small talk 2.0

Yigal Palmor, spokesperson of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, uses Youtube to explain why Palestinian unilateral bid for statehood is wrong and leas nowhere.

Editorial Board Opinion of Washington Post. There is no better way to explain the September initiative of the Palestinian Authority. Once again, Israel is scapegoated ISRAELIS WORRY that the Arab Spring is turning from a popular movement against dictatorship into another assault on the Jewish state, and their worry is not unfounded. Last week in Cairo  a mob attacked the Israeli Embassy , forcing the evacuation of the ambassador and most of his staff; the previous week the  Israeli ambassador to Turkey was expelled . Later this month Palestinians are expected to introduce a resolution on statehood at the United Nations , and Israel could be further isolated if, as expected, a large majority of the General Assembly votes in favor of it. There’s little doubt that plenty of Arabs and Turks are angry at Israel. But it’s worth noting that, as often is the case in the Middle East, those passions are being steered by governments. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who asp...

Doctors can also play, sing and dance at the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. Very nice use of Youtube, how you'd call it, Health 2.0?

"France succumbed to Twitter" - this is today's headline in one of the most popular French newspaper "Le Parisien". Two million French are using Twitter as of today. This number is nothing compared to the true success of Facebook on the French soil. Half (!) of the population in France are using the biggest social network in the world. The success of social media in France is undoubted. In addition to the global networks, like Twitter and Facebook, there are other networks that  have rather French or European flavor and are also quite popular, to mention Daily Motion (a version of Youtube) for exchanging videos, or Viadeo (a version of LinkedIn) that is used for professional purposes. The boom of the social media is being felt especially strong in the last few month, due to an extraordinary event that happened in Mai: the arrest of the president of IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The French media was reporting about this event in an obsessive way, only reflecti...

“It’s hard to understand, but Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is heading full force into his own collapse, and that of his Authority, in September”, wrote a n Israeli commentator Guy Bechor a few days ago. It’s one thing to make declarations; it’s another thing to bring to their implementation. It’s one thing to use strong expressions like “Israel will face diplomatic tsunami in September”. However in reality, the vote in the UN, if it will happen (with strong emphasis on “if”), could hardly be described even as an “aftershock”. Rather it will prove to be void of any significance, like most of the communication spins promoted by Palestinian Authority and their supporters in the media. We don’t have to be prophets in order to understand why this outcome of the UN bid is almost inevitable. We just have to be good listeners. Let’s first listen to somebody who probably has better understanding than the average person, why the unilateral declaration in the UN is useless and...

When 3 weeks ago, on April 22, I wrote about unpredictable things that can happen before September 2011 and change the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I never thought that the change can come that fast. But on April 27 Hamas and Fatah already declared about their reconciliation deal. Fatah and Hamas symbols Let’s analyze how this event became possible, once again without slogans or emotions, and try to see what could be the consequences of such a move. First of all, why Abu Mazen should have accepted the deal? As some reporters and commentators said this “reconciliation” with the organization that is regarded as terrorist by the US and the EU could, in fact, have negative effect for his own image and  threaten his “UN recognition” project. Here are the explanations: a. Abu Mazen didn’t really have a choice – he gave his consent to this agreement already a year ago, when the Egyptians tried to bring the two Palestinian factions to table of negotiations. b...

The campaign of the Palestinian Authority to gain international recognition of the state of Palestine is supposed to reach its apogee in September 2011. During the General Assembly of the UN in September the leaders of the Palestinian authority want to get a UN resolution about the establishment of their state. Many countries already declared their support of this initiative. Yesterday the French ambassador to the UN even said that France and the European countries are considering recognition of the state of Palestine. Some experts say that Israel is expecting her own "black September". Even some of the Israeli politicians call it a "new political tzunami". But let us analyze the situation without slogans or dramatic headlines. What will happen in September, after the adoption of this resolution? It won't be the first time the UN adopts resolution about the Palestinian state. In November 1947 the UN did not adopt the resolution only about Israel - the resolut...

Two years after the publication of the Goldstone Report that accused Israel in committing war crimes, the Judge Richard Goldstone who wrote the report regrets its conclusion. In his letter in Washington Post he confesses his own naivety in expecting Hamas, the terrorist organizations, to investigate itself. He also describes his expectations from the UN Human Rights Council to condemn intentional attacks of Hamas against Israel. This expectation is also very naive. The Goldstone Committee was created by an organization where the major actors are Libya, Syria, Iran and other human-rights loving countries. Iran murdered its citizens in 2009; Syria follows the Iranian big brother these very days. Libya’s Kaddafi regime is bombarded by NATO. So,  Judge Goldstone, my question is this:  How a person of your stance and experience could have received a mandate from such an organization for conducting investigation? You were completely blind, butI believe, at least that was not inten...

Before moving to France in the August 2010,  I was already connected already to about 10 social networks, among them LinkedIn. I discovered LinkedIn when working in Los Angeles 5 years ago, and since then enjoyed many useful contacts found through this network. However, in France LinkedIn is less popular than Viadeo - 5-language social network for professionals. I joined it a month ago and since then was contacted by many experts and even received proposition for joint seminar. Viadeo's structure is similar to that of LinkedIn, even though some features I found less successful. Yet, the most important advantage of Viadeo is that you can find there useful contacts in France. So, if you are looking for professional networking in France - go to Viadeo.

