Communicated by Deputy Foreign Minister's Bureau
The Neaman Document, a study on Israeli public diplomacy, was presented on Sunday, 5 July, to Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon. The study was a joint project of the Neaman Institute, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The basic premise of the study was that Israel's battle over its image in the world will force it in coming years to face increasingly difficult problems. The project's objective was to devise a comprehensive policy to shape Israel's public diplomacy.
The Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology is part of the Technion. In the last two years it has been involved in the topic of public diplomacy. In the summer of 2007, the Institute turned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a proposal to conduct a field study that would be the basis of a document for the formulation of strategy and action plans in the realm of Israeli public diplomacy. For this purpose, the Institute established an ad hoc academic team headed by Prof. Dov Shinar of Netanya Academic College. Other members of the team include Prof. Arye Naor of Ben Gurion University and advisors such as Prof. Zeev Segal. Mr. Meir Shlomo of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was one of the project coordinators.
Deputy FM Ayalon received the document and thanked the project's team. He said, "This report is an important tool for the Foreign Ministry and for Israeli diplomacy and gives added value to Israel's information policy."