Israel's Public Diplomacy

Israel's Public Diplomacy
Author: Jonathan Cummings
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2016-07-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 144226599X

Hasbara (explaining), the Israeli variant of public diplomacy, is the subject of endless domestic debate. Israel in the 1960s and 1970s saw many changes in its political and military international stage. This was a period of unusually intensive attention to the problems of hasbara, beginning with the appointment of Yisrael Galili as minister with responsibility for government communications and ending with the dismantling of the Ministry of Information in 1974, less than a year after it had been created. Israel had only been able to “muddle through,” and, at the end, there was no greater sophistication in Israeli thinking and no stronger administrative structure in spite of many organizational changes. Accessible to anyone interested in the history of Israel as well as political history and diplomacy, the book serves as a case study of how entrenched political culture can limit policy options and casts light on the emergence of public diplomacy as a feature of foreign policy.

Public Diplomacy and the Politics of Uncertainty

Public Diplomacy and the Politics of Uncertainty
Author: Pawel Surowiec
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2020-10-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030545520

This edited book explores the multi-layered relationships between public diplomacy and intensified uncertainties stemming from transnational political trends. It is the latest wave of political uncertainty that provides the background as well as yields evidence scrutinised by authors contributing to this book. The book argues that due to a state of perpetual crises, the simultaneity of diplomatic tensions and new digital modalities of power, international politics increasingly resembles a networked set of hyper-realities. Embracing multi-polar competition, superpowers such as Russia flex their muscles over their neighbours; celebrated ‘success stories’ of democratisation – Hungary, Poland and Czechia – move towards illiberal governance; old players of international politics such as Britain and America re-claim “greatness”, while other states, like China, adapt expansionist foreign policy goals. The contributors to this book consider the different ways in which transnational political trends and digitalisation breed uncertainty and shape the practice of public diplomacy.

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
Author: John J. Mearsheimer
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 651
Release: 2007-09-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1429932821

Originally published in 2007, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy. A work of major importance, it remains as relevant today as it was in the immediate aftermath of the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006. Mearsheimer and Walt describe in clear and bold terms the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel and argues that this support cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds. This exceptional relationship is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. They provocatively contend that the lobby has a far-reaching impact on America's posture throughout the Middle East―in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict―and the policies it has encouraged are in neither America's national interest nor Israel's long-term interest. The lobby's influence also affects America's relationship with important allies and increases dangers that all states face from global jihadist terror. The publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy led to a sea change in how the U.S-Israel relationship was discussed, and continues to be one of the most talked-about books in foreign policy.

People-to-People Diplomacy in Israel and Palestine

People-to-People Diplomacy in Israel and Palestine
Author: Sapir Handelman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134924097

The Minds of Peace Experiment is a small-scale Israeli-Palestinian public negotiating congress. The exercise invites Israeli and Palestinian delegations to publicly negotiate solutions to their struggle over a limited period of sessions. The initiative is designed to demonstrate the peacemaking power of a major public negotiating congress, to evaluate its potential outcomes, and to get support for its establishment. Scholars from different disciplines describe and analyze the enterprise. They provide valuable lessons for improving and elaborating the initiative which has been conducted in major universities around the U.S., Canada and in Israel-Palestine. The intention is to add a fresh perspective to the efforts to build a revolutionary peacemaking process in the Israeli-Palestinian case. The Minds of Peace Experiment is a fascinating laboratory for people-to-people diplomacy and negotiation. The exercise succeeded to demonstrate how people, from all walks of life and the entire political spectrum, can reach peace agreements while their leaders face major problems in their relationship. The book intends to provoke critical and fruitful discussion among those who are interested in negotiation, diplomacy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This book was published as a special issue of Israel Affairs.

