Pollak chips in with potential soft-power answers...

Submitted by Dave (Israel), Jun 2, 2010 at 04:29

Mr. Pipes,

I appreciate articles like this one and that by Meir Javedanfar in The Diplomat, which analyze the broader issues at play here. Noah Pollak chimed in recently with a rather ballsy article, "The Problem With Playing Defense" in Commentary magazine, on how to counter the delegitimization process: his basic argument boiling down to fighting criticism of Israel with criticism of Israel's critics. (Or in his words, "Israel's hasbara strategy must shift to one that is based on power, self-confidence, and an eagerness to vigorously condemn its defamers", rather than one "premised on the persuasiveness of reason, evidence, context, truth, fairness, and apology".)

I would be very interested to read a follow-up piece with your thoughts on this potential answer to a incredibly complex and problematic issue for Israel...

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