Mark Isakowitz in The Jerusalem Post:

"I am simply saying Israel can do better than it did during this war in terms of world perception. Israel had the world's support after unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza. Israel had the world's sympathy after the Hizbullah cross-border raid in July. The world has no problem supporting the Jews when we are either retreating or suffering. But it had all evaporated by the time of the accidental bombing in Kana.

Again, Israel need not fret about making the world love it; survival must be the first and the last. I am simply saying that being defeatist and fatalistic about the world stage is not the answer either, that it limits US and Israeli flexibility over time, and that any postwar investigation must include whether or not Israel bears any of the blame itself for going from hero to villain a mere three weeks after the kidnapping of Goldwasser and Regev.

Is Israel doing all it can on American television? Was Condoleezza Rice handled properly when she was in Israel during the accident in Kana? Was maximum effort given to getting the job done during the time when world support was strongest? Even with tourism up, are we really satisfied with the number of American Jews who have visited Israel so they can understand?

Maybe after asking all these questions we would find that it doesn't really matter; the world has it in for Israel and it must do what it must do. But if I still haven't convinced you Israel can do better on the world stage, just get a transcript of the interview of Ahmadinejad on American TV's vaunted 60 Minutes program that was aired during the war. The Iranian president said Israel should be moved to Europe, and Mike Wallace, the dean of American journalism and a Jew, had no earthly idea what to say.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1154526026214&pagename=JPo...