War is for hearts and minds, and we need to start fighting it

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” an innocuous slogan; and the innocuous word, “Zionist/Zionism” have had a profound effect on the world at large and on Jews in particular since 7 October 2023.

Seeing how the world is reacting to Israel fighting Hamas in Gaza with the chant of, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in many cities of the world since the 7 October massacre, it’s time to dispel many of the false narratives pertaining to Israel and Jews/Zionists.

Let’s go back to before the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948.

The 1929 Jaffa riots could be a good starting point.

“The riots took the form, for the most part, of attacks by Arabs on Jews, accompanied by destruction of Jewish property. During the week of riots, from 23 to 29 August, 133 Jews were killed by Arabs, and 339 Jews were injured, most of whom were unarmed. There were 116 Arabs killed, and at least 232 wounded, mostly by the British Mandate police trying to suppress the riots.

“This is a minutiae of many examples of what life was like for Jews in the 1920s and 1930s in British Mandated Palestine. It doesn’t deflect from the fact that Arabs also died in some of the massacres at the hands of Jews, but mainly as a result of Jews protecting themselves from attacks from Arab Palestinians.”

The reason for the hatred of Jews by the Arab Palestinians was certain Arab Palestinian leaders stoking up fires against Jews in Palestine. A most notable leader was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husayni.

Al-Husayni was a fervent Arab nationalist who took every opportunity to stoke up hatred towards the Jews of Palestine. He is most famous for his meeting with Hitler in 1941, where he expressed his admiration of Hitler in his fight against the British, Jews, and Communists. He proposed that Hitler should adopt the “final solution” in Palestine, and went on to raise 20 000 Muslim volunteers to help Hitler in his fight against the allies. www.timesofisrael.com/full-official-record-what-the-mufti-said-to-hitler/

This hatred hasn’t stopped, and we can see it today with the massacre by Hamas of 1 200 Israelis on 7 October 2023, or clips showing Palestinian youth expressing willingness to carry out terror attacks against Israelis.

Fast forward to 1948 to dispel the myth of the Nakba. The United Nations proclaimed a Jewish state and an Arab/Palestinian state. The Jews accepted it; the Arabs didn’t. This led to attacks on Jewish settlements by Arabs, leading to Arab armies attacking Tel Aviv and other Jewish towns in the 1948 Palestine war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestine_war

The Jewish army wasn’t allowed to procure arms, as deemed by the United States, which led it to smuggle in arms in order to defend itself against Arab armies. At the same time, many Palestinians left on the advice of Arab leaders promising them that the fighting would be over in a matter of days, and they would come back with more land. Unfortunately for them and others who fled the fighting, the Jewish army prevailed, and these Palestinians became refugees. The only Nakba was Palestinians listening to their leaders and following them into battle, hoping to annihilate the Jews from the land of Israel.

And so it continued, 1967, 1973, and the hatred of Jews continues. In light of all these events, one finds it very hard to find a solution when one side, under the leadership of Hamas, doesn’t believe in a two-state solution, and wants a state “Juden free”. It’s really a sad situation when one thinks of all the missed opportunities for peace.

Such condemnation of Israel is unprecedented in the world in light of the fact that on all these occasions, all she was doing was defending herself. Cynically, such condemnation isn’t as vocal or vociferous when it comes to countries such as Syria ,where former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad murdered more than half a million of his own people, and displaced close to two million people during the Syrian civil war.

The expulsion of 1.4 million Afghans by Iran back to Afghanistan, which has shattered the hopes of women and girls studying in Iran, has hardly evoked a murmur on the world stage.

Now, let’s look at the other innocuous word: “Zionist or Zionism”, and its effect on the world today.

Zionism was originally a movement for the re-establishment of the Jewish nation in Israel, and now it’s about the development and protection of that nation. It was established as a political organisation in 1897 under Theodor Herzl, and was later led by Chaim Weizmann.

Many people in the world are using the word “Zionism” to paint Israel as a dastardly, evil state.

They then go on to say, “But we love/like Jews.” How disingenuous can they be? Don’t they realise that the word “Zionism” was conceived as the idea of creating a Jewish state in the land that they had had a presence in for millennia until they were forced out by the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and so on? The Jews fled to many countries, but wherever they settled, they were eventually discriminated against, jailed, and murdered.

Some examples were Spain, where Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or face death. Then there were the pogroms of Tzarist Russia; or the Soviet Union, where thousands of Jews were sent to labour camps; and of course, the big one, Nazi Germany. In addition, Jews living in Arab Muslim countries were expelled from these countries after the state of Israel was declared.

So, people shouting about the evils of Zionism are really saying that Jews living in Israel should leave voluntary or otherwise … First, where would they go, and who would guarantee their safety and rights? Israel has proposed peace on many occasions in the past, but all it ever received in return were wars, bombings, and various terrorist onslaughts against its people.

So when people claim that criticising Zionism isn’t antisemitic, I beg to differ, because what they are covertly shouting for is the dissolution of the state of Israel and its Jewish population.

What we are seeing on the streets of the world and on social media is that the plaster holding together the semblance of respect of others and their views has been ripped away, and open hatred of Jews and Israel is being mouthed without any fear of consequence. Even certain world leaders fall into this category, including one of United States President Donald Trump’s supporters, Tucker Carlson, who has advocated that Trump drops his support for Israel and its war. He makes another mind blowing claim – that Jeffrey Epstein was recruited by the Mossad.

So what are we supposed to do? Jews are definitely losing the propaganda war. Israel is losing the propaganda war. Jews now have to stand up and speak out. We mustn’t only speak to ourselves, or to people that we like, or like us. We have to start talking to people that dislike us. We have to debate such people and organisations with facts and not rhetoric. The way forward is for Jewish institutions in South Africa and in other countries of the world to facilitate such debates and discussions.

In conclusion, the war for the hearts and minds of our opponents starts now.

• Sol Cowan was an African National Congress councillor for the pre-interim period of 1993 to 1999.
• Thereafter, from 2000 to 2006, he was a member of the mayoral committee for inner city development. From 2006 to 2016, he chaired various portfolios. He is running a company selling and distributing water meters.