Recruiting Yossi to explain Israel

February 24, 2010 - 9:10 AM by David

Talk about putting your best foot forward. Yuli Edelstein, the Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, has decided that Israel’s greatest asset in stating her case on the world’s stage is the average Israeli citizen.

His ministry has launched Masberim Israeli (roughly translated as ‘Explaining Israel’), a citizens’ campaign aimed at equipping the average Yossi with the information needed to present a positive, modern version of Israel to visitors and when they travel abroad.

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TV ads have already started airing that portray an exaggerated view of how some of the world perceives Israel – most of us ride camel and barbecue kebab outside because we don’t have kitchens.

The voiceover in Hebrew then proclaims: “Are you fed up with how they portray us in the world? You can change the picture.”

The Christian Science Monitor reported that other videos featured on the new website, include a French-language clip of an announcer describing an Israel in which bombs are exploding in the streets of every city.

“My call upon Israelis is not to become world experts on United Nations resolutions, or to explain the policy of the Netanyahu government. What really worries me is the distorted image of Israel that an average person gets,” says Edelstein in a phone interview from London. The program was launched after six months of research in which, he says, the ministry discovered that Israelis are unhappy about their image abroad, and that 85 percent of respondents said they’d like to work to change it.

The program has a budget of about $1.5 million, includes a focus of helping Israelis explain and present a “normal” picture of Israel when they go abroad. This will include training for delegations of average people who are not diplomats – such those headed for sports meets, student conferences, municipal symposia, or business gatherings.
“We already have 70 workshops scheduled in which we will address the issue of how to deliver the message, how to avoid shouting and arguing,” Edelstein explains. “This is very important. Israelis sometimes have this image of being, you know, loud and arrogant.”

I think that if the only result of the program is to get some Israelis to stop being loud and arrogant, then it will be worth every shekel being spent on it. But somehow, I don’t see Moshe, my corner grocer, or Shimon, my car mechanic, suddenly evolving into public diplomats for Israel. Not when they’re so busy grilling kebab and tuning up their camels…

Tags: , , , , , • Category: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Social Justice 

Comments

2 Comments on Recruiting Yossi to explain Israel

  1. Rachel Neiman on Wed, Feb 24th 2010 5:46 PM

    2. In the end, this program will provide some well-needed PR about Israel to Israelis, who know little to nothing about the good things their own country does. It’s a shame the site isn’t translated into Russian, Spanish, French, Arabic and — dare I suggest — even English. Oh, but then they’d have to credit ISRAEL21c for most their content!

  2. Haveil Havalim #258: Purim 5770 Edition | The Israel Situation on Sat, Feb 27th 2010 8:47 PM

    3. [...] has an interesting post on using the average Israeli for an international PR campaign and discusses how Israel’s size does not impede innovation [...]

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