Israel Matzav: Foreign Ministry may stop sending diplomats to speak to US and UK students

Foreign Ministry may stop sending diplomats to speak to US and UK students

I hope that the Foreign Ministry will not actually do this, because I would hate to see them admit defeat to political correctness. On the other hand, I would hate to be the consular officer called upon to speak in this type of atmosphere.

Maariv reports (link in Hebrew) that the Israeli foreign ministry is considering canceling speeches and lectures by foreign ministry personnel to 'students' in the United States and the United Kingdom. The speeches have gotten too dangerous and the speakers cannot be heard anyway.

Foreign Ministry officials are considering stopping the lectures by senior figures around the world, particularly in Britain. The reason: The outspoken verbal attacks by students and pro-Palestinian activists, which render them ineffective. The attacks peaked last week, when demonstrators assaulted the Israeli deputy ambassador to Britain at the end of a lecture she gave at the University of Manchester.

Ma’ariv has learned that Israeli diplomats stationed in the US have significantly reduced the number of public lectures that they give to students, as a result of the frequent heckling. The last [lecture] was given by Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren in February at the University of California.

“It seems that giving lectures in public halls at universities in Britain is becoming ineffective in terms of PR. The pro-Palestinian students cause major disruptions and prevent any dialogue. In the worst case, the lecture is simply stopped,” a Foreign Ministry source said, “in the end, the heckling and the incitement get the newspaper headlines, and not the message that the lecturer wanted to convey.”

The Foreign Ministry has raised several alternative ideas. One of them is to increase the use of social networks as a means of PR. The Foreign Ministry has several staff members who are considered experts on public diplomacy using the Web, including Deputy Director of the Training Bureau Yaron Gamburg and Ilan Sztulman of the Public Affairs Department. Another alternative is to allow the lectures to continue only in closed forums of lecturers and teachers.

Sorry, but I'm against letting the 'Palestinians' win like that. And if we stop presenting our views, they win by default.

Israel Matzav: Foreign Ministry may stop sending diplomats to speak to US and UK students