The reputation assassination of a country

There is a component of psychological war called “reputation assassination.” It has rules and strategists. The greatest expert in these moral crimes was the German communist Willi Münzenberg.

To a great degree, nations – like people – live from the image they project. Exactly for that reason, there are formulas to destroy the reputation of certain people and certain countries. There are enemies who are interested in destroying them. It is an ancient weapon perfected during the Cold War.

Israel is a constant victim of these concerted attacks on her reputation. It is part of her enemies’ permanent offensive. Let’s look at the latest battle.

The American Studies Association (ASA) has declared a boycott against Israeli educational institutions. The ASA is a minor organization for American academicians who are interested in the culture of the United States. Immediately, the powerful Association of American Universities and the American Association of University Professors stepped up to oppose it.

These two major groups have done something that’s ethically correct, but they’ve taken the bait. Those who were behind this attempt to assassinate the reputation of Israel were looking for exactly that: to focus the debate on a pile of falsehoods, so as to totally discredit their adversary.

The ASA’s apparent reasons to declare its boycott lie on the alleged mistreatment of Palestinian academicians and students (no concrete data are given.) On the occupation of Arab territories (ignoring that it is the consequence of conflicts that were generally initiated by Israel’s neighbors.) In the erection of a wall (painfully necessary to protect the country from the attacks by suicidal terrorists from Islamic Jihad.) And on the fact that Israeli universities collaborate with their government on matters of defense (as any responsible society would do, especially if it lives under the constant threat of destruction.)

In addition, the boycott has a strong “anti-American” component, to the extent that it condemns Washington’s policy toward Israel.

Let’s be serious. Judging from the symptoms, this is probably a discreet political initiative by Hamas, the terrorist organization subsidized and trained by Iran, which manages the Gaza Strip with an iron fist, launching thousands of missiles from there toward Israeli territory.

Naturally, Hamas’ objective is not that ridiculous boycott but scoring another hit in the field of political perception: to present Israel as a racist and warmongering state that should not be supported under any circumstance.

Not all Hamas is composed of assassins who lack subtlety. The gang is very skillful in its manipulation of dupes. It is possible that the ASA hierarchs and almost all of the 1,252 professors who voted in favor of the boycott haven’t the slightest idea that they’re part of a “covert action” against a country, concocted by a terrorist group. Lenin is credited with the expression “useful idiots” to refer to this type of dupes. They are. 

This perfidious maneuver also contains a couple of paradoxes. Twenty percent of Israel’s population is Arab. There are thousands of Arab-Israeli students in the country’s numerous universities. Several Nobel Prize winners teach in four of them, which are among the world’s top 100 and edit many of the scientific publications the country has.

Those four excellent institutions are the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Weizmann Institute, the University of Tel Aviv and the Tecnion Institute. If that boycott were effective (that’s not its purpose) those Arabs would be negatively affected.

But it would also be counterproductive for the rest of the world. Let’s not forget that Israel is one of the countries that invests the most in research and development and generates the most innovations and inventions for the direct or indirect benefit of the planet. I have written this before: that little state is a real think tank that serves all of humanity. To harm it is to harm ourselves.

It is prudent to issue this warning: To assassinate Israel’s reputation is the first step toward the physical destruction of that nation. Do I exaggerate? That’s what happened in the first half the 20th Century. Hitler and his Nazis began by assassinating the image of the Jews. Then they assassinated the Jews outright. That’s the sequence of the horror. [©FIRMAS PRESS]