FIRE WITH FIRE

Regarding “Unforgotten flotilla” (July 22): The Mavi Mamara saga is just one example of Israel’s tendency to win military battles, only to lose the broader public diplomacy war. As Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak observes, “We have a great and strong army, but we suck at explaining ourselves in international media.”

For too long, Israel has failed to recognize the impact that public diplomacy (PD) has on the country’s international standing. Rather than an afterthought, it must play a central role in advance planning and follow-up of all major initiatives, whether civil or military.

Few diplomats or soldiers possess the expertise needed to convey our message effectively to the international public. Even those who have an aptitude for such work often are transferred to other jobs just as they develop the skills and contacts to make a real impact.

A major weakness is that the government’s public diplomacy apparatus is dispersed among numerous actors. There are spokespeople from the Prime Minister’s Office, the IDF, the Foreign Ministry and information agencies, to name a few, often working at cross purposes. How can we possibly expect the world to understand who we are and what we stand for when we don’t make a consistent, unified presentation?

We need a dedicated agency, independent of any of the ministries or the government of the moment, whose sole responsibility is the dissemination of the truth of what Israel stands for and what it is doing. This agency must be well-funded and staffed by communication experts, with the ability to hire outside firms when necessary.

It must have access to information from the government and must receive the government’s full cooperation, but should not be a propaganda arm of whatever party happens to be in power. We can and must demonstrate that we are not only innovative but moral. We deserve to be supported not because we invented the flash drive but because we are a just, caring and ethical nation.

Israel must fight fire with fire, speaking with a single expert voice. We have the truth on our side, but we must use every modern communication technique to disseminate that truth rapidly and accurately; otherwise, our enemies stand to win an uncontested victory of narratives.

EFRAIM COHEN Zichron Ya’acov

The writer, a retired US diplomat, served in the Office of Public Diplomacy at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv.