ARM--a new defense system

We are learning, in one of the many classes we have in my school here, how to defend the many attacks that Israel and its supporters face. The defense is called ARM, which stands for Address, Reframe, and Message. With any statement that an Israel-supporter faces, he must first address the issue by either rejecting its validity (which in many cases one must) or taking a stance on the issue. Then, by using facts and by looking at a bigger picture, one can take a more global look on the actual issue at hand. And then one should send a message that, when viewed without emotion, is completely true and unbiased.

This is especially touching for me, because of some of the events that happened on my college campus before I graduated. In one instance the student funds, which I believe came partly from my tuition, was scheduled to pay for a holocaust-denier to speak in an open lecture to students (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_denial#Notable_Holocaust_deniers for more info). And yet again, Jews were under attack on Israel Day when the picnic and the belly dance show was encircled by people wearing white bed sheets and carrying coffins, chanting, among other things, that Israel is causing genocide. It is precisely these kinds of emotional, and completely unbased, "arguments" that the Arabs and Arab-supporters are using to taint the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Here is an example that I got from the website (http://www.davidproject.org/):

Common statement: "Israel does not have a right to exist"

Address: The Jewish people, like other nations have the right to self-determination. Israel’s primary right to exist is endorsed by U.N. Resolution 181, which called for a two-state solution in Mandated Palestine: one Jewish, and one Arab.

Reframe: If we are going to question the legitimacy of Israel, then all countries in the Middle East must come under scrutiny. Prior to World War I, the majority of the Middle East was under the domain of the Ottoman Empire. Following its defeat, European leaders determined the boundaries of what would become Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. These states were all artificial creations, constructed by foreign, imperial powers. For example, the British allocated land east of the Jordan River to a leader of the Hashemite tribe, who was not indigenous to that region, and helped created Trans-Jordan (later to become the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan). The legitimacy of Jordan and other Middle Eastern states is never questioned. Why then is Israel singled-out for so much attention?

Message: Those who question Israel’s legitimacy are holding the Jewish state to a different standard from all other countries. Israel, like all members of the U.N., has the same right to exist in peace and security, free from the threat of war.