When Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his second year in office visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar and Turkey, taking diplomatic activism in the region to newer heights, including the special outreach to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, it became clear that Modi’s foreign policy was a studied departure from the outdated ideas of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The 14-to-0 vote by the United Nations Security Council condemning Israeli settlements, permitted on Friday by President Obama, who ordered an American abstention, served as a reminder that the Palestinian issue remains a powder keg. Mr. Trump’s clarion call supporting Israel on settlements and his promise to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem could easily stir new antipathy among the Sunni Arab states Mr. Netanyahu has been courting most, analysts said.

The NGO campaigns, led by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, are vital in this process.  The problem is that journalists, academics, diplomats, political leaders, and Western officials frequently quote these usually uncorroborated accusations in condemning Israeli policies, “reflecting the ‘soft power’ of these NGOs acting to reinforce the Palestinian narrative and the objectives of the OIC.”

Bernard- Henri Lévy is precisely the kind of target that Israeli public diplomacy efforts should be focused on – far more so than any incumbent politician, especially outside the USA. After all, it is unelected “intellectual elites” who have definitive impact in determining the substance and style of the international discourse on the Arab-Israel conflict. Since it is this discourse that molds political decision- makers’ perceptions of their policy constraints and alternatives, this confers on these elites decisive – albeit indirect – influence on the policy choices adopted.

University professors in the United Kingdom say they will halt all cooperation with Israeli schools in an effort to draw attention to Israel's violations of international law. In a statement released on Tuesday, 343 UK academics announced that they would no longer accept invitations to visit Israeli academic institutions, act as referees in any of their processes, or participate in conferences funded or organized by them.

A hummus cafe in Israel is giving a 50 percent discount to tables mixing Jewish and Arab diners, in a campaign the owner hopes will bring people together as dozens of people have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian violence this month. Kobi Tzafrir, the owner of Humus Bar in the town of Kfar Vitkin, initially posted the offer on Facebook.

The economic cost that Israel is paying for the current wave of terror can be seen in how the malls have emptied out [...] In an interview with Al-Monitor, [Shraga Brosh] calls on the government to include business people in the country’s official public diplomacy campaign overseas, claiming that this tactic already proved itself during the first and second intifadas.