It is hard to find a greater failure than that of October 7, 2023. Israel will need many years to discuss what exactly happened, how, and why all of our security systems – the army, the Shin Bet, the Mossad – failed at the same point in time. This failure was halted by the end of that day, when those systems began to function (unlike the civilian systems, which froze in place).
And then came the second failure: Within two years, Israel managed to turn from “David” into “Goliath.”
In other words, from the side that was attacked, that endured torture, brutal rapes, and kidnappings, to the side of the aggressor, apparently ignoring the laws of war and losing what little remained of international support.
This is the failure of public diplomacy.
During this war, which has taken on many different forms, Israel – consciously or not – neglected the public diplomacy front. It was thrown aside, and barely any effort was made.
This was a long-term strategic mistake, one that already casts a shadow in the present and will continue to affect Israel’s status in the Middle East and the wider world in the future.
This major failure stems from one basic fact: Israel ignored its hasbara, or public diplomacy dimension and chose to operate with full military force, while disregarding international criticism from states, international organizations, the media, and other actors in this arena.
Two worlds
The readers of this magazine comprise Israelis living in the country, and those, mainly non-Israelis, who live abroad. Each of these groups saw a different war. Israelis watched IDF soldiers enter Gaza, fight Hamas, and search for our kidnapped hostages. The world saw the opposite picture: Gazans – women, children, the elderly – forced to leave their homes, wandering for days along the Gaza Strip’s roads, camping in makeshift shelters, and crying out for food and water.
One war, two different paradigms, two different narratives. At first, public opinion was on our side but within two years (two years!), the vast majority of the world has turned against us. The nightmare scenario of sanctions and isolation of Israel is unfolding before our very eyes.
Another strategic reason for Israel’s inability to maintain the international legitimacy so essential to this campaign is its choice to act through military means alone.
In 2025, armed conflict between two entities no longer takes place only on the battlefield. It also unfolds beyond that space, on additional fronts: the diplomatic front, the economic front, the legal front, and the public diplomacy front.
On the public diplomacy – perceptual level: Modern wars are wars over consciousness. Each side tries to influence the other in various ways, not necessarily militarily. While the armed conflict may be a kind of low-intensity conflict, such fighting still heavily affects the perceptions of people – and of large sectors of the population – and shapes their attitude toward the conflict and the struggle. Both sides try to produce the tools and the messages to influence the enemy. Thus, this is a war on hearts and minds.
Battle of consciousness
Israel should have been prepared for the consciousness battle. It has fought many wars throughout its history, including special operations and terrorist attacks, more than any other country on the globe.
Sadly, such events are not foreign to the government, the different security mechanisms, or the general public, yet we were unprepared for that war as well. Israel attempted to take action, but it was slow and reactive.
Everyone understands that to wage wars, Israel needs international legitimacy. Past wars have proven that we know how to win on the military front but fail on the public diplomacy front. We have never managed to portray our wars well, and thus we never reaped the benefits of our military achievements.
The weaknesses of Israel’s public diplomacy system are well known and have been studied over the years. As someone who has dealt with media and public diplomacy in various roles in Israel and abroad, including as IDF spokesperson during different crises, I am able to identify the reasons for these failures: Israel has not managed to establish a single public advocacy framework that integrates all the many actors in this arena – government ministries and ministries, state authorities, the Jewish world, civil society institutes, and even personal advocacy entertainerships.
Each one of those actors works in its own way, but goodwill is not enough. Israel should have established long ago one single, united, permanent, continuous, round-the-clock system that identifies information war needs and, in minutes, is able to generate content and messages, and direct all the actors in this field to work together toward the same goal. In short, exactly in parallel and similar to the military efforts.
A ‘balagan’
About a decade ago, the Israeli government established the National Public Diplomacy Directorate. This body was meant to address exactly these needs. Under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office, the directorate was tasked with convening all diplomacy/advocacy bodies and operating them jointly and in coordination.
Again, after a short time, it became obvious that in the Israeli political governmental reality, it was impossible to connect all the different actors for the long term, and everyone – state officials and government, and non-government organizations – operated in their own way, full of goodwill but without any coordination.
The outcome was wasted energy and utter chaos – a balagan.
As of today, the national public diplomacy apparatus has collapsed. It has no director, is only partially staffed, and practically does not exist. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is meant to function as Israel’s public diplomacy arm abroad, has, for many years, been weakened and largely pushed away from central decision-making processes.
The only entity functioning fully, comprehensively, and professionally is the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, a military body rich in resources, especially human resources, which indeed distinguished itself during the current war.
During the war, the IDF spokesperson was forced more than once to act as the national civilian spokesperson, and for that, absurdly, he was reprimanded by the political echelon.
Let’s also remember that Israel has not presented at any point in the past two years a real and realistic vision for ending the war. All the proposals put forward by various mediators from within and outside our region were rejected.
Israel presented unreasonable conditions, which were mostly perceived as obstacles to a long-term solution. In the world we aspire to belong to – the Western world (unlike Russia, which torpedoes every initiative, for example, regarding a settlement with Ukraine) – a political plan is required to end hostilities and achieve a political solution. Maybe not an ideal and perfect peace, but at least calm and life on both sides of the border, for us and for the Gazans.
Israel deliberately abandoned the diplomatic front and responded to criticism mainly by claiming it was pure antisemitism. In doing so, it gradually lost the key countries important to us. Those states expected the military action to end and be replaced by political action.
National rebuilding
As of this writing, Israel still has no political path to follow (voluntary or involuntary emigration from Gaza is not realistic). Thus, the world’s common understanding is that Israel is fighting just for the sake of fighting and is seeking new fronts. Indeed, continued fighting only creates additional fronts and new security challenges.
One day, this war will end. How do I know? All wars end, even ours, even the longest ones. Although we may experience another war of attrition, we’ll have to move forward. The “day after” will start with a healing process, a soul searching, and a national rebuilding. In the international arena, Israel must restore its lost and forgotten front, the public diplomacy one. We’ll defeat the growing international pressure on us by “smart power,” a combination of “hard power” and “soft power” – namely, our history, our culture, and our values as a Jewish democratic state striving for peace, equality, and justice.■
Nachman Shai is the dean of Hebrew Union College, Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and former minister of Diaspora affairs and IDF spokesperson.