Israeli public diplomacy toward the United States: a network and narrative approach

Abstract

Israel’s public diplomacy efforts in the U.S. are aimed at garnering American public support for Israeli foreign policy. This study aims to identify the networks of Israeli public diplomacy toward the United States. Using the theoretical frameworks of networked public diplomacy and strategic narrative, the authors try to understand how network strategy is used and information is circulated to create a strategic narrative. Therefore, the two methods of social network analysis and qualitative content analysis are applied to identify the networks of Israeli public diplomacy in the United States and the content produced by it. The study finds that in Israel’s public diplomacy model, the networking method stands in contrast to its government-oriented strategic narrative. Thus, new forms of communication are applied to conduct old strategies. The research identifies four types of actors who apply new public diplomacy techniques and dissects the strategic narrative they employ to affect the American public in the service of Israeli interests. Despite the effort to apply new forms of public diplomacy, strategic narrative production and dissemination remain highly governmental and closed, which is indicative of the persistence of old forms of public diplomacy.