Advocating for Israel

Advocating for Israel
Author: Natan Aridan
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2017-08-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1498553788

This study analyzes the unique triangular relationship between Israel’s diplomatic representatives, pro-Israel advocates, and US administrations draws on a wealth of Hebrew and English primary documentation that includes; government archives, surveillance records, wiretappings, personal oral interviews, and diaries of key individuals. Natan Aridan demonstrates how a small new state succeeded in establishing a level of political, economic and military aid that has made for an alliance that is unique in the American experience. Revealed in considerable depth are the dilemmas facing Israeli and US leaders, and pro-Israel organizations and the extent to which individual Jewish leaders maneuvered as conduits between Israeli governments and US administrations, whose senior dramatis personae in turn attempted to influence, moderate, restrain, and change the course of policy decisions and actions. Each administration had multiple voices and international contingencies presented different challenges, all of which had a major impact in fluctuations, and shifts in policies toward Israel. There was nothing inevitable about military and financial support for Israel. It was only by the end of the period that a distinct pattern began to emerge. Eventual qualified US support took a long and complicated path developed over many decades on multidimensional levels. The book refutes insidious allegations that from Israel’s inception Jewish influence and a powerful Israel lobby hijacked US foreign policy to achieve unreserved military and financial support for Israel that undermined the best interests of the US. The author illustrates one of the poorly misunderstood aspects on the subject by demonstrating how Israeli governments were more astute and powerful than previous scholars have realized and that they were in fact pulling the strings far more than AIPAC and wealthy Jews. He also demonstrates that a contributing factor on the decision to aid Israel (understated in previous research) lay in Israel exploiting its ‘nuisance value.’

Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy

Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy
Author: Nancy Snow
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 597
Release: 2008-11-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1135926883

The Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy provides a comprehensive overview of public diplomacy and national image and perception management, from the efforts to foster pro-West sentiment during the Cold War to the post-9/11 campaign to "win the hearts and minds" of the Muslim world. Editors Nancy Snow and Philip Taylor present materials on public diplomacy trends in public opinion and cultural diplomacy as well as topical policy issues. The latest research in public relations, credibility, soft power, advertising, and marketing is included and institutional processes and players are identified and analyzed. While the field is dominated by American and British research and developments, the book also includes international research and comparative perspectives from other countries. Published in association with the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School based at the University of Southern California.

Are We There Yet: Have MFAs Realized the Potential of Digital Diplomacy?

Are We There Yet: Have MFAs Realized the Potential of Digital Diplomacy?
Author: Ilan Manor
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2016-05-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004319794

Despite growing interest in digital diplomacy, few studies to date have evaluated the extent to which foreign ministries have been able to realize its potential. Studies have also neglected to understand the manner in which diplomats define digital diplomacy and envision its practice. This article explores the digital diplomacy model employed by four foreign ministries through interviews and questionnaires with practitioners.

Israel Undercover

Israel Undercover
Author: Steve Posner
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 1987-11-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0815652038

Israel Undercover focuses on the execution of para­military counterterrorist operations against Palestinian guerrillas and the behind-the-scenes negotiations car­ried out among Arab statesmen, Israeli leaders, and American officials. Intelligence agencies like the CIA and the KGB are often viewed as tools for carrying out "dirty tricks," covert operations that lead to government coups, ille­gal bombings, political killings, and "Iranscam." In the Middle East, undercover operatives are frequently called upon to serve a dual purpose: to wage clandes­tine warfare behind enemy lines and to help public officials carry out secret diplomatic moves that would be impossible if carried out under the glare of the world press. This book successfully portrays the cold objectivity that governs the life-and-death foreign policy of a country like Israel-the need to view friend and foe alike with resolute realism. The book is divided into four sections: (1) "Inside Beirut" describes Israel's use of its intelligence net­work in Lebanon during the 1970s to conduct military reprisals and its impact on the Israeli-Egyptian peace process; (2) "Across the River Jordan" examines the decades-old secret relationship between Israeli leaders and Jordan's King Hussein; (3) "American Dreams" reveals the quiet alliance between the Christian Phalan­gist militia and Washington's back-door channel to the PLO; and (4) "The Mysterious Middle East" provides a glimpse of the region's special mix of conspiracy and animosity. In order to provide a historical setting and a politi­cal context for the events described in the book, mate­rial is included from widely published sources, inte­grated with information gathered from private informants, some of whom have chosen to remain anonymous.