Israeli hasbarah - public relations - stinks.
Since 1948, the country's PR efforts have gone steadily down hill, which partly explains why Israel is losing support among "neutral" nations at the same time its enemies - and they are many - are gaining support.
It's not because Israel lacks PR flacks - its has them in large numbers.
It's not because Israel; lacks people who speak the target language as a native speaker.
It's just - as far as I can see - attitude.
"You'll believe what I tell you no matter how I say it."
Case in point:
There is as petition at http://www.ipetition.com/str-asp-PetitionID_9-end-SignPetition.htm that calls for readers to tell Jordan's King Abdullah II to make Jordan the "palestinian" country the heirs of the Arabs who abandoned Israel in 1948 are demanding.
The petition is good, except for one word. "disenfranchised."
According to Merriam-Webster Online. disenfranchise means: "to deprive of a franchise, of a legal right, or of some privilege or immunity; especially : to deprive of the right to vote."
Translation: the so-called palestinians would have had to stay within Israel's borders and Israel would have had to deny them privileges and the right to vote.
Obviously denying the right to vote to those Arabs who elected to remain in Israel is not the case. They vote. They have parties sitting in the government.
Are they denied privileges? Well, yes. The are denied the "privilege" of serving in the military (although the Druze serve), but by and large - for most Arabs in Israel - that is the most obvious denial of privilege. Vote, yes. Travel, yes. Education at all levels, yes. Medical care, yes.
So where is the "disenfranchisement?"
I agree that Abdullah should admit that Jordan is a "palestinian" state and I think Abdullah should take responsibility for the "palestinians" in Occupied Israel - Aza and the so-called West Bank. I would prefer that Abdullah take them into Jordan proper; Israel should pay the people relocating just as the Arab states paid the Jews forced out of their former homes in Moslem-dominated lands.
As much as I agree with MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad, M.D, and his petition, I cannot sign it for the one word.
To say the "palestinians" in Occupied Israel are "disenfranchised" is simply not true. These people can vote - when their masters let them - for whomever they are allowed. The are eligible for all the social services their "palestinian" governments provide. ISRAEL is not disenfranchising anyone in Occupied Israel of anything, except perhaps the ability to easily pass into Jewish Israel to kill and maim.
If MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad, M.D, will remove the offending word - "disenfranchised" - I gladly will sign the petition. But until that word is removed, I can't bring myself to add my name.
