Alan Hart: The message From an Israeli Think Tank,

all pro-Palestinian activist groups need to hear! One of the best articles I read in the whole of 2012, was published at the tail end of the year, on 30 December, by Ha'aretz. As my regular readers know, I think Ha'aretz is the most honest newspaper in the world, because of its reporting and analysis of what's really happening in the Zionist state. The article was written by Barak Ravid. The headline over it was Think tank: Israel's poor international image is not the fault of failed hasbara, the Hebrew word for explaining and advocacy, for which read propaganda. The subject of the article was the first report of a new Israeli think tank, Molad, The Center for the Renewal of Democracy. Outside Israel, there are probably very, very few people who have heard of Molad, so let's start with what is. Here is Ravik's own description: "Molad, established less than a year ago, in January 2012, is a think tank devoted to providing Israel's liberal left with new ideas regarding matters of foreign policy and security, as well as socioeconomic issues. The new study is the first project released by Molad, as part of an effort to infuse leftist ideas in Israeli public discourse. This effort, the center believes, will help resuscitate a political camp, which is currently on its deathbed." Molad's governance includes a Public Council, chaired by a former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Avran Burg, who for some years, has been expressing with passion his disillusion with what Israel has become, and his fears about where it is taking the Jews. In an op ed for the New York Times last August, he castigated Prime Minister Netanyahu for his "warmongering"and Israel for its "unconscionable treatment of the Palestinians." As Ravid noted, Netanyahu and his closest advisers believe that Israel's poor and deteriorating image of the world, is the result of a hasbara failure, and that a more effective presentation of Israel's case, and increased advocacy efforts, will solve a large portion of the country's woes in the international arena.