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The War of Words exchange, part 1: ‘Israel is facing a war waged through words, images and ideas’

[additional-authors]
August 12, 2015

Dr. Einat Wilf is a Senior Fellow with the Jewish People Policy Institute (where we work together) and the Baye Adjunct Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. She was Chair of the Education, Sports and Culture Committee, Chair of the Knesset Sub-Committee for Israel and the Jewish People, and Member of the influential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the 18th Knesset. Previously, Dr. Wilf served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and a strategic consultant with McKinsey & Company. Born in Israel, she served as an Intelligence Officer in the Israel Defense Forces. Dr. Wilf has a BA in Government and Fine Arts from Harvard University, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. She is the author of three books on Israeli society.

The following exchange will focus on her new collection of essays, Winning the War of Words: Essays on Zionism and Israel.

***

Dear Dr. Wilf,

I'd like to start off our exchange by asking about your book's potential readership: what kind of audience is this book intended for, what kind of need is it intended to fill, and what do you expect your readers to take away from it?

Yours,

Shmuel. 

***

 Dear Shmuel,

Over the past few years, especially since leaving the Knesset, I have been serving as a kind of “Roving Ambassador” for Israel and Zionism. In this context, I have spoken to a wide variety of audiences – from African businessmen to Hispanic politicians and Chinese academics, to European members of parliament and students from all backgrounds.

By interacting with these diverse groups, I learned that while everyone has heard of Israel and the conflict, very few people have had the chance to delve more deeply into Zionism, Judaism, what it means to be the Jewish state, the nature of the region, and the fundamentals of the conflict.

The conversations I had with these groups were often the first time that many of the participants became acquainted with the inspirational history of Zionism, the complex and endlessly argumentative nature of Judaism, and the deep root causes of the conflict. Having been exposed to this information, many of them asked for further reading and an opportunity to continue reflecting on these issues.

Since these are issues that I have been grappling with and writing about for years, I thought that by putting together my top essays in one simple compilation, it would serve those who seek to read more on the topic.

The book is intended as a kind of “public service” to the members of the groups with whom I’ve met over the years. They are my primary audience for the book. They have already been to Israel or, by attending my talks abroad, have shown interest in Israel. They have already been exposed to the basics about Israel and have expressed interest in learning more. So, first and foremost, the book is for them.

The broader audience for my group includes people who are engaged in Israel’s defense – whether in the media, on campus, or around the dinner table (in the increasingly rare cases that Israel is brought up in polite society).

For several years now, I have argued that Israel is facing a war that is not waged by means of tanks and bombs, but through words, images and ideas. I have argued that while this war is waged by non-violent means, its ends are violent. Having been exposed to this war in numerous arenas, I have concluded that its ends are neither the attainment of peace nor the promotion of human rights, but the destruction of the State of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.

As someone who deeply cares about ending the conflict that is based on the vision of mutual recognition of the deep attachment of both peoples to land, I have become acutely aware that those who wage the war of words against Israel do not share this vision. They completely deny that the Jewish people have any rights to the land and promote a supremacist version of exclusive Arab rights to the land.

In my experience, speaking to a wide variety of audiences of all faiths, nationalities, professions and backgrounds, the way to win this war of words is to highlight the complexity of the region’s history, to explain the deep roots of the conflict, to demonstrate that both sides are acting based on their own notions of history and justice, and to present a vision of peace that is based on this mutual recognition.

The essays in the book do just that. The first section highlights the challenges in the region; the second section discusses the deep roots of the conflict and how the international community so often makes peace less likely by failing to address those causes; the third section presents my vision for peace; and the fourth tells the story of Zionism from my perspective. This last section is of particular importance in winning the war of words since, sadly, Zionism and our story have been hijacked by our detractors and much of the work before us is to go back and tell our story to the world.

The essays in the book have all emerged from my interactions around the world and they distill the arguments and ideas that resonated most with these audiences.

Since the book is a public service for both of the intended audiences, I decided to provide it in a free download format. For me, hoping to contribute to winning the war of words, getting the message out there is the most important thing.

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