The Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry have been hard at work spreading Israel’s message in Operation Protective Edge for the last week in an effort that is mostly paying off, experts on public diplomacy in and out of the government said Sunday. “We see [public diplomacy] as a war front like any other,” Foreign Ministry Deputy Director-General for Communications and Public Diplomacy Arthur Koll explained. 

Amid the spiraling bloodshed in Gaza, Turkey continues to send aid to the Palestinian enclave through the Kerem Shalom border crossing in coordination with the Israeli army. Turkish agencies have been flowing aid into Gaza worth a total of $2.5 million and most of the assistance is based on local procurement, a Turkish official told the Hürriyet Daily News. 

I’m sitting in a café in Jerusalem’s posh German Colony, an area of town reminiscent of Boston’s Newbury Street, on a lovely, if a touch excessively warm, summer Friday morning. As I’ve been here for a month doing archival research for my next book, Cast a Giant Shadow: Israel’s Image-Making efforts in America 1948-78, I’m thinking a lot about nation branding. But at the moment, I’m thinking less about Israel’s image and “brand” in the U.S. than I am about Palestine’s.

The Israeli government welcomed the opportunity to extend its soft power over neighbouring Arab countries. "I hear that many football fans in the region [are] watching World Cup games broadcast live on Israeli channels. Welcome," tweeted Ofir Gendelman, Arabic spokesman for the Israeli prime minister. Warming to his theme, Gendelman then released a list of Hebrew football terms, translated into Arabic. The move prompted a small backlash inside Egypt, where one former general warned that the Israeli channel might constitute a threat to Egyptian national security. 

Israel's practice of 'roof knocking' before leveling buildings in Gaza is being documented by local residents, with examples being uploaded to YouTube.  The practice involves the Israel Air Force firing a small mortar shell onto the roof of a building it has designated for destruction. Residents then have a few minutes at best to clear out or face being caught in the rubble.

Despite several statements by world leaders condemning rocket fire on Israel and calling for restraint, the international community currently doesn’t really care about Israel’s conflict with Gaza, a senior diplomatic official said Wednesday. “The international community is totally disinterested. Yes, there were a few press releases from [UK Foreign Secretary] William Hague and a few others, but generally the world doesn’t show any particular interest in this,” the official told The Times of Israel. 

As tensions between Palestinians and Israelis remain high, there is a moment of hope in the middle of everything that is bleak: The father of a murdered Palestinian teenager was consoled by the uncle of a slain Israeli teenager.  "We expressed our deep empathy with their sorrow, from one bereaved family to another bereaved family," said Yishai Fraenkel, the uncle of Naftali Fraenkel, one of three Israeli teenagers found dead after being abducted on June 12.