Public diplomacy is an anachronistic concept whose time has passed in war. It seems Israel must meet moral, legal and humanist standards that are not applied consistently to any other country.
This demand is not merely unbalanced, but also reflects a profound failure in the European conception of humanism itself. Europe, which sees itself as the standard-bearer of Enlightenment values, has not in practice completed a true intellectual revolution. Instead, it has replaced the religious dogmatism of the Middle Ages with a new dogmatism and enduring subjectivity, in which truth is no longer a matter of facts, but of interpretation and consciousness.
"Truth for its time," an innovative term coined by the Israeli Supreme Court, which warmly adopted European progressive concepts, has long since taken its place of honor in the front row of respected axioms and paradigms.
From this fluid "truth," quite a few disasters have emerged throughout European history, and the Jews were again and again the first victims. Therefore, when contemporary international discourse focuses on Israel, using moral jargon that is often hollow and wrapped in aggressive language, it should not necessarily be seen as legitimate criticism, but also as a continuation of a deeper historical pattern.
The battlefield has moved to the algorithm
In this context, it is clear that Israel can no longer make do with the old paradigms of public diplomacy or an apologetic approach. In the age of artificial intelligence and social media, the central battlefield has moved into the realm of consciousness, into "the battle for the algorithm." Reality is no longer shaped only by facts, but through their distribution, framing and amplification within complex digital systems.
A conceptual shift is therefore required: a move from traditional diplomacy to a model of creating a cognitive space, similar to the way global innovation companies build a narrative around their products in saturated markets. Israel, as a startup nation with a clear advantage in creativity and technology, is well equipped to lead such a move.
It must operate in a sophisticated, multilayered way, penetrate the deeper layers of public opinion and build organic, bottom-up processes of influence. If Israel continues to operate in the battle for consciousness using only traditional public diplomacy or diplomatic tools, it will simply lose to those who already understand that this is a competitive, saturated and multichannel market. The more accurate analogy is that of a disruptive startup entering a conservative market and challenging its rules from within.
Whoever creates the content dictates visibility
Israel must move from a mindset of public diplomacy to a model of deep alignment between the message and the psychology, habits and algorithms of the target audiences. The meaning of "taking control of the algorithm" is not merely technical. It is strategic. Platform algorithms reward emotion, engagement, pace and viral potential. Whoever understands how to create content that drives interaction, builds communities and activates decentralized influence networks effectively dictates visibility, the agenda and public consciousness.
Here lies Israel's relative advantage: an innovation ecosystem and a proven ability to break into saturated markets through nonlinear thinking. But potential advantage is not realized without allocating resources, building infrastructure and recruiting the right human capital: developers, analysts, creators and strategists who will work together as a single innovation unit. Ultimately, as every entrepreneur knows, it is not the best product that wins, but the one that succeeds in penetrating the market, shaping demand and controlling the narrative around it.
Instead of relying on heavy, slow and anachronistic diplomatic systems, Israel should invest in identifying and nurturing future centers of influence: communities, creators and influencers. In a world where one influencer with a million followers may shape public consciousness more than a thousand ambassadors, power has shifted from the establishment to the dynamic networks of collective consciousness.
This is a long, complex and resource-intensive process, but one that matches the spirit of the times and Israel's relative advantages. Whoever does not control the narrative is controlled by it. And whoever loses the battle over consciousness ultimately loses the battle over reality as well.
