PH Quickie: The real problem with Israel, from Tom Nides, US Ambassador to Israel
Tom Nides, US Ambassador to Israel, at the Western Wall in occupied East Jerusalem, from his Twitter feed, March 2022.
by Kathryn Shihadah
Ambassador Tom Nides, by his own account, lies awake at night, worrying about the Israel situation. What concerns him the most?
Is it the extremist new Israeli government that is making him lose sleep?
Or the settlers run amok, attacking Palestinians?
Is it the grim situation in Gaza, where 2 million people for whom Israel is responsible are under a 15-year-long blockade?
Perhaps Nides is concerned that Israeli forces have killed more than 60 Palestinians in 2023, and Palestinians may rise up in outrage?
The answer to all of these guesses is No.
Here’s what the US Ambassador to Israel said in a recent interview with David Axelrod on the Axe Files:
What I really worry about, David, what keeps me up at night is what is going on on college campuses. That’s what really worries me… If you stand up and you’re a Jewish kid or a non Jewish kid and you talk about Israel, it’s very difficult…
The next generation of kids who are on college campuses and grad schools. That to me is my biggest fear. Yes, Israel has to do a better job of communicating. They have to communicate in a way that young people believe Israel is a democratic country, they’re protecting the rights of people.
You can have the discussion saying I care about the Palestinian people and care about Israel. That’s OK, there’s nothing wrong with that!
That’s right, folks. Our ambassador to Israel is worried that college students aren’t buying the Israel “narrative” – that narrative in which Israel is a vibrant democracy with the most moral army in the world, a meek but courageous David living in a bad neighborhood filled with Goliaths (read: Arabs).
Israel isn’t “communicating” the message in a way that kids believe it. Go figure.
Fact vs. Fiction
The problem is that Israel is not the only narrator anymore. Social media, alternative news, and smartphones are making it harder and harder for Israel to control the story. And young people know how to distinguish fact from fiction.
Supporters of Israel claim they want equality for Israelis and Palestinians (some go so far as to say they already have equality) – but students see Palestinians’ homes demolished, Palestinian towns raided, and Palestinians shot to death, all with absolute impunity. What to believe – rhetoric or reality? Kids today are not stupid.
When Israel’s supporters say proudly, “Israel and America have so much in common,” kids know what that means. Both countries pretend to foster tolerance, but fail. Both countries are built on settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing. Both countries have dirty secrets.
When multiple high-profile reports declare Israel an apartheid state, kids notice the standard pro-Israel response: the organizations are labeled “antisemitic” because Israel is “a vibrant democracy.” No actual rebuttal exists because the allegation is true: Israel is an apartheid state.
Pro-Israel student groups still exist on college campuses because they’re flush with pro-Israel cash. Pro-Israel students still gather because they just got back from a free “Birthright” trip to Israel, where they saw only what Israel wanted them to see.
It is indeed very “difficult” for these pro-Israel students to stand up for Israel on campus, but not for the reason Ambassador Nides thinks. It’s difficult because the rest of the students know the truth and will not put up with the lies.
Is Tom Nides not as smart as today’s college students, or does he merely live in Israel’s pocket?