Going on the offensive
The IDF has no real option to carry out a wholesale policy of targeted killings in its war against Palestinian knife terrorism. It would not allow its soldiers -- and certainly not Jewish terrorists -- to attack a peaceful family in a village like Duma in an effort to forcefully deter terrorists. At the most, and this too is controversial, it can open fire early to save human life at specific moments. For example, if terror victim Tuvia Yanai Weissman, who was murdered in a supermarket last week, had been carrying his weapon with him instead of leaving it at his base, and had he emptied his magazine on the two teenage terrorists who stabbed him, he might have survived.
Not only does the initiative to kill remain chiefly in Palestinian hands, but, in their efforts to promote the boycott against Israel, they use images from terrorist attacks to convince their enlightened audience in the West to lay siege to the Jewish state and to stop it from acquiring weapons to protect itself. Not only do they stab, they then go cry about it. The Palestinians concentrate their efforts on particularly critical junctures -- universities and colleges, and large cities in the United States and especially in Europe.
There was an incident like this on the subway in London on Monday. Shocking posters made by the BDS movement were plastered on hundreds of trains, strongly condemning Israel. Police and locals worked quickly to have the posters taken down. (The argument over whether it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid who convinced them to get rid of the ads is unnecessary.)
The problem is that the boycott activists succeeded in raising attention to their claims, putting Israel and the rule of law on the defensive. While it is a successful defense, this success is not a replacement for Israel's right to wage a diplomatic public relations war. Unlike the case of knife terrorism, when it comes to public diplomacy, Israel has the right to set out on targeted battles, and it is not taking full advantage of that right.
Therefore, a senior governmental decision to unite efforts is needed. The professional forces are in the Foreign Ministry (in the embassies) and the funding is in the hands of the public security minister. A joint staff with the backing of a reasonable budget and team of professionals with experience in public diplomacy and political PR strategy should take initiative so that Israel need not be on the defensive, as it was in London on Monday -- rather, the burden should be placed upon the Palestinians.
Israel is lacking the dynamism of coming up with a new strategy every week, focusing on a different major city each time. There should always be a new idea, just like what the boycott activists did on the subway on Monday. It should be done alternately by state diplomacy bodies and Jewish and pro-Israel organizations. Consistently and nonstop. A professional, ongoing diplomatic campaign against Palestinian terrorism will neutralize, or at least partially offset, the defiant claim that Israel is an apartheid state.
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