Love Lost: Global Attitudes to Israel Harden – BBC
– xx –
The BBC commissions an annual poll of international attitudes toward the world’s major nations. The results are in for the 2012 edition (full version) and they aren’t good for Israel.
Evaluations of Israel’s influence in the world—already largely unfavourable in 2011—have worsened in 2012. On average, in the 22 tracking countries surveyed both in 2011 and 2012, 50% of respondents have negative views of Israel’s influence in the world, an increase of three points from 2011.
The proportion of respondents giving Israel a favourable rating remains stable, at 21 per cent. Out of 22 countries polled in 2011, 17 lean negative, three lean positive, and two are divided.
There is only one country in the world where views of Israel have become more favorable…you guessed it: the U.S. Thanks to MFA hasbara efforts and the unrelenting pressure of the Israel lobby, perceptions of Israel here have improved and are now at the highest level (50% positive) since tracking began in 2005.
There are those among the pro-Israel crowd who will argue quite cynically that this is all the support Israel needs. If the rest of the world says Israel can go to Hell, well then, what does it matter? Our sugar daddy is willing to keep the money (and weapons) flowing. The rest of ‘em can go to Hell themselves. Those of us on the left have to concede that they have a point. But only up to a point.
The U.S. is not an island in the world, impermeable and inattentive to attitudes on the rest of the globe. The overwhelming negativity toward Israel will catch up here in the U.S. Take a look at some of the results: Spain-74% negative, up 8 points since 2011, France-65%, up 9 points, German and Britain-69% and 68% respectively, Australia-65%, up 7%, Canada-59% up 7%, South Korea-69%, up 15 points.
Relying on hasbara to bolster your image in the world is the equivalent of running on fumes. Sooner or later the fact that you have no real record to run on is bound to catch up to Israel.
Zionism is nationalism towards the state of Israel. Anti-semitism would be anti Semites – i.e. against a people or race. They are not the same thing at all, although some people may hide anti-semitism behind anti-zionism.
Semites by the way include Arab people, and many Arab people are against the state of Israel as it is currently governed. To use the spurious rhetoric of Mr King, those Arabs would therefore be anti themselves!
Clearly you can be anti-zionist in the same way most sane people were anti-apartheid, and yet not be anti-semitic. There is simply no correlation, although I can see how Zionists do love to conflate the two.
In my opinion, and I accept it is just an opinion, Israel is seen as a North Korean pariah by many precisely because its policies are unjust, whatever their motivation.
You just cannot commit acts of state sponsored violence and hatred against another people you find inconvenient and expect the world to support you.
“Anti-Zionism”, according to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “is nothing less than Antisemitism”.
The nature of racism is such that no matter how good the object of hate, it makes no difference in the hatred against them. Those such as Silverstein, who advocate that Israel should adopt policies that would make itself more vulnerable to conquest by its Islamist foes as a way to improve PR, only serve to strengthen the racists who hate Zionism as a concept. That hate will not be dispelled even if the Jews are again scattered to the wind and helpless. The only chance is if Israel is permitted to absolutely crush even the thought of Arab resistance, as it was in July 1967. The idea of a feasible resistance only returned after Arabs were astounded to see Jewish liberals making concessions to them, the conquered aggressors! So thank you Richard for instigating war, not peace.
The Jews had dispersion from their land for 2000 years. Never again, Mr. Silverstein. Never again.