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Preview of July issue: Stories are most effective defense of Israel’s legitimacy, says activist

By Leon Cohen

June 18th, 2012

Two women in a village, Truth and Story, were arguing about which was more beautiful. They decided to settle it by walking through the village and seeing how many people came out to look at them.

Truth went first, and half the town ran indoors. So, Truth took off her clothes and walked again, and the remaining villagers ran indoors and pulled down their shades.

Story said, “Few like Truth, and nobody likes naked Truth. Let’s work together.” Story gave some of her clothes to Truth. They walked through the village together, and everybody came out.

David Dabscheck told a version of this parable to an audience of about 40 at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center on May 31. He is the deputy managing director of the Israel Action Network, a project of the Jewish Federations of North America in partnership with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

His topic was “The Assault on Israel’s Legitimacy: Challenges and Opportunities.” His point was to show the most effective ways of responding to efforts to demonize and isolate Israel — one of which is to tell stories about Israel and, even better, Israelis.

Dabscheck quoted research on these topics done by such groups as the Pew Research Center, which tracks public opinion, and the Brand Israel Group, a coalition of marketing and communications executives created in 2005 that explores ways of improving Israel’s public image.

See the rest of this story in the July issue.