Now it's official: Palestinians don't want peace negotiations. Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator announced that the PA does not believe in the direct talks with Israel, and is looking for international recognition of the state of Palestine in the 1967 borders. Mr. Erekat refers to the Security Council resolution 242, adopted in November 1967. This resolution calls for the Israeli withdrawal from territories and for establishing the secure and recognized boundaries. By the way, there is no mentioning of the Palestinian state in this document. But this is not the point I would like to make.The point I would like to make goes to the heart of the 242 resolution: withdrawal from territories and the idea of secure borders. Let's say, Israel will withdraw its army to the 1967 borders and evacuate all the Israelis from the West Bank. Do you really think Israel will have secure borders? Do you think Hamas will not take over power in the West Bank, like he did in Gaza in 2...

Reports about the nuclear disaster in Japan bring back my memories from what I experienced 25 years ago. 25 years ago I lived in the city of Zhitomir, a city of 250.000 inhabitants, which lies west of the capital of Ukraine, Kiev. One more detail on the geographical location of Zhitomir: it is located about 90 km south of Chernobyl, a town of the famous nuclear station. This geographical fact became extremely important in April 1986. The reactor exploded during the night between 26 and 27 April. However, we learned the details of what exactly  happened only one week later. I remind you that the year was 1986: those are the first months of Mikhail Gorbachev in power. There are still no reforms in the Soviet Union, no openness, no "glasnost" and "perestroika".The Soviet Union at its best. With this in  mind, it was quite obvious that the media reported nothing. Business as usual.  It was our neighbor , the wife of an officer,...

www.europe-israel.org

In August 2010 I moved to Paris for my new diplomatic job as the spokesperson of the Embassy of Israel. One of the first things on my agenda was to open "blog of the Spokesperson". Why? I had three reasons in mind. First, the level of social media penetration In France was rising, including the use of the social networks like Facebook and Daily Motion. Secondly, many French journalists and politicians were using Twitter and personal blogs for their professional objectives. Some of them I started to follow before landing in Paris. And third, the French media in general, with some exceptions, is generally hostile to Israeli positions on the Middle East peace process and sees the conflict between us and the Palestinians as the major topic about Israel, while ignoring other stories about Israel. So, we started to develop a communication strategy with a significant role of social media, my personal blog being part of it. All of the reasons proved to be correct. So, when I opened...

At the end of this week the embassy will welcome the visit of Yuli Edelstein, Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora affairs, in Paris. During his visit Edelstein will meet with the Minister of Justice Michel Mercier, with the heads of the Jewish community of France and with the French media.   What is particularly interesting about Yuli Edelstein is his personal story. Yuli Edelstein was not born in Israel, he immigrated to Israel in 1987, after spending 3 years in Soviet Gulag. Why? Because he was a Zionist - a person who believes in the right of the Jewish people to live in their state in the Land of Israel. In 1978, as a fourth year student of foreign languages in Moscow, he applied for an exit visa. His request was denied. Mr. Edelstein joined the Refuseniks’ movement and became involved in Zionist activities - teaching Hebrew. He was arrested by the KGB on trumped up charges of illegal possession of drugs. After spending three years in the notorious Soviet Gulag, Yuli Ede...

In 1988 I was 15 year-old student in high-school in the small city of Zhitomir, Western Ukraine. It was time when the citizens of the Soviet Union started to wake up from the complete passivity imposed on them by 70 year rule of the Communist Party. I will never forget these days, because there was something new in the air, something new and unfamiliar for all of us. It was not the feeling of freedom, no - it was the feeling of the promise of freedom. I remember how I walked to spontaneous meetings and gatherings, hold at the parks, in  squares, on the streets, where people were listening to some courageous journalists and intellectuals who were talking about democracy. I remember the first semi-democratic elections for the Soviet parliament in 1988, when suddenly people get mobilized for the "anti-nomenclature" - non-communist - candidates. I remember how my mom, always afraid of KGB, went to spread the flyers for the only democratic candidate running in our city. I will nev...

One month ago we have experienced in Israel something very unusual – the strike of the Israel Diplomatic service. Diplomats rarely go to strike, as diplomacy is considered an important element of the national security. But this time diplomats protested against the deterioration of their working conditions in the last 15 years, and there was a high level of mobilization among them. The diplomats felt that while praising their difficult work, the government did nothing to provide them with fair salaries. As much as unusual diplomats’ strike could be, after all it was a working dispute in the public sector, which happens often in Israel. Facebook page of the diplomats' strike' called "Save the Diplomatic Service" However, what was really unusual, and in my eyes  even amazing - both as a participant in this strike and the firm believer in Gov 2.0 - was the use of social media by diplomats in order to mobilize public support for our struggle.  The public and media suppor...

An interesting analysis by Herbert Meyer on the democratic movement in the Arab world, comparison to the collapse of the Soviet Block, and recommendations for US Administration of how to act in this situation. February 14, 2011 Egypt is an Opportunity By   Herbert E. Meyer The lid has finally blown off the pressure cooker in Cairo.  And as the Director of National Intelligence is apparently just now starting to notice, there are a few more pressure cookers on the stove that are beginning to make odd noises. Alas, in the real world there is no rewind button.  So while it's tempting to dwell on  how  ineptly  the President and his team have coped with the unfolding revolution in Egypt  -- and God knows it's fun, given the breathtaking combination of arrogance and stupidity this administration has displayed -- our nation's security requires that we focus on the future.  More precisely: Where are we now, in Egypt and more broadly in the Mideast? Wh...