(Courtesy of Gerard Leval)

Gerard Leval

My wife and I were recently on vacation for a few days at our Rhode Island beach house. When we are up in Rhode Island, on Shabbat after our morning davening, we often go on long Shabbat shpatzirs — Shabbat walks. Just a couple of miles away from our house is the fishing town of Jerusalem. I always enjoy telling friends in Washington that on Shabbat, Lisa and I walked to Jerusalem — even if it isn’t the real Jerusalem.

Last Shabbat we went on our usual Shabbat shpatzir and meandered into an isolated neighborhood on a small peninsula just across a large pond near our house. We had noted that one of the houses seemed to be flying an Israeli flag and we decided to see if we could locate the owners of the house to laud them for flying the flag. As we were walking through the peninsula, an older gentleman called out a greeting to us. Prompted by this gentleman, who identified himself as Tim, we began a pleasant conversation with him. With a pervasive Irish sense of humor, Tim regaled us with stories about his life in Rhode Island, his brood of children, his time in the military and an assortment of other subjects that seemed to randomly come to mind.

At one point in the conversation, we indicated to Tim that we had seen an Israeli flag flying just a few houses away from his and we asked if he knew the people who were flying the flag. Tim told us that he didn’t, and then he volunteered that he had always strongly supported Israel. We were pleased to hear it but concerned about his use of the past tense. Indeed, as our conversation continued, it veered in a regrettable direction. Tim indicated that, with Israelis “causing children to starve” and “killing innocents,” even “committing genocide,” he could no longer support Israel.

We were obviously taken aback by Tim’s remarks, and we sought politely to persuade him that his perspective on Israel’s role in Gaza was mistaken. We pointed out that no one was starving because of Israeli actions and that Israel was assuredly not committing genocide; that the mainstream press was misleading the world about this. Nothing seemed to dissuade Tim. Arguments about military necessity for the Gaza war (which we cited in light of his stories about his service in the United States Air Force) did not affect him. Reminders about the hostages (whom he seemed to think had been liberated) did not make an impact. Descriptions of the indiscriminate launching of rockets from Gaza against Israeli civilian centers were not persuasive. Nothing seemed to budge him.

Our conversation remained friendly, and when we parted it was on amicable terms. But Lisa and I were deeply disappointed by that part of our conversation that had touched on the Gaza war and Tim’s clear antipathy for Israel’s role.

Although it is always dangerous to draw broad conclusions from single events, there is an obvious lesson to be derived from our conversation with Tim: Israel is badly losing the public relations battle.

When an individual like Tim, who does not seem to be hostile generally to Israel or Jews and who has a military background, has concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza are unjustified and tantamount to wanton harming of a population, there is a need to confront this situation. I write this, not as a critic of Israel’s actions — to the contrary, I believe that Israel’s war is entirely warranted and needs to continue until Israel’s conditions are satisfied. I write this as a strong supporter of Israel to express my profound concern about the extent to which the message regarding Israel’s efforts in Gaza is being so widely distorted and misrepresented.

In particular, I write this in an effort to prompt consideration of how to stop the unmitigated campaign of defamation being conducted by the media, international institutions, academics and progressives.

There is clearly an urgent need to alter the current messaging about the situation in Gaza. It is essential that the principal tools of communication be better mobilized to disseminate the truth about the situation that prompted the Gaza war, the factors that are keeping that war going (namely, the holding of Israeli hostages in terror tunnels and the unwillingness of Hamas to put down its arms in spite of its obvious military defeat) and the actual state of food distribution in Gaza and to counter the defamatory claims that Israel is promoting a famine or committing genocide.

Those within the Jewish community with the knowledge and wherewithal to marshal social media and other instruments of communication need to more skillfully and more aggressively combat the dissemination of falsehoods. Lobbyists in Washington and in other capitals need to confront policy makers who have in increasing numbers accepted the lies being spread throughout the world.

Within the Jewish community, it is necessary to restore the solidarity of support for Israel that has traditionally existed. Too many of our own brethren who believe themselves to be enlightened advocates for human rights are falling into the trap set for them by the antisemites, who use words and phrases that promote false premises that our younger educated elites have been fed for a generation. They need to be disabused of the romance with anti-Zionism (or more precisely antisemitism) that masquerades as humanistic ideology.

Our new friend Tim’s acceptance of the narrative that Israel is killing children and acting immorally reminds us that a failure to confront these lies and misrepresentations can only lead to further isolation of Israel, even from its friends, and, if those who are spreading these lies and misrepresentations have their way, to the very destruction of the state.

The time has come for our community’s leaders, in the United States, in Israel and throughout the world, together, far more vigorously and without ambivalence or trepidation, vociferously and unequivocally, to take up the public defense of Israel. They must do so relentlessly in those areas where they can make a critical difference, in the world of social media, in the mainstream media and through every other means of communication and persuasion available.

Gerard Leval is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of a national law firm.