Top legal experts gathered last week to formulate a new strategy in order to bolster Israel’s public diplomacy efforts.
A new project, promoted by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, seeks to provide Israeli diplomats with solid public diplomacy messages to counter the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement worldwide.
The program also aims to counter Palestinian attempts to influence the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch a war crimes investigation against Israel, specifically in the wake of last year’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
Hotovely, Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold, former chief justices Aharon Barak and Dorit Beinisch, former deputy attorney general Mike Blass, Israel Prize laureate in legal studies Prof. Ruth Lapidoth, and Hebrew University Law School Dean Prof. Yuval Shany, among others, convened last Tuesday in an effort to craft talking points that could stand up to legal scrutiny at international forums where Israeli diplomats appear.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
The two-hour meeting delved into legal issues pertaining to the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, land ownership and human rights, rules of war, and Israel’s right to self-defense.
“We have to update Israel’s legal instruments, and to that end, Israel’s senior jurists, the best we have in the field of international law, have come together to assist the Foreign Ministry in its struggle,” Hotovely said, accoding to a report in Israel Hayom .
“The State of Israel has to form a legal Iron Dome to fight international delegitimization efforts, the majority of which focus on two issues, Judea and Samaria settlements and military ethics,” she added, referencing Israel’s highly successful missile defense system.
The group is scheduled to reconvene in the coming weeks.
By: JNS.org