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Jewish Organizations Must Not Ignore the Impact of Jewish Media
On Friday morning, a rally billed as “Bring Them Home Now” to publicize the plight of the remaining 101 hostages still held in Hamas captivity took place at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, across from the United Nations in midtown Manhattan.
Sponsored by the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council and close to 50 other Jewish organizations, the rally drew what could only be described as a “paltry” number of attendees. If not for the attendance of students from such Jewish high schools as Ramaz and others, this rally would not have been able to take place. Many people queried as to why this rally was not publicized in the media in order to attract a much larger crowd.
The hostage crisis has dominated political discourse for close to a year, yet Jewish organizations have abysmally failed in bringing out hundreds of thousands of people to rallies and demonstrations to keep this issue in the collective forefront of the minds of lawmakers.
Other than a mass rally in Washington, DC in November is which 300,000 people gathered to amplify the terrifying plight of the hostages and the devastating aftermath of Hamas led October 7th massacre, no such public gathering close to that size has taken place.
Conversely, pro-Hamas supporters have continuously managed to bring out hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of US and European capitals on a consistent basis since October 7th and their defiant marches aimed at denigrating Israel’s response to Hamas terror have drawn the kind of media exposure that has helped them gain the sympathy of the world.
The question that begs to be answered is why does the alphabet soup of Jewish organizations in the United States find it difficult to galvanize the Jewish masses on a regular and consistent basis which is required to successfully broadcast the plight of the hostages and put the matter in the center of the political narrative.
The answer is quite simple. For many inexplicable reasons, or for no apparent reason, Jewish organizations have traditionally been reluctant to support Jewish newspapers. One would think that due to the exponential uptick in anti-Semitism and the fact that Israel’s image has been ruthlessly eviscerated by the mainstream media, that Jewish organizations would summon up the wisdom to comprehend that it is precisely the Jewish media that has the proven ability to intelligently debunk the constant cascade of lies that are being hurled at Israel at a feverish pace. The despicable canards include such baseless accusations as charging Israel with racism and genocide as well as Israel being a colonialist power, an occupier and a barbaric oppressor of Palestinians.
This is borne out by numerous Israeli officials who have unequivocally stated to The Jewish Voice that what it most lacking at the current time and what is most needed are viable media vehicles that possess the expertise to broadcast the truth and expose the reprehensible propaganda that is being extolled about Israel. Moreover, Jewish newspapers have garnered a proven track record in reaching out to and impacting the kind of audiences that are pivotal to Israel’s future, for the past 100 years.
The indisputable fact remains that the Jewish media has always played an essential role in reaching the kind of audiences that are absolutely essential for the success of any Jewish organization as it serves as a powerful platform and has the ability to achieve the kind of recognition for organizations that bring them success.
The bottom line is, had this rally near the UN been promoted through the Jewish media, the chances of it making a formidable impact would have been greatly increased.
The time is long overdue for Jewish organizations to rethink their strategies and to work in tandem with the Jewish media rather than willfully ignoring its impact.
