How do you respond when someone runs down Israel? When you hear a heavy-hitting rant about walls, brutality against Palestinians, or disinvestment, what do you say? A lot of us, according to a survey, just don't care, or might even be swayed.
This year, on Yom Ha'atzmaut which is Israel's 64th birthday, as we find on college campuses, in public forums, and even in mainstream Protestant churches, challenges to Israel's policies, and even its legitimacy, what are supporters supposed to do?
Not long ago I was sitting in a middle eastern lunch joint eating a falafel, when I overheard two young men in medical scrubs having a discussion about Israel.
"Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is terrible," said one, perking up my ears. 
"How's that?" responded the other.
As the "sure" one rolled one "indisputable fact," after another, I started mulling, "Should I say something?" What would I say? Fire off a bunch of my own facts? He obviously saw himself as a middle-east maven, while his lunch companion was obviously just going along, trying to get though lunch with a minimum of conflict.
At times, I have struggled with aspects of Israel's policies too, but hearing these two casually chat about Israel's right to exist was making me angry. As they got up to leave, I wondered: should I use this opportunity to set them straight? What would come of it? I was already so worked up that if I opened my mouth, words and falafel would fly.
As I am discovering, I am not the only one who doesn't know what to do when a situation like this comes up.
Recently in Chicago, MERCAZ, the Zionist organization of the Conservative Movement, organized an Israel Advocacy Seminar aimed at training a core group on how to respond when Israel's right to exist is challenged.
The seminar, which was attended by about forty people, with workshop discussion topics like, "Talking Civilly Even with Those with Whom We Disagree," would have been good preparation for that day in the restaurant. (Though even a year later, I still had my doubts about how civil I would have been.)
Fortunately, Rabbi Bob Golub, who is executive director of MERCAZ USA, and organizer of the seminar, brought me up to speed. As a backgrounder for the need for Israel advocacy, he sited a 2010 survey done by Applied Market Innovations which sampled over 3,000 Americans. According to the survey, "There are 20% who are fervently pro-Israel, 10% who are adamantly anti, and 70% in the middle who don't know and don't care and who could agree with either side depending on the argument," he said.
"What should we do if we hear someone giving out misinformation about Israel?" I asked him.
In answering that question, Rabbi Golub recalled the words attributed to former New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "'Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts,'" Golub said.
"We need to make sure that people who criticize Israel have the correct facts," he explained.
Golub also felt advocates needed to be aware of when "criticism of Israel turns to anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism," he said.
According to Golub, Natan Sharansky referred to these instances as the "Three D's: delegitimization, double standard, and demonization. What other country has to deal with those who deny their right to exist?" asked Golub.
As for strategies to reach those in the middle, among several suggested by the survey, the one that resonated with me was: "Defining the human face of the Israeli people: their values, character and experiences."
How could this strategy be applied?
In my imaginary do-over of the lunchtime scene, instead of sitting there and getting angry, I would turn my chair and try to define. "Some of my friends live in Israel. You should meet them," I would begin.
Edmon J. Rodman has written about making his own matzah for JTA, Jewish love music for the Jerusalem Post, yiddisheh legerdemain for the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, a Bernie Madoff Halloween mask for the Forward, and what really gets stuck in the La Brea Tar Pits for the Los Angeles Times. He has edited several Jewish population studies, and is one of the founders of the Movable Minyan, an over twenty-year-old chavura-size, independent congregation. He once designed a pop-up seder plate. In 2011 Rodman received a First Place Simon Rockower Award for "Excellence in Feature Writing" from the American Jewish Press Association."
