Iron Dome - Blessing or Curse?

There is almost universal recognition of the value of the Iron Dome anti-missile system amongst Israeli citizens.  Watching missiles being shot down out of the sky, which have been fired indiscriminately into the most populated parts of Israel with the purpose of causing death and destruction, is an amazingly impressive and heart-warming sight.  It is difficult not to understand the enormity of the task that Iron Dome is doing, and the thousands of lives that are being saved in the process.   The stark contrast between Israel's investment in defensive systems and Hamas's investment in promoting terror, death and destruction, is difficult to ignore.  Unfortunately, not everybody sees it for the positive force that it is.

In an ironic twist of fate, Iron Dome is also proving to have some negative implications for Israel and her safety.  The fact that Israel has invested so heavily in defending the lives of her citizens, including a substantial investment in the Iron Dome, is causing the current round of operations to look one-sided and unbalanced.  Despite Hamas having fired more than two thousand rockets towards Israel's densely-populated towns and cities in the past two weeks,  "only" three Israeli civilians have been killed as a result of this rocket fire.  This is not due to lack of trying on the part of Hamas. This is all down to Israel taking care of its citizens.  By contrast, a few hundred Palestinian civilians have been killed in the conflict.  This is despite the fact that Israel has taken every precaution to avoid civilian deaths wherever possible.  Many Israeli bombing raids have been called off due to the fact that innocent civilians have been observed in the targeted areas.  This action, perceived as a weakness on the part of Hamas, has given the Hamas leadership the incentive to turn large swathes of the civilian population of Gaza into human shields.  Inevitably, when more civilians are sent into the war zone, more civilians are killed. This serves Hamas's interests.

International opinion seems to ignore defensive and precautionary efforts on the part of Israel, and equally ignores the despicable actions taken by Hamas.  Instead, international opinion counts up the dead bodies in order to decide in which direction it will be swayed.  This has resulted in the international community accusing Israel of a "disproportionate response".  The Hamas leadership has understood this very quickly, and seems to value international opinion and sympathy more than it values the lives of its innocent civilians.  It has decided that dead bodies are good for international public relations, and are more important than preserving the lives of innocent civilians.  They have cynically used this for public relations, to very good effect.  This is a battle that Israel cannot win.  Investing in safety for Israeli civilians means that Israel is losing the moral high ground in the eyes of international community.  The Iron Dome and other defensive measures implemented, are turning the tide of international public opinion against Israel.  Instead of valuing Israel's efforts in defending her citizens, the international community is being fooled by the cynical efforts by Hamas to gain their sympathy and support.

It is horrifying that Hamas seeks sympathy via the death of its innocent civilians, through the glorification of death and using it in the most cynical way possible.  It is even more horrifying that members of the international community cannot see through this for the disgusting behaviour that it is.  Even if these sympathy-seeking tactics are successful, they will never change Israel's approach to valuing life of its own citizens and even of the citizens of its enemies.  Citizens of the State of Israel are enormously proud of Iron Dome, and the wonderful work that it has done in protecting innocent lives.  No amount of sympathy lost as a result of employing life-saving tactics and technologies will change this.

In an ironic way, the Iron Dome has probably saved more Palestinian lives than Israeli ones.  Without the benefit of the Iron Dome protecting Israel, the government and the IDF would have been forced into making much quicker decisions, and ones that are much more far-reaching.  The response to so many rockets fired into Israeli towns and cities causing death and destruction, is likely to have been a much more powerful military and air force reaction to bring the bombimg campaign to an abrupt halt.  The "collateral damage" in terms of Palestinian civilians from such a campaign would have been far greater.  

The value and importance of recognition and support of the international community can never be underestimated.  The actions taken by Hamas to gain this support and recognition have crossed all red lines.  There can be nothing to justify sacrificing the lives of innocent civilians, your own innocent civilians, in return for international sympathy.  It is for this reason that Israel will continue to develop systems to defend its citizens, and Hamas is likely not to do so.  If this comes at the cost of public support and sympathy, so be it.  Israel will never compromise on defending the lives of her citizens.  And the citizens of Israel will never give up on Israel and her defense forces.

