I agree

Submitted by Walter Soles (Canada), Jan 4, 2005 at 10:59

Regarding your views about Jews making better soldiers while Arabs make better publicists, I couldn't agree more. I have often wondered, considering all the resources we have at our disposal i.e. access to financing, advertising and P.R expertise, direct access to the media, etc. why we always seem to be one step behind when it comes to responding to an incident, a comment or simply an obvious injustice. Surely, there is someone who should be able to bring these assets together to function as one instead of the hodge-podge approach we seem to be saddled with at present.

I was invited to attend a small dinner party (only about 8 people in total) with the Israeli Ambassador to Canada. It was at the height of the suicide bombings and Israel was reeling from the attacks. I asked the Ambassador this question and was essentially told to shut up and keep my nose out of things I knew nothing about.

Fair response, considering I had no knowlege of what was happening behind the scenes in Israel or elsewhere. Unfortunately for him, I had spent an entire lifetime on the air in radio and television as well as running one of the largest ad agencies in Canada...but it was the attitude that irked me and as you noted, nothing has changed or appears likely to change.

The folly of it all is that it would take so very little to make a difference and yet for whatever reason, it continues to trace the same path without even a thought that perhaps what we have been doing isn't working. Does the phrase, "Houston, we have a problem." have any resonance here? I think so.

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