Israel Advocacy Talking Points

General Pro-Israel Talking Points click here

Israel Beyond the Conflict Talking Points click here

Lebanon-Specific Talking Points click here

Israel is a modern democracy and America's ally in the Middle East. All Israeli citizens—Christians, Muslims, and Jews—have freedom of religion and the right to vote. Ten Arabs and 18 women are in Israel's parliament, and both men and women have access to education, modern health care and good jobs. Israel, like the U.S., is a democracy based on freedom and equality.

Israel made painful sacrifices and took risks to give peace a chance. It left all of Lebanon six years ago. Just last year Israel gave up all of Gaza, voluntarily removing over 9,000 Israelis living in Gaza and parts of the West Bank. In the process, these Israelis abandoned their homes, schools, businesses and places of worship – all in the hope of renewing the peace process.
We look forward to a time when Palestinian children are raised to be doctors, teachers and business people—and not suicide bombers. We look forward to a time when Hezbollah can focus wholly on its charity missions – and not the destruction of Israel, which comes at a great cost to the people of Lebanon.
We ask the Palestinian leadership to end the culture of hate in Palestinian schools, 300 of which are named for suicide bombers. Palestinian leaders should take textbooks out of classrooms that show maps of the Middle East without Israel and that glorify terrorism.
Day after day, Palestinian authorities push a culture of hate that encourages even small children to become suicide bombers. The glorification of death and martyrdom permeates the very infrastructure of Palestinian society. Thousands of Palestinian children have been sent to more than 300 public schools that are named after terrorists. Palestinian public television uses Sesame Street–type programming to glorify suicide bombers. Even soccer fields, public squares and streets bear the names of suicide bombers.
Despite making an overture for peace by withdrawing from Lebanon six years ago and from Gaza last year, Israel continues to face terrorist attacks, including missile attacks, murders, kidnappings and drive-by shootings of innocent Israelis. Israel knows that for a lasting peace, it must be free from terrorism and live with defensible borders.
Despite Israel's overture for peace, Palestinian leaders refuse to disarm its terrorist groups. Hamas – one such terrorist organization – was elected to lead the Palestinians. Hamas has been allowed to re-arm for its goal to destroy Israel, and weapons are being smuggled into Gaza by the thousands. Sadly, the same is true with Hezbollah, as they its stock of weapons has been constantly replenished from Iran via Syria. It is critical for this new ceasefire in Lebanon to bring results – and not just lip service that leads to another war.
As a matter of principle, Israel is – and has been -- willing to sit down, negotiate and compromise with those who share the wish that all the peoples of the Middle East will live together in peaceful coexistence. Egypt made peace with Israel. Jordan made peace with Israel. And both agreements still live on today.
Israelis know what it is like to live their lives with the daily threat of terrorism. They know what it is like to send their children off to school one day and bury them the next. For them, terrorism isn't something they read about in the newspaper or watch on TV. It's something they are forced to witness first-hand, far too often.
Israelis don't want to sign a meaningless agreement that isn't worth the paper it is printed on. They want something real. If there is to be a just, fair and lasting peace, Israel needs a partner who rejects violence and values life more than death.
As a matter of principle, the world should not force Israelis to concede to those who publicly deny their right to exist and call for their annihilation.
At this very moment, there are still terrorist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade that the Palestinian Authority has either been unable or unwilling to curb—and Israelis continue to die because of it.
Just as the American government has pledged to secure life, liberty and the chance to pursue happiness for its people, , so must Israel's government be allowed to guarantee that its citizens will be secure and free.

Israel Beyond the Conflict Talking Points

Every day, the life of every American is made safer, easier, more efficient and healthier by Israeli innovation and progress

Israeli systems and training make our cities and airports safer.
Israeli designs make our computers faster and our cell phones clearer.
Israeli innovations run our libraries and museums, our voice mail systems and our instant messages.
Israeli devices are diagnosing illness and Israeli medicines and technology are treating them.

Israel is the only democratic state in the Middle East

Of the 19 Middle Eastern and North African countries rated by "Freedom House's" recent press freedom survey, only one, Israel is rated Free.
Israel's Arab citizens comprise 20% of its population. All Israelis- Christians, Muslims and Jews-share the same freedoms of speech, press, religion and assembly.
In the 2003 elections, Arab women helped vote eight Arab politicians and three Arab political parties into Israel's parliament.
In Israel, positions of leadership and political office are open to all citizens, no matter their race, religion, or sexual orientation.
The Israeli Declaration of Independence guarantees all citizens freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, culture, and equal access to holy sites.
More than 50% of Israeli Jews are indigenous to the Middle East and Africa.

