The problem facing the Administration is that international impatience with the stalled U.S. peace process has reached a point where more photo-op diplomacy won't suffice. The world wants to see progress on a two-state solution, and believes Israel has to be pressed on the matter.

Major events in the Middle East –including tensions between the U.S. and Israel, growing political unrest in many Arab countries, and the death of Osama bin Laden – have had little effect on public attitudes toward the region.

Your plan must include approaching the most senior politicians, mobilizing the relevant force multipliers... using the media, influencing local public opinion, and public diplomacy aimed at all the relevant communities.

Even if the State of Israel had no external image problem, Israel-Diaspora relations would be a priority for the Israeli government, said Yuli Edelstein, the Jewish state’s minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs...One of the obstacles to that responsibility is the fact that the average Israeli is uninterested about Jewish life in the Diaspora, he said.

CPD Assistant Director for Research and Publications, Naomi Leight, participated on a panel, organized by BINA LA, to discuss the impact of film and culture in Israel’s public diplomacy strategy.

Over 30,000 participants were estimated to have taken part in Sunday’s “Celebrate Israel” parade in New York City, commemorating Israel’s 63rd year of independence. The parade used to be known as the “Salute to Israel” parade, but this year, the name was changed to "Celebrate Israel" to focus on celebrating Israel’s diversity and strengths.

The significance of the bipartisan rebuke of Obama and the broad consensus of the international community is evident in Netanyahu’s specific lines that received the most enthusiastic applause - when he defied Obama's suggestion that the 1967 borders be the basis of negotiations.

Portugal is more pro-multilateral, emphasizing soft power and persuasion rather than picking fights, argued Jez Littlewood, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University. This, he argues, is actually similar to the position Canada used to take when it sat on the council.