How Israel's Foreign Ministry should spend its $150 million on public diplomacy ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Friday, January 03, 2025

How Israel's Foreign Ministry should spend its $150 million on public diplomacy

Under Israel's new budget, the Foreign Ministry will receive $150 million - twenty times more than today - for public diplomacy.

Gil Hoffman of Honest Reporting writes an op-ed on how this money should be spent, and much of the advice is excellent.

Here is what I would like to see Israel spending some of this money on:

1. Making information available. Right now if I email a question for the IDF Spokesperson or COGAT or anyone else, it is rare that I get a response. Pro-Israel advocates must dig in to do our own research and take educated guesses as to what the Israeli government is doing instead of getting the proper answers from the right people. I understand that some information must remain classified but that should be the exception, not the rule, and reporting even that the information would compromise security is better than not getting a response at all.

2. Similarly, make more material available on websites in all languages. Make it easy to find. Invest in and improve existing projects like the Jewish Virtual Library. Create easy to search databases of important information like terror attacks, aid to Gaza, Palestinian antisemitism, and other important topics. Some of the material is already out there but often it gets moved or is hard to find. Hire a librarian to put this all together.

3. When an influencer (like, I guess, me) uncovers something new or novel that hadn't been publicized before, amplify it. The government cannot possibly reproduce what we bloggers and Tweeters and Tik-Tokers do, but it can make sure that a lot more people are exposed to it.

4. EDUCATION. Most Jewish students entering college are clueless about how to properly answer anti-Israel arguments. Learning about Israel's history is important, but that isn't enough - they have to know what the other side is saying and come equipped to counter them with facts. Invest heavily in Zionist material, and especially defending Israel material, to be available to Jewish schools, Talmud Torah schools, synagogue youth programs, summer camps. Not only that, but I get the impression that our community leaders (for example, Federations) are little more conversant in these topics as well, and they are the ones who get interviewed by the media when antisemitic incidents occur. Train them!

5. I humbly believe that my definition of antisemitism should be added to the IHRA definition to eliminate ambiguity in IHRA. It is an algorithm, a test that can and should be used to determine when criticism of Israel crosses the line into antisemitism, and it also can help stop people over-using labeling things as antisemitic that are not, to avoid watering down the accusation. If Israel would adopt the definition and encourage others like IHRA to do so, it would help refine our messaging.

6. Universities are still the epicenter of doctrinal anti-Zionism with lots of bogus papers written to very poor standards. There need to be more Zionist scholars, Zionist academic papers, Zionist centers in universities that uphold the highest academic standards. Israel could fund chairs, train Israeli academics for stints in Western universities, and organize real debates on campus - the exact activity that the haters don't want to see.

(The image above was generated by AI; the Hebrew is nonsense.)