supporters win „International Prices“ who get rewarded ny the same people that would necessarily be criticized in such videos ? You might as well believe in fairy tales. Islam and Leftists are fundamentally humourless, you can hold a thousand mirrors to them, they will only reject it and look away. Of course I“ m eager to see that translated into a 90 sec.TikTok video.
Israel is on its own, and as history shows, it always has been.
America has previously involved itself in conflicts in places like Iraq and Afghanistan in attempts to help local populations, a subject documented in numerous books. U.S. soldiers fought a thankless fight in environments where it was difficult to distinguish between friend and foe, yet America learned nothing from these experiences.
"Jew have over 3,000 years of history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. Everything Jews have was paid for, fought for, died for." Menachem Begin
"For the Israelis, there is no other home. There is no place to go back to. And the lesson of their history is very clear. Jews can never again risk life without a state, they can never again be a people without an army." Douglas Murray
You state, "The Arab world stopped trying to defeat Israel on the battlefield decades ago”. Not true. The Arab COUNTRIES may have stopped trying, but Arab militias supported by Iran have not stopped.
I believe that the phrase, “I've made up my mind, don’t confuse me with facts”, applies to the anti-semites of the world. The overwhelming volume of misinformation and disinformation on social media that confirms the mindset of the antisemites and antizionists is difficult to fight despite the efforts of people like Haviv Rettig Gur and organizations such as the Israeli Institute of New Zealand.
The persecution of the muslim Uyghurs in northwest China and Rohingya in Burma are probably unknown to the vast majority of college age adults as there are not hundreds of journalists reporting on their actions every day.
we need to counter the arguments that 1. The international community is in charge of how Jewishness is defined and who is or is not a Jew by asserting our exclusive right to define ourselves and that 2. Jewish Israelis are inherently illegal occupiers without International standing or right to self defense. So long as the nations erase us by redefining Jewishness or just asserting we have no legal right to survive under international law then the PR battle is lost before it is won. The same people raging through American streets shouting "there's no such thing as an illegal person" chant "there's no good settler but a dead settler" the next day. My acquaintances wil endorse CRT, DEI, and anti-racism and then gentile-splain to me that "Israel is evil".
Rather than all the essentially nonuseful rhetoric; Perhaps time to subject the perpetrators of such egregious rhetoric targeting Israel as a forerunner to eliminating our JewishPeople to effectively use the legal system, and make the perpetrators financially responsible for the consequential ‘damages’ caused. B.P.
Thanks. Finally an essay with some hope. Israel has fought and given so much. Optimism is a weapon we have to incorporate into our arsenal, otherwise no amount of bombs will produce a victory over the Jew haters.