Thc gharlotte Jewish Neivs -August 2001 '

David Olesker Dernonstrates Advocacy onanswers that ile deftimental t0Palestinian causes and re-intro-ducing an mli-Israel bias to the

Behalf of Israelsources for historical backgroutrdand curent events. If we ile to beadvocates for Israel, we must be

self.). Secondly, justitY whY Youare not answering the question(e.g., "It's obviotrs that the settle-

menls are not the probiem. TheArab x'odd has been reluctant toaccept Israel within anY bound-aries."). Finally, he suggesls,cre&te a new conceptual fraee-work that is at least as emotion-ally inreresting as the Previousone (e.g-, "The Problem is thatYasser futfat is exPloiting hischildren in a holy wtr against

Imagine you've just tmed onvour radio to hetr a rational talkihow. The guest today is a

Palestinian spokesperson whose"explanation" of the situation inIsrael uses tactics like eYmion,diversion, and the occasional cut-right lie. For example, You herhim tell of a l5-month oldPalestinim baby who wai gassed

while sleeping in his crib- Heclaims that no Palestinian news-

casts. announcements, or schoollessons eYer call for the destruc-tion of Isrdel and he fabricates achallenge irom a member of theBritish House of Lords to Proveothesise. He refuses to erigage

calleni in conversation, rather bul-lying them into listenisg to hisstories. He diverts from directquestions by saying, '"fhal's rrot

really lhe question, the questionis,,." therefore avoiding giving

Are you tmgry yet? Whatwould you do?

This is exactly the scenariothat David Olesker presented

m a group of participmts oneSunday evening in June. As aguest of the Jewish Federationof Greater Chrlotte. Olesker,founder of the JerusalemCeflt€r for Communications'and AdvocacY Training,offered a demonstretion onhow to be m advocate for

discussion.

lqrael- ').

lsrael, particululY against a

media that often aPPears to be

skewed against Israel.He hegan the program with a

video called JilradJirr Kids, a dis-turbing presentation of preschool-ers and elementary age kids mix-ing their singing, dancing. andinrercction ['ith a costumsdMickey Mouse character withrvild rnd passionate calls for sui'cide and death lbr lhe sake ofJiharl. Palestinians who have seen

the film, according to Oleskelhave never hrd anY disagreementNith thc tmnslalion of.mesuges ofhate and destmction spelving fromthe lips of four to tr,;elve Year oldchildren.

Olesker then efllisted the helpol Warten Sleinmuller. rvho has

becn to lsrael recentlY on a

Federatton Solidarity Itlission. to

re-en3cl a mmk radio Program.Steinrnuller setryed as host andOlesker posed as a Palestinianspokesmm. The audience wrsinvited to particlprle as "callers'to the "radio" shoy/. Herc Olesketdemonsuated how lhe talk showguest created his own concePtualimework and bccamc an rdvo-cate for Palestinian causes. But wecan do that, too. he claims. bY

eflective use of inlblmation, tech-

nique and forutn.For infomation, he listed manY

informed and certain of olrrsources. Two imPortant books forbackground he mentioned wereAttusing Ozo'selves to Death:Public Disrcwse itt tlte Age oJ

Slrox'Busiress bY Neil Postmatr,aad The Siege: the Saga of Isrueland .Ziatistt bY Conor CruiseO'Brien. You can keep uP on cur-reot eve[Lr on a nYriad of web'sit* iacluding the Jerusalem Post(post.com). the lsrnel Ministry ofForeign Affails (Israei-

mfa.gov.illrifa), the JerusalemReport (irep,com)- the JewislrTelegraphic Agency (jtx virtuxl-

ierusalem.com), and manY others.

