I had breakfast this week with one of my heroes, Saul Singer, who, along with Dan Senor, authored the best selling book on Israel's entrepreneurial culture, StartUp Nation. Saul and Dan single-handedly (or, shall I say, two-handedly) changed Israel's branding globally, framing Israel as a unique, fertile environment for entrepreneurship and breakthrough cross-disciplinary discoveries.

The dawn of a new calendar year may have begun, but there are few rays of sunshine on the diplomatic horizon, as pressure continues to mount on the Jewish state.

The dawn of a new calendar year may have begun, but there are few rays of sunshine on the diplomatic horizon, as pressure continues to mount on the Jewish state. In recent weeks, various South American countries have conferred recognition on an independent “Palestine,” in effect prejudging the outcome of any future negotiations.

The Knesset's Immigration, Absorption and Public Diplomacy Committee met Tuesday to discuss Israel's response to the recent recognition of a Palestinian state by Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

The itinerary of Pakistani football team’s proposed tour of Palestine in a few months time has generated a controversy among Islamists and political leaders who fear the tour will be used as cover up for another back channel secret diplomacy between Islamabad and Tel Aviv.

As we all know by now, Israel has lost the battle for public opinion in the west. Even the Israel government is now acknowledging this fact. Israel and its defenders have been outclassed and outmanoeuvred in a war of the mind being waged on a battleground it never even acknowledged it was on.

"If I got an invitation to perform from the president of Syria or the prime minister of Lebanon, I would be the first to go," says Idan Raichel, one of Israel's biggest-selling musicians. Right now that seems like a highly unlikely prospect, given the hostile relations between Israel and its neighbours to the north.

Israel has dismissed Egyptian claims that a series of shark attacks in the Red Sea could have been the result of a plot carried out by its foreign intelligence agency, Mossad.