How Is Israel Like Avis Rent-A-Car?

What have Israel and Avis car rentals got in common? Watch this video and see if you get the association that came to me:

In 1962, Avis was losing money to top ranking car rental company, Hertz. They decided to embrace their not-number-one position with new branding, and the tagline “We Try Harder” was born. It worked and Avis changed their losing streak into a winning streak, staying at number 2 position, but at least turning a profit.

Israel Tries Harder

And this sad video is characteristic of the Israeli trend to “try harder” to make peace on the ground between Jews and Arabs (and to beg our government to just try a little bit harder to make peace with two PA leadership organizations that do not want to make peace with us: Hamas and Fatah). Look at how Yoel Oz (no relation) is working so hard at making an argument for how the three of us — Jews, Christian and Moslems — should get along because we all revere the same father from which we descended by different mothers.

If a family therapist tried to tell adult step-siblings in conflict to just get along out of respect for their shared father, it would not be very successful. Perhaps they both had their eyes on the inheritance.

And is that not what we have here? Christianity came along to replace Judaism as a failed religious project . . . and to claim the inheritance. And Islam came along to replace both Judaism and Christianity . . . and to claim the inheritance. So where is there any motivation to get along? I do not see any, but well, we Jews try harder.

And if we try harder to make peace, does that mean we are in number 2 position? We certainly behave as if we are in number 2 position. Because even as the victors in the wars that were supposed to wipe us out, we never took our rightful place at the head of the table to dictate what happens next.

No, we try to persuade everyone to play nice. Because we play nice. But the harder we play nice and ask our neighbours to play nice, the more rocks get thrown at us, cars rammed into us, Molotov kites sent over to our fields, etc. etc. etc. So perhaps, just like Avis tried harder all these years only to find itself now in fourth place among car rental companies, Israel is losing ground.

I hope it is not too late to stop trying harder to be liked and just behave like the mature ancient indigenous people that we are. A little self-respect would go a lot farther than trying harder for something our neighbours — or at least their leaders — do not want at all (and as long as the population keeps quiet, majority or not, what the people want and what the leaders want is the same thing).