Israel’s Narrative North Star: The Valiant Defender
One beacon that guides Israel’s narrative strategy …
Israel has one job in the narrative war: Reclaim the identity of the defender, while shedding the image of the aggressor.
Israel has faced persistent existential threats of annihilation for more than 75 years—indeed from the moment of her birth. Israel has been surrounded by enemies who have continuously declared their intention to destroy the Jewish state and kill or expel her people.
Fortunately, Israel has successfully defended herself and her people from these threats, because Israel has mounted a valiant defense of her people, her homeland and her society.
The problem: Israel’s defense against annihilation has been successfully recast as wanton, cruel aggression. Israel’s enemies have weaponized every defensive action, every security measure, every military response, and, of course. every mistake Israel makes – and turned them into evidence of chronic, strategic cruelty.
Israel has one goal in the narrative war: Reclaim the narrative that Israel is a Valiant Defender, and not a cruel aggressor.
The Valiant Defender Narrative is not about victimhood. It is not about weakness. It is about strength-through-necessity. It is about recognizing that Israel’s ability to survive and thrive depends on valiant defense against forces that are trying to destroy her.
The Valiant Defender narrative says this to our enemies:
“If you attack us, you’ll lose every time. But if you live next to us in peace, we will be great neighbors.”
And the Valiant Defender Narrative says this to the rest of the world:
“Israel isn’t a victim seeking sympathy. Israel is a capable nation that will defend itself against any threat – and that’s non-negotiable. Every country defends its citizens from existential threats. That’s what Israel does.”
Israel is like the mama bear protecting her cubs. Don’t mess with her.
A mama bear doesn’t seek confrontations. She wants to nurture her family in peace. But if you threaten her cubs, she will fight – and you will lose every time. The mama bear never initiates aggression. She always defends.This is Israel’s one, overarching narrative goal. Reclaim the narrative from cruel aggression to valiant defense.
We are the mama bear. We seek no conflict. But we will prevail in any conflict forced upon us.
A strong narrative strategy, based on the concept of the Valiant Defender, also humanizes Israel:
“We’ve built a vibrant, diverse society that we’re proud of. We want to focus on innovation, culture, and building our future – not on fighting wars. But when enemies threaten our families and our homeland, we will defend ourselves. That’s what any nation would do.”
Or …
“We have something worth defending, we have the strength to defend it, and we will always defend ourselves from enemies who seek our destruction.”
Israel’s enemies are pursuing a coordinated, unified, comprehensive narrative strategy that focuses on “genocide” as its key, overarching theme. It is now time for Israel and the Jewish people to match our enemies’ weapons capabilities on the narrative battlefields and communicate our own coordinated, unified, comprehensive strategy, focusing on Valiant Defense as our key, overarching theme.
This is our north star. Israel and the Jewish people need to aspire to talk and act in ways that, continuously and consistently, support the Valiant Defender Narrative.
And nowhere is this narrative shift more urgent than in countering the genocide libel – the most potent weapon in our enemies’ arsenal. In my next article I will describe how defense is the best strategy against genocide, on both the military and narrative battlefields.