On a wet and miserable January day in Jerusalem, a delegation from your IBCA Executive was invited to attend the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and The Oxford Israel Alumni Society 2025 Reception. This event was an opportunity to gain insights from former Ambassadors and other distinguished guests on today’s key diplomatic issues, including civil diplomacy, digital diplomacy and antisemitism.
The first speaker was Gali Baram, a former Consul General in Toronto and now Director of the MFA’s activity across the world. She explained the difference between classic, public, and economic & humanitarian diplomacy and the role of the 108 Diplomatic Missions around the world.
Akiva Tor, another former Ambassador and now Director of Academic Coordination, gave us an insight into his research on the current antisemitic situation on university campuses, particularly in English speaking countries. He has compiled a comprehensive list of recommendations on how to tackle this dangerous issue.
Akiva was followed by Tamar Schwarzbard, the Head of Digital Operations who, along with her team of 10, have posted 40,000 pieces of content on social media in Hebrew, English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Russian and Persian since October 7, 2023 with 8 billion views!
Then it was the turn of Ruth Cohen-Dar, a former Deputy Ambassador and now Director of the Combating Antisemitism and Holocaust Remembrance Department. It was sobering to hear that recent research by the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) estimates that 46% of the world population holds antisemitic sentiments.
After a short lunch break, Dan Oryan, another former Ambassador and now Director of the Civic Diplomacy Department moderated a panel which included Mark Regev who was, of course, Ambassador to the UK and spokesman for the PM; Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and a familiar face on English news channels; Arsen Ostrovsky, a Human Rights Lawyer and CEO of The International Legal Forum; Ofir Dayan, Researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies. They talked about their experiences after October 7, 2023 and their views regarding the prickly subject of Israeli Public Relations!
Although running over, we were still invited to a short tour of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before departing with a much better understanding of what the 1200 staff at the MFA have to deal with in their day-to-day work load and how we can all do our bit to help as mini ambassadors.
Judi Herman
23/01/2025www.OxfordIL.co.uk
