For the first time in many years, a virtual meeting of Israel’s Public Diplomacy Forum was convened Tuesday (Dec. 28), including among the participants the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and additional agencies.
The forum, convened by the Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office was aimed at coordinating and synchronizing the work of all relevant public diplomacy elements in order to lead a unified, precise and clear message on nationally significant issues and events.
The Public Diplomacy Directorate is currently in the process of being relaunched, the Prime Minister’s Office PMO) said in a statement; the Public Diplomacy Forum convened by the Directorate is expected to “meet regularly” following Tuesday’s launch, which was opened by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
“I welcome the convening of this important forum, the Public Diplomacy Forum, in which all of the agencies have dialogue, refine messages and adapt the public diplomacy campaign of the State of Israel,” the prime minister said.
“The image attributed to the State of Israel and the awareness of us in the world are a main component of our national security and our national strength. This is true during routine but how much more so in times of crisis.
“We saw this during Operation Guardians of the Walls. On a historic level, in almost every campaign conducted by the State of Israel, there were international pressures that greatly restricted the freedom of action of Israel’s policymakers, and this is also connected to the public diplomacy arena,” Bennett pointed out.
“As someone who has fought on the battlefield and physically experienced the hardships of war, I am pleased to know that on the home front, they have given and will give our soldiers full support.
As far as I am concerned, the key principles are – visuals, credibility and a precise message,” he said.
“The expression ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ has been proven in studies. The impression that a 10-second video clip makes on you can be for life, immeasurably greater than words.
“The second thing is credibility. We simply cannot issue things that are not true. If we do not know something, we will check and issue the full information that we have at that stage.
“The other thing is that the message always needs to be precise and clear — the simpler the better. . . The challenges are great but so are the talents here at this forum and its potential efforts.”
Those who addressed the forum following the prime minister included Head of Public Diplomacy Elad Tene, Public Diplomacy Directorate Director Gadi Ezra, IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ran Kochav, Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit Commander Hadas Madmoni-Shapiro and Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General for Public Diplomacy Noam Katz.
It was the first time in many years, Tene said, that “all agencies are convening together in order to discuss our concept of public diplomacy, to coordinate and to plan.
“This is the opening shot in a significant reorganization of the directorate in order to move Israeli public diplomacy forward,” he said.