HASBARA: PUBLIC DIPLOMACY WITH ISRAELI CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

The paper presents the phenomena of hasbara, an Israeli method of conducting state’s public diplomacy. For Israel public diplomacy is a part of national effort, perceived as a tool to increase Israel’s status on the international arena and recognition from the international community. Therefore, it is a topic of utmost importance among Israeli society and scholars. The aim is to uncover trends in thoughts and opinions on the studied subject. Qualitative research methods were adopted, including historical, institutional and comparative approaches as suitable methods to describe complexity of such phenomena as hasbara. Research techniques included content analysis and case studies to uncover trends in thoughts and opinions on the presented subject. In this paper an answer to the research question on the conduct of Israeli public diplomacy is provided through deep analysis and synthesis of the author’s findings, with the said findings being presented by confronting them with main assumptions of the prior research on Israeli public diplomacy and posing questions for further research. Israeli public diplomacy is based on the idea of demonstrating that there is much more about Israel than conflict, tension and fighting terror to fight with the preexisting national stereotypes. A major paradigm shift has to be noticed here as it is no longer a discourse on the right of Israel to exist on the international arena (apart from Arab states and Palestinians), but it became a question of what Israel did and continues to do as an existing state to maintain its existence.