26. Ministry of Foreign Affairs

On Tuesday I went to Jerusalem to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the equivalent of the State Department). I went with a group of about 15 kids from my program. We heard a lecture from the director of the Israeli marketing and branding department that was very captivating. She told us about Israel's efforts to "brand" Israel in an attempt to increase tourism and bolster support from outsiders. They are trying to changing peoples' minds about Israel so that people don't just think about bombings, cement houses, Orthodox Jews and a Masculine society when they think about the country. I totally agree with what she said and the need to show the world that Israel isn't as backwards as most think.

The second speaker was the director of Israel's Arab media relations department. He goes on Al-Jazeera 3-4 times a week to defend Israel on talk shows and news shows. Very very tough job. Over the weekend, he was asked to explain if "Israel has a policy on killing babies." Tough question. He goes on BBC everyday as well. A very tough job. He said he studied Arabic for 20 years and certainly needed that education to defend Israel on Arabic news stations. He let us know that his counterpart in America (the head of the Arab media relations department) doesn't even know Arabic and that there isn't one person in the White House or the upper echelons of the State Department that knows Arabic either. Wow. That seems kind of paradoxical to me. One thing he said to us stuck with me: when confronted with a tough host or panelist, he remembers that when someone asks him a question, he doesn't have to answer it, it's just his turn to talk. Wise words.