As Republican pollster (and Israeli Hasbara guru) Frank Luntz knows all too well, the relationship between reality and language is increasingly tenuous. Words are how he carefully works to shape political outcomes. But it’s also true that the rather wide space between reality and language, especially on the issue of Israel-Palestine, is where the blogosphere can make a real difference.
CASE 2) Naomi Klein goes to battle line by line with the Reut Institute’s Eran Shayshon in this fascinating exchange that was printed in Mondoweiss. (As a side note, after controversy over the the use of the words “sabotage” and “attack” to which Klein refers below, Ali Abunimah discovered that Reut cleansed their newest iteration of the offending language, but not the intent.)
CASE 3) And finally, UC Berkeley’s student senate, after what all described as a pretty remarkable and civil evening of testimonies from both sides lasting until 3 am, passed by 16-4 a bill advocating for divestment specifically from companies that profit the occupation. But what did opponents and the press say?
In fact, (rare) kudos go to the Simon Wiesenthal Center for actually getting the facts right here:
In the end, does the strategy (deliberate, though in the case of the media, their laziness allows opponents’ framing to enter their language) help or hinder the Israeli cause. It can be argued, as Yaroni does persuasively, that this kind of painting all forms of BDS as extremist merely encourages those with a laser sharp focus on the Occupation to give up on such nuance. In other words, it drives more and more people into the all or nothing camp. |
ZIONIST HASBARA GURU
NOVANEWS