Why is Israel so often accused of being “bad” at explaining its position? The answer becomes clearer when we look at another nation that tried the opposite approach: Tibet.
Tibet was a peaceful nation with a unique and ancient culture. It had no natural resources worth exploiting, no territorial ambitions, and no quarrel with its neighbors. Yet in the 1950s, Communist China invaded and absorbed it.
In 1951, under immense pressure, Tibetan representatives signed the Seventeen Point Agreement—a document that pretended to guarantee autonomy and respect for Tibetan culture. Beijing ignored those promises almost immediately. By 1959, repression had intensified to the point that a mass uprising erupted in Lhasa. China crushed it brutally, and the Dalai Lama fled to India, beginning his life in exile.
For decades afterward, the Dalai Lama became the face of Tibetan suffering: a universally respected moral authority who received endless sympathetic media coverage. He traveled the world. He met presidents. He addressed parliaments and universities. He inspired global admiration and compassion.