The battle for public opinion can determine the outcome of wars as decisively as military victories. For decades, Israel has relied on a communication strategy called “hasbara” – a Hebrew word meaning “explanation” or “clarification” – to defend its actions on the world stage. This approach, while well-intentioned, has proven as ineffective as Germany’s fatal propaganda failures in the First World War.

In 2004, Avi Hyman’s “The Hasbara Hijack” in Arutz Sheva highlighted this critical weakness. Israel’s practice of constantly explaining and justifying its actions, rather than proactively shaping the narrative, has left it perpetually on the defensive in the court of public opinion.

Colonel Paul Linebarger’s seminal work on Psychological Warfare defines propaganda as “the planned use of any form of communication designed to affect the minds, emotions, and actions of a given group for a specific purpose.” While this includes benign campaigns like blood donation drives or anti-smoking initiatives, Linebarger warns, “Success, though incalculable, can be overwhelming; and failure, though undetectable, can be mortal.”

This defensive messaging strategy, by its very nature, is destined for failure. As Hyman explains, it merely seeks to explain actions after the fact, whether or not they are justified. Ilan Berman reinforces this point in his analysis “Israel Needs A New Form Of Messaging.” The fundamental flaw lies in the reactive, defensive posture – a fatal weakness in psychological warfare, which succeeds primarily as an offensive weapon.

General George S. Patton Jr. applied the same principle to cavalry when wrote in his Saber Exercise of 1914, “No direct parries are taught, because at the completion of a parry the enemy is already beyond reach of an attack. The surest parry is a disabled opponent.” He added in The Form and Use of the Saber, “He rides at a man to kill him, and if he misses, he goes on to another, moving in straight lines with the intent of running his opponent through.”

The English author Jonathan Swift wrote similarly of propaganda, “Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect…” If you attempt to defend or explain, your opponent will be beyond reach of retaliation. Psychological warfare and the saber are both offensive weapons, and attempts to use them reactively or defensively are sure to end in disaster.

Germany’s Propaganda Failures

During the First World War, German propaganda was primarily for internal consumption and usually consisted of mocking the soldiers of the Triple Entente. British propaganda portrayed Germans as monsters who killed prisoners, women, and children, and murdered women and children on the Lusitania in 1915. This drew the United States into the war at the cost of roughly 115,000 men and resulted in Germany’s defeat. The German who unfortunately learned the most from this was Adolf Hitler, as he made clear in the propaganda chapter of Mein Kampf. While many Jews and Europeans want to ban this book, Israel’s enemies read it diligently. They don’t need Mein Kampf to teach them to hate Jews and other infidels (including those they deem to be the wrong kinds of Muslims). They rely on it to learn effective propaganda techniques.

What should Germany have done regarding the Lusitania? It would have been relatively easy for their cartoonists to portray John Bull using American women and children as human shields for his munition shipments. This would have turned revulsion against England, and kept the United States out of the war.

When the International Solidarity Movement and its associates accused Israel of “murdering” peace activist Rachel Corrie when she knelt in front of a bulldozer, our side made a mistake of arguing truthfully that the driver did not see her. We should have instead quoted the ISM’s own statements to the effect that they knew there was a risk, Corrie and other ISM activists had had earlier close calls with bulldozers but continued to interact with them anyway, and one person said openly she was more useful to their cause dead than alive. A Palestinian journalist who viewed the whole thing said he wished he had a video camera so he could make a snuff film of a young blonde American woman getting crushed. (He didn’t phrase it that way but he may as well have done so.) Remember, the surest parry is a disabled opponent.

We Must Dehumanize the Enemy

Let’s face it; hate works. Yellow journalists (those who deal in sensational news) published a cartoon of a “Spanish Brute” murdering American sailors on the USS Maine, even though it is less likely than not that Spain sank the ship. It was dishonest and manipulative, but it worked at the expense of thousands of American and Spanish lives. The things Hitler and his associates did to take over Germany, perpetrate the Holocaust, and start the Second World War also worked. The Allies did not hesitate to foment hatred of the Axis. Here, for example, is a depiction of Hitler and Hirohito (or Hideki Tojo, both had mustaches) as a two-headed monster.

Consider also the response to the Bataan Death March; “Stay on the Job Until Every Murdering Jap is Wiped out.” Our side had to draw pictures because very few Germans and Japanese took pictures of themselves abusing or murdering prisoners. Hamas did, and their own selfies can and should be used as widely as possible to depict them and their supporters as inhuman monsters worthy of nothing but annihilation. Here is a picture of a Hamas brute (since made carbon-neutral by the IDF) we can use to represent his entire cause.

Violence against women has meanwhile been a long-term staple of Western propaganda as shown by “Keep This Horror From Your Home.” The famous artist Frederic Remington meanwhile drew a picture of leering Spaniards strip searching an American woman. Hamas members can be depicted accurately as rapists, and this proposition reinforced by an Australian extremist who depicted unveiled women as “uncovered meat.”

Attack the Enemy on the Home Front

We must also treat Hamas’ enablers and water-carriers on the home front the same way our country would have treated Nazi sympathizers after December 1941. They also have provided ample material with which to marginalize them, e.g. with vandalism of private and public property, and blockades of roads and other public facilities. I have recommended Criminals4Palestine, Vandals4Palestine, and Felons4Palestine because their unlawful acts speak for themselves. Jewish Voice for Peace stipulates meanwhile that it shut down Grand Central Station, which could be cause for revocation of its 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. This can and should be used against JVP as often as possible, along with their settlement with the Justice Department for accepting Paycheck Protection Act Program money to which it was not entitled.

The renowned Prussian commander Helmuth von Moltke told us meanwhile, “…it will generally be more advisable to proceed actively and keep the initiative than to await the law of the opponent.” Hasbara awaits the law of the opponent; we must instead pick our own ground and timing to dictate how the propaganda war will be waged.

Bill Levinson is the author of numerous articles and books on manufacturing, quality, and industrial productivity, and a diligent student of history and psychological warfare. He played a role in exposing anti-Semitic and other hate speech at MoveOn.org in 2006, and previously questionable activities by the original Million Mom March in 2000.