The recent restructuring of the government’s hasbara (public diplomacy) body opens a window of opportunity that can revolutionize Israel’s PR strategy. Public diplomacy has become an essential aspect of Israel’s strategy in its battle against delegitimization. As Israel’s enemies focus their energies and resources out of the battlefield and inside various initiatives such as the BDS movement or the flotilla incident, it might seem odd that Israel’s latest coalition agreement closed down the Public Diplomacy Ministry and transferred its authority to the Prime Minister’s Office.

There is no money for public diplomacy, or “hasbara,” and less and less money for the diplomats on the front lines. Salaries in Jerusalem have always been low, with younger diplomats often receiving supplemental income from the state. Postings abroad were better paid and families could save a little money. No more. In many countries our diplomats just can’t make ends meet.

Despite Palestinians' limited opportunities for travel, the city of Ramallah, home to the PA, diplomatic missions and NGOs has become recognized as a crossroads for interaction of different cultures. The West Bank political and economic reality has spawned its own particular social reality in Ramallah. Foreign donors and international NGOs bring with them foreign national employees.

A group of Romanian high school students is set to arrive in Israel on Monday as part of broader exchange programs that have helped crystallize strong relations between the two countries in the fields of education and Holocaust remembrance.

Israeli parliamentarians must establish a Knesset caucus aimed at “reinforcing” relations between Israeli and Jewish communities abroad and “especially in Europe,” Israeli Jewish Congress CEO Michel Gourary said on Wednesday.

A Google representative from the company's global headquarters has discussed the decision to use "Palestine," not "Palestinian Territories," across the tech giant's products. At the Knesset committee meeting Wednesday, the Israelis didn't get very far in their attempts to change the American's mind.

The only parts of the Palestinian territories with reliable mobile coverage are in major cities or Israeli settlements; high-speed mobile Internet is all but nonexistent. So here's an idea: Light up the West Bank with long-denied 3G wireless Internet connectivity and create an exception in the Arab League boycott of Israeli products for those that have Palestinian-controlled companies in their supply chains.

Hoffman contends that Israel’s foreign policy is in urgent need of a structural overhaul in order to deal with the challenges of public diplomacy. He is currently formulating an action plan that would redefine the authority granted by law to Israel’s foreign-affairs and public-diplomacy activities.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/israeli-foreign-minist...