The horrors of October 7 initially earned Israel a tremendous wave of empathy and support from the international community. But after two years of bloody war, that support has evaporated. The West has reverted to its old comfort zone: recognizing a Palestinian state, applying mounting political and economic pressure on Israel, and even entertaining threats by international bodies and cultural organizations to boycott or expel Israel altogether.

The victim of October 2023 has once again become the outcast.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu built his career as a master of rhetoric and a brilliant marketer. Even his harshest critics used to admit his talent for shaping messages. Precisely for that reason, Israel’s failure in public diplomacy is even more striking. Netanyahu, who began his career as a salesman for a furniture company, should have internalized the first rule of marketing: the message must be tailored to the audience.

In practice, however, Netanyahu has chosen, when speaking to the West, to cry “antisemitism” and to compare recent diplomatic moves to medieval blood libels or the poisoning of the wells slander.

Such rhetoric may strengthen the spirit of the Jewish people and stir Jewish hearts worldwide, but it does little to convince European leaders to take decisions even marginally less hostile toward Israel. In the Middle East, meanwhile, the Prime Minister has tried to project messages of reconciliation, but it is often unclear whether his words are directed at Arab audiences, the Likud Central Committee, or potential voters.

The simple truth about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be stated from every podium in the world: it is the Palestinians who have consistently rejected every offer for peace that would lead to a Palestinian state alongside a Jewish one.

From the British commissions of the 1930s, through the 1947 UN Partition Plan, to Camp David, Taba, and Annapolis, the pattern has been the same: a relentless refusal to accept Israel in any borders or to declare the conflict over. That is what must be hammered home to Western audiences — not medieval blood libels, but the modern history of Palestinian rejectionism.

From the UN podium, Prime Minister Netanyahu recently declared that recognizing a Palestinian state would be “a reward” to the “worst antisemites on earth” and “madness.” These soundbites may grab headlines in Israel and resonate with Jewish historical memory, but they do not translate into the practical language of European diplomacy or public opinion.

Instead of slogans, he could have pointed to Mahmoud Abbas himself, who continues to wear a key-shaped pin — a symbol of the so called “right of return,” which in reality represents the Palestinian goal of flooding Israel with millions of descendants of refugees, effectively ending the Jewish state. This alone should shatter the world’s illusions about Palestinian intentions, and expose their ideological commitment to refusal.

And when Netanyahu told the UN that “Europe is doing something wrong,” he squandered the chance to demand concrete conditions: if Europe insists on recognition, it must at least require Palestinians to renounce the so-called “right of return” and recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. That would make such initiatives less one sided and less destructive.

The failure is just as evident in the Arab world. Instead of delivering a clear message in Arabic — that Israel is not someone they want to fight, but whom they want to make peace with — Israeli hasbara has neglected this front almost entirely. Yet history shows that when Israel speaks the language of strength and partnership, Arab states respond. Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have already proven as much.

In today’s world, a narrative often matters more than reality. Israel cannot afford a hasbara strategy that speaks only inward. To the West, it must present the undeniable fact that Palestinians have rejected every compromise since the 1930s, not rely solely on cries of “antisemitism.” To the Middle East, it must speak in Arabic with a language of power and strategic partnership.

Ultimately, Israel’s central struggle is not only about borders and security, but also about shaping international perception. Those who understand this can swiftly transform the story of Jewish victimhood into a narrative of strength and justice. Those who ignore it will leave Israel, once again, as the “outcast child in the classroom.”

Itamar Tzur is the author of The Invention of the Palestinian Narrative, and an Israeli scholar specializing in Middle Eastern history. He holds a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Jewish History and a Master’s degree with honors in Middle Eastern studies. As a senior member of the “Forum Kedem for Middle Eastern Studies and Public Diplomacy,” he leverages his academic expertise to deepen understanding of regional dynamics and historical contexts.