Israel’s PR machine is kaput

Ill-considered statements by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies demonstrate levels of disconnect and blindness to the mass slaughter of Palestinians, positioning the lobby group as diehard supporters of settler colonialism.

By IQBAL JASSAT

If there is a word to capture or describe how badly Israel’s public image is damaged, what would it be?

Most certainly the word would be ‘disaster’!

Some may argue that even metaphorically speaking, the Netanyahu regime has exhausted all efforts aimed to overcome its disastrous public relations.

Every action – whether military, political or diplomatic – has led from disaster to disaster.

A recent example of the extent of worldwide outrage against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, saw thousands upon thousands – some estimates place the number at more than 300 000 – marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.

Dubbed the March for Humanity, the BBC reported that the thousands of protestors braved torrential rain to register their to make their voices heard and placards directed messages to politicians to stop the war.

‘Shame shame Israel, shame shame USA,’ the crowds chanted. ‘What do we want? Ceasefire. When do we want it? Now.’

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was spotted among the protesters, with other notable attendees including federal MP Ed Husic and former New South Wales (NSW) premier, Bob Carr.

The Guardian quoted NSW police commenting on it as the largest protest to descend on the city in memory.

Moreover the devastating critique of Israel was best captured in The Guardian’s heading: ‘The horror of Gaza called and a mass of rain-soaked Sydney Harbour Bridge marchers, young and old, came in full force’.

As expected that Zionist pressure groups would cry foul. The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies said it was ‘disappointed’ by the Supreme Court’s decision to authorise the protest.

This is typical, which we know from our own experience in South Africa where Zionist lobby groups would bemoan, lament and bewail efforts by Palestinian solidarity movements to expose Israel’s innumerable human rights violations.

In fact, it is well known that the South African Jewish Board of Deputies condemned the South African government for taking Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the genocide in Gaza – selective amnesia indeed by defenders of Israel who prefer to engage in semantics to deflect from compelling evidence of genocide.

A former deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said the amount of evidence pointing to genocide in Gaza is overwhelming and likened the situation to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the Anadolu news agency reported recently.

Graham Blewitt, who helped prosecute war crimes in the Balkans and Nazi crimes in Australia, said in a recent interview with Australian broadcaster SBS News that if he were working in the International Criminal Court today, he would have ‘no hesitation in bringing an indictment against the Israeli leaders for genocide.’

To its eternal shame the SAJBD called on the South African government to ‘reconsider its ill-considered, immoral and ultimately self-defeating stance on the conflict in the Middle East and instead align itself with other members of the international community who are doing whatever they can to help bring peace to the region’.

Such ill-considered statements demonstrate levels of disconnect and blindness to the mass slaughter of Palestinians, positioning the lobby group as diehard supporters of settler colonialism.

Contrary to the SAJBD stance, within the Israeli regime a growing consensus has emerged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is avoiding a permanent ceasefire in order to preserve his fascist coalition to stay out of jail.

Times of Israel has revealed that senior Israeli officials issued a joint video message demanding ‘end the war in Gaza’, arguing that the regime has ‘racked up more losses than victories’ and that the ‘fighting has dragged on for political reasons…’.

The scathing attack is not from the South African government whom SAJBD maligned as ‘immoral’, but the view of 19 former IDF chiefs of staff, intelligence chiefs, Shin Bet and Mossad directors, and police commissioners.

Backing them were former prime minister and IDF chief, Ehud Barak, and ex-chief of staff, Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Hakutz.

Their message is clear: the game is up!

In the United States too, the political right – once almost unanimous in its support for Israel – is beginning to fracture.

In recent weeks, a small but very significant group of MAGA-aligned conservatives has begun to voice public unease, if not outright condemnation, of Israel’s ‘ongoing war in Gaza’, according to media reports.