For more fascinating facts about Israel's democracy, society, culture, and technology click here or here

Lebanon-Specific Talking Points

Start of the war

Hezbollah started a war by attacking Israel from across internationally recognized borders. Once again, Israel was forced to defend her citizens from terrorists that want to destroy Israel.
Blaming Israel for defending itself following massive missile fire and the kidnapping of its citizens is blaming the victim. What would the US do if American border patrol officers were kidnapped and missiles from Canada or Mexico started hitting US towns and cities?

Civilian casualties

Hezbollah hides inside the homes and garages of innocents and uses them as human shields. This helped increase civilian casualties and is a violation of the Geneva Convention and all decency. Hezbollah also uses Islam's holy places – mosques – to hide its weapons.
Israel tried to minimize civilian casualties by dropping leaflets, leaving voice mail messages on cell phones, etc., this in contrast to Hezbollah whose very aim was to kill innocents. Hezbollah cynically used civilians as shields that caused devastation for the people of southern Lebanon, and frequently operated from densely populated civilian areas.
Israelis grieve for every Lebanese child that was hurt or died. Hezbollah sees the death of an Israeli child as a reason to celebrate. Israel mourns the death of every child and does not view death and destruction as reason for celebration.
Israel fought against Hezbollah, not against the country or people of Lebanon. Israel went to great lengths to protect the people of Lebanon who were victims of Hezbollah tactics and actions.
Nothing can justify the deliberate slaughter of innocent women and children. Oppression and hopelessness does not drive people to become suicide bombers and kill children.
Many suicide bombers come from wealthy families, are well-educated and have opportunities for productive lives. Consider the 9/11 killers – they were on a suicide mission – they traveled freely, lived well and still killed themselves and murdered almost 3,000 innocents. Civilized people do not target innocent women and children for death.

Occupation causing terror

Israel left all of Lebanon. What did they get in return? Missiles, terror and death.
159 Israeli citizens – Christians, Muslims and Jews – were killed and 4,262 civilians were wounded by the 3,970 missiles that Hezbollah fired into Israeli civilian areas.
Over 2 million people - almost a third of Israel's population - were within Hezbollah missile range and more than a million Israelis either had to flee or move into bomb shelters for weeks.
The time for the terror to end is now. The ceasefire must be real. It must disarm Hezbollah, ensure the kidnapped soldiers are released and stop Iran and Syria from continuing to fund and arm Hezbollah to be butchers.

Hezbollah as terror organization

Hezbollah is a terrorist organization with global reach. It has sleeper cells in Europe, the United States and other countries around the West.
Hezbollah and its cells are funded with money, arms and know-how from Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terror. When Israel defended itself against Hezbollah it also acted to dismantle and disarm a powerful terrorist group that plans to attack the United States and the West.

Humanitarian aid during the war

At least 70,000 foreign nationals in Lebanon were assisted by the Israel Defense Forces in the coordination efforts to evacuate Lebanon.
57 airplanes with humanitarian goods for Lebanese civilians were permitted to land and unload at Beirut International Airport and the IDF allowed 213 passenger ships, 123 ground convoys and 196 helicopters to travel through Lebanon to evacuate expatriates and tourists.
The majority of the infrastructure damage (roads, bridges, airport) resulted from Israel trying to stop the rearming of Hezbollah through Syria.

Israel wants peace

Even as Israel was attacked, Israeli civilians and military leaders alike stressed their desire to have peace with Lebanon.
It is critical for the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to really keep the peace. This is no time for symbolic or token gestures, particularly among countries that don't even recognize Israel's right to exist. The peacekeeping mission needs to help BOTH sides have a better future.
Israel understands the hardships the Palestinian and Lebanese people face.
Israel is committed to peace. It is fighting for peace. Israel accepted the need for a two-state solution as early as 1947 and again at Camp David and in the Road Map.
Israel can achieve peace with an honest partner. Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan were courageous Arab leaders who stood up to terrorists, told their people to put down their guns, and made peace with Israel. Hopefully Abbas is cut from the same cloth, and that if he is, Israelis and Palestinians will see peace.

Iran and Hezbollah

Iran supports terror through Hamas and Hezbollah. But Iran is not just Israel's problem. Iran's President did not only say he wants to "wipe Israel off the map." He also said "Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world."
Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism. It is developing nuclear technology that most people understand will be used for nuclear weapons; Iran also has stated outright that it will share its nuclear technology with other Islamist countries.
Israel shares democratic values with the West including freedom of speech, press and religion. Israel has the freest democracy and press in the Middle East. Christians, Muslims, and Jews all share the same freedoms and that women have equal rights.

Extremists

There are extremists on both sides. Extremists among the Palestinians and Iranians use schools to preach hate and read from textbooks that glorify suicide bombers.
Israel is a democracy just like America. And, just like America, in Israel extremists are held accountable for their crimes and tried in a court of law. In the United States, people don't honor extremists by making posters of them and decorating their classroom walls with them; we take mug shots. Indoctrinating children to hate must stop.