Losing the PR War

In the 61 years since Israel's independence, there are many fine achievements that the country can lay claim to. The young state has succeeded in integrating Jews from many different countries and backgrounds. Economic difficulties have been overcome to create a viable economy which can compete with other countries in the region and around the world. Israel's hi-tech industry is considered to be at the leading edge and one of the most advanced in the world. And Israel's military achievements speak for themselves by virtue of having survived over 60 years of almost continuous war and aggression aimed at destroying her very existence. These are but a few out of a lengthy list of worthy and admirable successes.

Whilst the story is an overwhelmingly successful one, there are inevitably a number of failures that have been chalked up along the way. In my view, one of Israel's most significant failures is the poor public image which she portrays in the international community. The lack of success on the public relations playing field was a disadvantage in the early years of Israel's existence. As time progresses, however, this disadvantage is becoming a much more significant problem which requires urgent attention.

In the years immediately following independence, Israel seemed to enjoy some measure of support in the international community. When the stench of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism hung in the air, the nascent Jewish state was considered an underdog. As a general rule, the world likes underdogs. Even though the physical support that this underdog was getting was limited, there was a spirit of supporting Israel, albeit from a distance, in her efforts to survive. Since those days, Israel has progressed in leaps and bounds especially in her military capability. As a result, she is no longer considered the underdog and no longer enjoys whatever sympathy may have been generated in this capacity. In the current time, those that wish to destroy Israel enjoy the position of the underdog and are taking advantage of the advantages that come with this status.

When Israel was a young country with limited population and resources, and battling every day just to stay alive in the sea of Arab hostility, it was understandable that not a great deal of time or effort could be devoted to public relations efforts. In those days, the leaders simply did what they needed to do in order to keep the ship afloat without taking to much heed of what was being said about them or Israel. Necessity was the name of the game. This necessity has, unfortunately, given way to a type of arrogance. This arrogance dictates that Israel is not answerable to any external body or party because her leadership is unique in its concern for Israeli citizens and Jews around the world. So, when those with anti-Jewish or anti-Israeli views attempt to rail-road organisations like the UN into anti-Israeli measures, the government of Israel will not heed their actions and will continue to do what it feels is right and fair for Jews. Whilst this attitude is still a hangover from the time when each day was a fight for survival, Israel lives in a different world which requires a different response.

Although Israel's poor PR effort is a frequent point of discussion for Jews around the world and in Israel, I only realised the real extent of the damage that is being done recently during a dinner with a Jewish work colleague from abroad. His point was very clear. Those that are biased against Israel will be biased no matter what action is taken. There is, however, a vast middle ground of independent thinkers who are available to be convinced. If we are not making the effort to convince them, the enemy camp will inevitably succeed in doing so. And the enemy camp is devoting a huge amount to public relations. Not only that, Israel's friends and supporters including the large numbers of Jews around the world need good Israeli PR to help their cause. They wish to help to defend Israel's position in any way they can, but are getting little help from Israel herself. This begins to frustrate even the best of her friends at a great cost to the overall public relations effort.

There is no doubt in my mind that most of Israel's actions, even those harshly criticised by the outside world, are legitimate and easily defended. When one considers the extent to which Israelis are having to suffer at the hands of terrorists and from continued random attacks on civilians, and compares this to the manner in which the IDF clinically avoids civilian casualties on the enemy side, there is no doubt that Israel's actions can be defended. The lack of an organised, professional, sustained PR effort that runs across the major populations around the world serves simply serves to undermine the legitimacy of the best-laid actions, and is damaging to Israel's image.

In the weekend newspapers, I read of a special unit of Tourist Police whose job it is to ensure that tourists to Israel have the best possible time by helping to prevent them falling victim to petty crime or muggings. This is a country that is at war on two borders, but can devote time and energy to ensure that a tourist who lost his wallet in the holy city of Jerusalem has it returned to him without too much ado. This is the same country that prefers not to destroy a location being used to store ammunition or launch rockets if there is any risk of civilian casualties.

It's a shame that the outside world does not receive these and other stories that could put an entirely different view on the conflict in the Middle East. It is still not too late to begin the PR effort.