Every Jew on this earth carries stories with him. Some are family stories. Some were learned in school: 2,000 years of exile, persecutions and pogroms as numerous as grains of sand on a seashore, culminating in the Holocaust. Since the disaster of Oct. 7, the eruption of hatred toward the State of Israel, Zionism and Jews has exposed just how bleak our situation is in many parts of the world.
The failure of Israeli public diplomacy has been enormous in scale for decades. Without the superheroes who took upon themselves the responsibility embodied in the saying, "In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man," such as Noa Tishby, Yoseph Haddad, Guy Hochman, and advocacy organizations such as StandWithUs, our situation would have been far worse. There is great importance in standing up to false, mendacious and vile defamations of the State of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces, and any Jew, wherever he may be, simply because he is Jewish.
But alongside defense, we are missing a different consciousness of shaping public opinion. Not only responding, repelling and fighting lies, but building a great, positive, inspiring story. One capable of creating reality. One of the most important books in shaping the image of the State of Israel in recent decades is "Startup Nation" by Dan Senor and Saul Singer. Michael Eisenberg taught me that the book's success did not stem from an innovative overview of Israeli high-tech achievements, but from its ability to develop a story about dreams that created reality.
From defense to offense
Today, as in the days when "Startup Nation" was written, we need an inspiring version update in two central directions.
The first is vision. A vision that can inspire not only Israelis but also stir hearts in many countries around the world. A vision that offers clear value to a disrupted, unstable world, hungry for security, meaning and hope.
The second is cultivating storytellers. Story artists. People who know how to speak in 70 languages, operate across diverse media, on social networks, in podcasts, on video, on international stages and through every other effective channel, in order to reach the hearts of billions of people around the world.
For the past year, we have been refining the idea of turning the State of Israel into a water and food superpower, the "Joseph" of the Middle East. A country that will lead solutions to the hunger challenges toward which the world is heading: water shortages, El Niño storms, disruptions to supply chains and a global shortage of working hands. This is a move that can turn Israel into a center of rescue for many parts of the world, especially for its neighbors in the Middle East.
Building the story
In September, a one-of-a-kind pre-military academy will be established in Israel for the first time, dedicated to developing leadership, love of the land, and a special emphasis on building the storytelling leaders of the State of Israel and the Jewish world. The "Kol Guy" academy, named after Israeli hero Staff Sgt. Guy Simhi, may his memory be blessed, whose story of heroism in Re'im will forever remain an inspiration for generations to come, is being built these days around a new method of study. It will be led by a team of leading Israeli communications experts, including Avri Gilad, Tali Goren, Eli Levy, retired commanders from the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, and other media and public diplomacy figures who immediately enlisted for the project.
The youth will rise for field work, like all other young people at Hashomer Hachadash. They will study Zionist thought, Judaism and the Middle East, and in the second part of the day they will specialize in developing and leading positive media content, using the most innovative tools and in all languages. They will practice, learn and grow in order to build the story of the Israeli miracle.
In simple terms: Creating the infrastructure for growing the story leaders of the State of Israel. They will be the beautiful display window of the State of Israel to the world, because they will write and tell history.
Antisemitism is an existential danger to the Jewish people. It could darken the world and drag it into deadly abysses. But at this moment, "instead of fighting the darkness, we must increase the light." (A.D. Gordon)
Yoel Zilberman is the founder and CEO of HaShomer HaChadash
