SWU Conference Session: How to Defend Israel

Israel supporters should always make it clear that they support a two-state solution.

This, according to Dr. Michael Harris, co-founder of San Francisco Voice for Israel. Harris made his remarks to attendees at StandWithUs’ (SWU) “Israel in Focus” International Conference this past weekend at the Hyatt Regency at Los Angeles International Airport.

Stating support for a two-state solution is the way to debate those who are anti-Israel, Harris said. Anti-Israel extremists, he said, can’t bring themselves to support a solution that would provide legitimacy to a Jewish state.

Harris suggested confronting those who are anti-Israel with the question, “I support peace between Israel and the Palestinian people, what about you?” to see if they try to “weasel” out of it with a statement along the lines of, “I support equal rights for everyone.” Then, he said, you can corner them on that statement.

Harris advocated following what he calls the ARM method:  Answer, Reframe, Message. As an example, he pointed to the claim that Israel kills  children on the Gaza border. He said, Israel advocates should respond with, “This is a tragedy,” but then re-frame it by asking, “Why is Hamas bringing children to a site where they’re violently attempting to invade Israel? Why are they using them as human shields? Hamas has turned Gaza into an armed terrorist camp,” Harris said. “They are the ones who bear a moral responsibility for this.”

He added that playing on people’s emotions is important. He noted that the anti-Israel crowd typically does this by naming Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces. But Israel advocates can play the same game, Harris said, whether it’s raising awareness about people who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists or highlighting specific individuals whom Israel has helped with its humanitarian work.

Harris listed five commandments that Israel advocates should abide by when debating: tell the truth, avoid ad hominem attacks, don’t generalize with overly broad statements, don’t use extreme rhetoric and focus on the desire for peace. For instance, Israel advocates shouldn’t make statements such as all Palestinians support terrorism or that all supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement like Hamas.

On the issue of BDS, Harris said that the movement’s call for a “right of return” for all Palestinian refugees is essentially calling for the destruction of the Jewish state, as doing so would result in Arabs outnumbering Jews, 9.5 million to 6.6 million, respectively.

Harris said there is inherent anti-Semitism in the BDS movement,citing as examples pro-Palestinian students at UC Davis chanting “Allahu Akbar” at Jewish students during a 2015 BDS resolution vote and BDS supporters calling for American Jewish musician Matisyahu to be removed from the 2015 Rototum Sunsplash festival in Spain for not endorsing Palestinian statehood.

“This is what all of us are fighting back against,” Harris said. “If the Jewish community doesn’t stand up for this, who will?”