The great Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky once said: “It is not the antisemitism of men; it is, above all, the antisemitism of things, the inherent xenophobia of the body social or the body economic under which we suffer.” This “antisemitism of things” which Jabotinsky spoke of today includes nations and media.
As the founder and owner of one of the largest Public Relations agencies in the world, I would be the first to say that in today’s post October 7th world PR doesn’t matter. We cannot win and we must not try to. What matters is what we do, not what they say and we must worry about Jewish lives and sensibilities not about what enemies think.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rightfully announced the closure of Israel’s embassy in Ireland noting, “The actions and antisemitic rhetoric used by Ireland against Israel are rooted in the delegitimization and demonization of the Jewish state, along with double standards. Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel.”
With this decision, our nation has confronted the reality that all Jews must face: there is no reasoning with implacable anti-Semites. We do not reason with Jew-haters and nothing we do will change that. So why try? And the same applies on an individual level. Jew haters are unworthy of our time.
Today, the same goes for media.
A Henry Jackson Society report by Major Andrew Fox has just completed a study, “Mislabeling on the Battlefield: How Mass Media Misrepresents Combatant Casualties as Civilian Deaths in Gaza Coverage,” which analyzed 1,378 articles from major global media outlets, including the BBC, CNN, and The New York Times and found that 98% relied on casualty figures provided by the Gaza Health Ministry, while only 5% cited data from Israeli or US intelligence sources. To make it simple, these media outlets quoted Hamas’ Gaza Health Ministry 98% of the time. Information that has been proven false time and time again.
Indeed, the mainstream media is quoting terrorist rapist baby killers. But how many of these media outlets support these terrorist baby killers. How many of them are openly hostile? As the research notes, “This overwhelming reliance on Hamas-controlled data has created a narrative that disproportionately portrays Israel as targeting civilians.” It leads directly to hating Israel and Jews.
To make it simpler, how many of these journalists are Zionists? Do we think 50% of the people who work at The New York Times, or CNN, or The Washington Post hate Zionists or is it a larger number? That, my fellow Zionists is reality in a post October 7th world.
They quote Hamas – on purpose – and the proper response to them is not “Don’t quote Hamas.” it is. as Jabotinsky said. “go to hell.” There is no reasoning with those who hate us.
As Jabotinsky noted in 1911, “Instead of excessive apology and instead of turning our backs to the accusers – as there is nothing to apologize for, and nobody to apologize to – it is long overdue to respond to all current and future accusations, reproaches, suspicions, slanders and denunciations by simply folding our arms and loudly, clearly, coldly and calmly answer,’Go to Hell!’
“Who are we, to make excuses to them; who are they to interrogate us? What is the purpose of this mock trial over the entire people where the sentence is known in advance? Our habit of constantly and zealously answering to any rabble has already done us a lot of harm and will do much more. The situation that has been created as a result, tragically confirms a well-known saying: ‘Qui s’excuse s’accuse’ (He who apologizes condemns himself).”
They hate Jews. Meta – the company which owns Instagram and Facebook – openly hates Zionists. They have “systemic bias” against pro-Israel content across social media platforms using shadow bans, account removals and restrictions against Zionist users because Meta’s oversight board openly is hostile to Israel and proudly supports the Muslim Brotherhood.
Yes, validating the public health arms of Hamas is like validating Al Qaeda and ISIS or the public health arms of Nazi Germany, but because its us against the Jews and harms them, no one cares.
No amount of our PR and hasbara can fix these false key findings of Hamas, for they have more money, for they have more time – and because the media, Meta and so much of the world stands with them and blindly supports them. And the same goes as this war continues and Israel does what is necessary from Gaza to Syria, helping the entire West survive.
We have nothing to apologize for. Jews must choose to live.
And the same goes if and when in “Palestinian refugee camps” in Judea and Samaria uprisings begin, our nation must do what is right and proper to protect our people and not worry about what Jew-haters in the media tell us or think. Whatever they accuse us of does not and must not matter. They quote Hamas, they stand with Hamas and many of them in fact are Hamas. That’s who works at many of these media outlets and that is the reality which we as a people face.
Instead of worrying about public relations, we as a people, should continue focusing on military needs and strengthen the Jewish and Zionist knowledge of our people and the just fights which, with G-d's help, we can win.
Ronn Torossian is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, activist and philanthropist.