Guest Column

The Case For iTV (An Israel News Network)

I

recently had lunch with an interest-
ing young man of Pakistani origin,
Kasim Hafeez (written about in
last week's JN, page 16). He lives with
our neighbors to the north now, but
before he moved to Canada, he grew up
around extreme anti-Semitic and anti-
Israel views. He drifted toward radical
Islamism, being further radicalized at
university and harbored an intense
hatred for Israel.
After reading the book The Case for
Israel by Alan Dershowitz, as well as
Israel 101 by StandWithUs, he began a
period of learning, culminating in a trip
to Israel and today he is proud to speak
up for Israel and call himself a Zionist.
As a group of us lunched on blintzes
and quiche, we were each given an
opportunity to ask him a question. One
of us asked what we could do better to
counter the anti-Israel message. Hafeez
answered, among other things, that he
was amazed there was not a unified
English voice that told the world Israel's
story. An Al-Jazeera for Israel.
That got me thinking. We should
have our own channel, our own satel-
lite broadcast network; an English
version of Israel network TV. The Arab
world has more than a 20-year jump-
start on us in the PR world, working

hard to perpetuate an image of the
Palestinian as the victim and Israel as
the aggressor — with most of the pro-
paganda funding coming from Saudi
Arabia, one of the leading anti-Israel
countries.
Hundreds of millions of
people watch Al-Jazeera
network television and form
their impressions of Israel
based on what they see.
Think about it. Perhaps an
hour of TV, maybe less than
a day or even a week can
form a negative impression
of Israel for so many. Why
can't we do the same thing,
except in the positive?
As I finished my last blintz
and contemplated some
rugelach for dessert, I lis-
tened to my peers bemoan the fact
that we Jews are not on the same
page, that we don't do enough to work
together to convey the same message
— whatever your opinion of what that
message should be. We are our own
worst enemy, debating the value of J
Street, AIPAC and on and on.
During a lull in the conversation, I
piped up and asked why should we try
to convince everyone to say the same

thing? Why do we have to try and get
everyone on the same page? Why not
skip that fight and be a bit more prac-
tical. Well, a lot more practical, to be
honest. Why not voice the opinion you
believe is the right one? "You" being
the majority of Jews and the
"right one" being a positive,
confident, affirmative mes-
sage about Israel.
iTV (Israel Television)
would be a 24-hour English-
language cable and news
television channel that would
broadcast around the world.
Think about it. When Israeli
medical teams landed in
Haiti after the devastating
earthquake in 2010, an iTV
television crew would be
right there, with Anderson
Cooper, let's say, reporting live as the
emergency medical technicians and
doctors disembarked from the El Al
jets and set up the first triage tents.
When Israelis were helping the
Syrian refugees, iTV cameras would
be right there. As Christians flee
Arab countries in fear of their lives,
iTV is there to interview them and
share their stories. Not only would
iTV broadcast these stories live,

those same stories can and would be
rebroadcast on other cable news chan-
nels. CNN would pick that up, wouldn't
it? FOX News? MSNBC? The BBC?
(Well, maybe not the BBC, but we can
always hope.)
iTV could contract with big name
anchor personalities; lure them away
from the big three or cable televi-
sion. And what about the multitude
of correspondents iTV could hire and
use? Alan Dershowitz. Daniel Pipes.
Brett Stephens. Frank Luntz. Scarlett
Johansson. Kasim Hafeez. Think about
it.
While it may seem I am making light
of the idea, I am serious about the
prospect of having one clear, unwaver-
ing positive voice for Israel. You may
not agree with the minutiae of the
message, but you can agree that we
need something like this. We needed it
20 years ago.
Every day that goes by without it
is another day that another impres-
sionable young mind is swayed by the
negative (and incorrect!) messages
that drown our airwaves.

❑

Andre Douville is executive director of Temple

Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield and CEO of

the local Walk for Israel.

Cast Your Primary Ballot

I

t's official — political campaign
season is here again. This time of
year, registered voters have to play
defense and by now likely have it down
to a science.
Beginning in mid-May, you know
that after a certain hour you will likely
have to take your phone off the hook,
become more mindful of the initia-
tive or candidate pages you "like"
on Facebook and mentally prepare
yourselves for the ever emotional and
dreaded pieces of mail — the tax bill
and the political ad.
But behind the annoyance of phone
calls, TV ads, catchy slogans and door
knocking, there exists an important
truth of civic responsibility and a call
for leadership, one that we as Jews
would be foolish to ignore.
In both the United States and our
beloved State of Israel, political power
resting firmly in the hands of its citi-
zens has been a core tenant of patrio-
tism. While the United States and
Israel are demographically dissimilar,
our countries have formed a common

bond in our dedication to freedom —
Are we a group of people who will
through speech and activism at its
allow our traditions to be compromised
highest level — casting a vote.
by empty promises and the choice of
As we approach the August primary
lesser evils? Are we a group of people
elections, I would encourage my fellow
whose mere existence will collapse
Jews to take interest in the conversa-
based on moral forgetfulness and
tions that are being had and the mes-
assimilation of ideas? Are we a people
sages that are being sent.
who are Jewish in name only
We have an obligation to
— celebrating our heritage as
make our voices heard and
a trace of lineage rather than
encourage our friends and
as a religion, ethnicity or
neighbors to do the same.
moral foundation?
As we saw recently
No, that's not who we are.
with the defeat of House
We are a people whose
Majority Leader Eric Cantor
miraculous triumphs have
in Virginia's Republican pri-
allowed us to shine through
mary, the power of one vote
all of the designs of our
should never be underesti-
enemies, whose strong sup-
mated and never be ignored.
port for education has raised
Ben Vineburg
At a time in our his-
us to among the top think-
tory when the world barely
ers and leaders of the world,
remembers the Holocaust, anti-Sem-
whose advocacy has fed the hungry,
itism grows in Europe and our moral
given sustenance and hope to those
code becomes merely ceremonial, we
who suffer, and carved for us a perma-
need to sit back and think about what
nent place in progressive history for
kind of people we are and who we want the rest of eternity.
to be.
While a primary election may seem

far from a top priority in ensuring
the existence of the Jewish people, I
promise you, nothing is more impor-
tant. The people we elect to represent
us at all levels of government are
charged with the responsibility of
being our voices and our trusted pro-
tectors. If we do not take the time to
select, carefully, who those represen-
tatives will be, we forfeit our Torah-
given obligation to cast light on to the
world and establish leadership where
there is none.
Make an effort, today, to get to
know those who are the requesting
your privilege of being your voice in
government, have them earn your
trust, as on Aug. 5, we put ours in
them.

❑

Ben Vineburg is a Detroit newcomer and com-

munity activist who hails from Green Bay,

Wis. He is executive assistant to the City of

Southfield treasurer and serves on the execu-

tive board of the Tri-Community Coalition.

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