4 | MARCH 7 • 2024
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from the executive director
The War of Words Must
First Be Won at Home
R

ecently, I was invited
to participate
in a round table
discussion led by Yaakov
Katz, a senior reporter at
the Jerusalem Post. As an
esteemed media
veteran, Yaakov
speaks to
diverse groups
around the
world about the
crisis in Israel.
Yaakov briefed
attendees on the
realities of what is happening
on the ground in Israel from
a political, military and a
human perspective. He also
spoke about how the war
is being approached in the
worldwide media, an area
which particularly piqued my
interest.
Before joining the Detroit
Jewish News, I spent the
majority of my career in
public relations. I have,
therefore, always been
fascinated by how people
communicate, particularly
about difficult issues. If
there is one important lesson
I learned during my 25
years as a communications
professional, it was that
words matter.
As such, one of my biggest
frustrations about the war
in Israel is how our country
has been represented in the
media. Countless stories in
the mainstream media vilify
Israelis while classifying
Hamas, not as the terrorists
that they are, but as freedom
fighters and victims. It

is enraging. After all, for
many, perception is reality.
So, how do we go about the
seemingly insurmountable
task of changing that
perception, both in the
media and beyond?
I was later able to catch
up with Yaakov one-on-one
where we discussed these
issues and more.
Yaakov said people ask
him these questions quite
frequently, and his response
was simple. “The greatest
enemy that we face is
ignorance,” he explained.
“There are a lot of people,
including Jewish people, who
just do not know the facts.
We have kids in schools
who do not know the basics

about Islam or our history.
Then they go to college, and
they do not understand why
people are chanting intifada
and occupation at them. So,
before we go and preach to
the media and to the whole
non-Jewish world that they
should be more sensitive and
smarter, what about taking
care of what we are doing in
our own homes?
“It’s about knowing the
basic information. It’s about
knowing the history. It’s
about knowing the context.
It’s about knowing the story
of the different rounds of
peace talks and what went
wrong and why they didn’t
work. This isn’t happening in
a vacuum. That information

is sorely lacking in so many
people.”
Yaakov went on to stress
that we all have the ability to
speak up and to help spread
a message. “If we care, we
can’t sit on the sidelines
today,” he said. “We all are
a platform. Everybody plays
a role, everybody has a
voice and everybody has an
opportunity to help spread
the message that they think
needs to get out there about
Israel.
“The deep-seated bias
and double standard against
Israel is not something
that can be changed easily.
And it is going to be a
massive uphill battle. But
we shouldn’t give up and we
should continue to try. But
we should also recognize
that we don’t need to go after
every headline in the New
York Times. We should really
focus on doing what we can
to get that message out. And
we all have opportunities.
We could all speak to people.
We could all spread the
message on our social media.
Everyone can do something.
Everyone has an opportunity
to play a role that can be
significant and important.”

Marni Raitt

PURELY COMMENTARY

Yaakov Katz was previously the editor-in-chief for the Jerusalem
Post where he is now a senior journalist. As an expert on Israeli
military and defense, he is a regular guest pundit on national
and international news outlets speaking about the crisis in Israel,
and he is also the author of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret
Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power and co-author of two
books: Weapon Wizards — How Israel Became a High-Tech
Military Superpower (with Amir Bohbot) and Israel vs. Iran — The
Shadow War (with Yoaz Hendel).