D6\,ii Oter-ke\ lefi, arul \lhtten Steipiltullerctate a n,ock tldio shot

He also describes anothertechnique, one he calls the "TheNeiv York Cab Driver" tech-nique, in which the sPeaker

fmmes the pr-oblem mound some-

thing the listener can sympethizervith. Olesker himself used this'techniriue on a radio shorv inSouth Afiica when the caller com-pared Israel to the South Africa ofapatheid days. Rather than give a

diHt ansqer, tiying desperrtelYto exfricate Israel from such mabsud comprisotr, Olesker sitr-ply put apaftheid in a. ne*' Per-spective, saying that the serious-ness of apa'theid q'as drnrirrishedwhen it wm compa'ed to anY situ-ation outside of S0uth Africaitielf.

t..inally, Olesker enrPhasizes the

importance of forunr. Localmedia. such as radio talk shou's

ant] the. nes'spaper, ale gooophces to slilrl being an advoutefor lsrael. He suggcs's ol3alllzlnga phone.tree so that lvhcn mti-Israel sentimert is eiPressed otlhe rir. the local Jeu ish community can jam the Phone lines withinfomalive responses,

Donlt jusi sii and conlPiainsbuui tre media bia.. Ole.ker'sIist of books, rvebrites rnd sugges-

tions for dealing with radio, news-papers and rt rallics can beohtained ftom rhr office of thelewish Federatiur nf Grert:;Chadotte. And You. too, can

become dn advocate for Israel. S

Or er"rym. CHARL0TTE

Olesker then described seYeral

teriuiques a speaker can use-tocreaE hris own concePtual ii'ame-

work, First off, he saYs, refuse tosnswer any question that estsb-lishes an un['3nted concePiualframework (e.g.. "Have Youstoppec! beating Your rvife?"Thit-'s a question You simPlY can'trmswer without condeming Your-

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trnvesting in Israef: Good for BusinessEran Doron's Past haunts him.

But in this case, it's a good thing.

As a fotner professional soccerolaver. he radiates health and

iritulity. ena as Director of Trade

and InYestment for Israel'sEconomicMission. his message

is about the health and vitalityof lsrael's economY.

"It's.strong, it's stable and itstands on its own," is his sum-mation of Israel's ecolornicstate. eyen nolv during these

most tulbulent Political times.Israeli business is diveme

and vibrant, he saYs. One com'.monly associates Israel withagricultural ventues, such as

the famous Jaffa oranges. buttruly it has entercd the world of '

high tech. l}lere ae so manY

high tech related businesses,that Doron refened to Ismel as a

"second Silicon ValleY'"Granted the Political uPheaval

has caused dorvlturn in someirdusffies: tourism, construcnonand agriculture (due to lack of

ErciDotoi, directot olTr44e eild htveslilvill

for Israel\ Eca$ottic l,li$,tiot\, jpeaks dt u

breokfast x$eritg ifl Chiilotte it lwe. Thf,t's

Scott Gortlick ou rhe iSht

Palestinian rvorkers) are mostadversely affected But alt in allthe lsraeli GDP grew 5.9% in the

vear 2000.' Domn urges investors to "lookbeyond CNN to itvest in Israel."On NASDAQ, Israeli comPaniesare doing very well; *ley tre actu-allv no. 1 on the NASDAQ afterUS companies. And Israel is no. 3

on Wall Street, after the US and

Canada."InYesiment bankers never ask

ahout political situations," Doronexplained. "They ask for businessollns and fevenue stteams,'Within Israel, the econony thrivesi-iFnFnrlpnt nf the nertv in norver.

established after World War lI thatexports more fmd than it imPofisIt sLrted as a country wlth very

little - milk and honeY - but nowater, to become an agricultural

and inilustrial powerhouse, allon brain po\Yer and lYillpou,er. lts lrrigation sYstem is

Lreing copicd flll over thet orld.

Nev,,areas that Israel is

planning on Eetling intoinclude life sciences such as

lrealthcare, biotechnologY,and pharmaceuticals. ltsinvolvement in the high techstsctor rvill conlinueInvestment and par"ticiPationfrom American business Peo-ple [.ould be a rvin-rvin situa-tion for everyone.

The immediate Prcblemsthat Israel must overcome tre ltsheavy dependency on high tech,

aI industry that generales velT

ferv iobs, incrersiug unemPIoY-

ment, $ater shofiage (new importsfrom Turkey and desalination Pro-grams tre alleviating this l: and ofcourse the political siturrion thatcan deteriorate the lromle of th€

worke$ as rvell as the investorsInvestment from local business

people can make lsrael an cco-noniia pott.r. \\'ho can rnake ithappen? \4t can. CoItact lheofl'rce of the Jewish Federation ofGreater Charlotte at 704-9'{'l-6757. +