Early in the fall semester, the University of Pittsburgh's Panthers for Israel group kicked off the year with free giveaways, music and a creative twist. Three renowned graffiti artists from New York attracted hundreds of Pitt students as they painted an homage to Pittsburgh and Israel on campus walls.

In a statement released by his office, the Israeli Premier said “we are [operating] on four fronts: The military front, the home front, the diplomatic front and the public diplomacy front”, as he continued to stress: “What you are doing greatly strengthens us on the public diplomacy front.”

The national religious faction within the ruling party Likud is set to launch a new elections campaign this weekend, targeting the country's religious population. The campaign will begin several days before the Likud-Beytenu list launches its main campaign, geared toward the general public.

Canada and Israel took another step forward to strengthen bilateral relations by signing an agreement to jointly foster economic and social development in the developing world. The pact was signed last week in Ottawa by Margaret Biggs, the president of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Daniel Carmon, director of Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (Mashav).

The India-Israel friendship has been flying very well under the radar for years, arguably to the benefit of both sides. But Israel now wants a public acknowledgement of the bond. It would like India to invite President Shimon Peres for a visit to put a seal on the relationship and take it to a higher level.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called upon Palestinians on Saturday to boycott Israeli products, as a response to the Netanyahu government’s decision not to transfer to the PA the taxes and customs duties it is due to receive.

The official Facebook page of Israel’s embassy to Ireland this morning posted, and then abruptly deleted, a provocative message arguing that “hostile Palestinians” would “lynch” Jesus Christ and his mother, Mary, if they lived in today’s Bethlehem... The Facebook message, which begins “A thought for Christmas,” included an image of Jesus and Mary. It was live for about two hours before being deleted.

Israel’s Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry has opened a Public Diplomacy Department in Arabic. A statement released by the Ministry states that the department “will be responsible for conducting public diplomacy activities for the media and public opinion on a global level in general and among Arab countries and the Middle East in particular.”