Israel's Public Diplomacy: The Problems of Hasbara, 1966-1975

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

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.

Reviews

[This book] is timely and welcome... * Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs *
A significant and interesting contribution to the historical analysis of public diplomacy. An excellent case study of the public diplomacy of a new state, Israel, during a critical period of several major wars with its neighbors. Presents and evaluates organizational and policy challenges in public diplomacy, and ways to fix them. Well-grounded in documents, memoirs, biographies, and interviews. -- Professor Eytan Gilboa, Director, The Center for International Communication, Bar-Ilan University
This rigorous, penetrating and long-overdue study examines Israel's international public opinion efforts. In his highly readable and thoroughly researched book, Jonathan Cummings successfully tackles the key problems of Israel's "hasbara" and has produced the definitive work on this sensitive topic. -- Meron Medzini, former Director, Israel Government Press Office
Hasbarahas become synonymous with Israel's heavy-handed efforts at making its case on the international stage. By unpicking the details of a critical phase of Israeli history, Jonathan Cummings has reclaimed the centrality of Israel's public diplomacy as an element of the country's foreign policy. This is an important book and a compelling read. -- Nachman Shai, MK, former IDF Spokesperson

Author Bio

Jonathan Cummings is a political analyst and consultant and former director of the Israel office of BICOM (Britain Israel Communication and Research Centre). He served as a parliamentary assistant at the Knesset and was a research fellow at Tel Aviv Universitys Institute for National Security Studies.