Coming soon to a campus near you (maybe)

ISRAEL21c is coming to campus–ten of them to be exact–in a pilot program that will bring the “New Paradigm Communications Summits” to college campuses. The original program, which has brought together more than 1500 dedicated pro-Israel activists in San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Washington DC, Houston, Atlanta and Los Angeles, is being tested on campuses in the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast and West Coast. A call to action–to use a “New Paradigm” to improve Israel’s image and expand the pro-Israel communications bandwidth to include more messages of how Israel and Israelis add value to American life–follows sessions that show research on what Americans know (and don’t know) about Israel, how a new approach can create a better “brand” for Israel in America and the introduction of state-of-the-art, word of mouth marketing to pro-Israel messaging. Rabbi Toby Manewith, a former Hillel professional with vast experience working with students, will be assisting ISRAEL21c staff with the program. Campuses are being chosen and dates are being set: Keep an eye on this blog for the itineary that will begin early in 2009.

Atlanta Summits Excite Nearly 100

ISRAEL21c brought its on-going “New Paradigm Communications Summits” to Atlanta on November 13th. Nearly one hundred attended the twin sessions held in the morning at the Selig Center in downtown Atlanta and the evening session at Congregation B’Nai Torah in the northern suburbs. Each 3 hour session was divided into three parts: “The Problem: What Americans Know and Don’t Know About Israel;” “The Paradigms: Why Pro-Israel Communications Aren’t More Effective and What Can Be Done;” and, “How to Use Word-of-Mouth Communications and New Messages to Improve Israel’s Image.”  In after-session evaluation forms, attendees wrote glowing reports on how stimulating, exciting and innovative the New Paradigm sessions were and how they were going to use what they’ve learned in their pro-active Israel work in the future. Session presenters included ISRAEL21c’s executive vice president, Larry Weinberg and Pearl Lerner Kane of PLK Consulting Group, Ltd., a consultant to ISRAEL21c with a long and distinguished career in community organizing and communications. All attendees of the Atlanta Summits are receiving follow-up materials by email, one-on-one technical support from Atlanta resident Rochelle Jaye and are invited to a follow-up workshop on Monday, January 5th.

Bringing the human face of Israel to Americans and the world

Amy Friedkin, President of ISRAEL21c

ISRAEL21c has created a new paradigm in reporting on Israel. As it celebrates its seventh anniversary this week, we look back at what the organization has achieved since its revolutionary website went live on November 1, 2001.

By Amy Friedkin, President of ISRAEL21c

When ISRAEL21c began posting news in 2001, the concept of reporting ‘beyond the conflict’ about Israel was unheard of. Media reports about the country focused almost entirely on terrorism, war and politics, and official spokesmen, who often took a defensive stance in press statements, did nothing to alter foreign perceptions about the country as a hotbed of strife and trouble.

Seven years later, however, ISRAEL21c’s mold-breaking reporting on a vibrant, democratic, modern and culturally diverse Israel has become part of the mainstream. So much so that at this year’s 60th anniversary celebrations for Israel worldwide, the entire focus was on this side of Israeli life – its high tech and scientific developments, advances in health care, and cultural and democratic achievements.

People in New York saw images of Israel’s diverse citizenry posted on banners down Fifth Avenue, while Americans from Boston to LA celebrated with musical galas bringing together Israel’s finest musicians. Worldwide, there were fashion shows, art exhibits, club nights, sports events, and movies. There were high-tech conferences and exhibitions that focused on Israel’s scientific prowess.

ISRAEL21c has been at the heart of this transformation. Since it was founded in November 2001, the non-profit educational organization has been producing news and features that show a different, more positive side of life in the country, clearly demonstrating how vital this kind of communication is to those who aim to improve Israel’s global standing.

Seeing Israel through new eyes

The stories run the gamut from video games developed by an Israeli company to improve the skills of NCAA basketball players, to a groundbreaking diagnostic tool for cancer, a pillow that can reduce wrinkles, and a potential cure for colony collapse syndrome, the disorder killing bees across the world.

In the past seven years we have published over 2,800 stories… reported, researched and written by our staff and stringers, placed nearly 6,000 stories with positive images of Israel in the mainstream US and international media, and seen our influence grow – there are now more than 1,000,000 Internet pages derived from our stories and blog.

Our stories have appeared in news outlets like CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox, Newsweek, New York Times, Time Magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, LA Times, Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as Israeli publications like Ha’aretz and The Jerusalem Post.

We have built a reputation as a credible and well-respected source of stories about Israel. Virtually every foreign journalist covering Israel knows of ISRAEL21c and uses our stories and staff as a resource.

An example of ISRAEL21c’s reach can be seen in a story we ran this summer on Argo Medical, an Israeli company that has developed a robotic exoskeleton that enables paraplegics to walk upright. Our story was picked up by outlets like ABC, BBC, Reuters, and The Daily Mail. It even appeared on an Iranian news site, the Teheran Times. Another story, about an Israeli-made technology that helps the deaf, was picked up by Associated Press, and ran in 300 papers, reaching some nine million readers.

Israeli developments improve millions of lives

Stories like these give American audiences a fresh take on Israel and Israelis. They also show how Israel is improving millions of lives on a daily basis. Americans touch Israeli contributions scores of times a day. They just didn’t know it… until now.

It’s a message that has been incorporated by leading governmental and grassroots organizations working to improve and rebrand Israel abroad.

Alongside its news service, ISRAEL21c has a blog, Israelity (www.israelity.com), where Israelis from all walks of life write about their day-to-day lives. The blog takes ISRAEL21c’s message to a whole new audience, giving a personal and human glimpse of 21st century Israel.

Aside from continuing vital educational work with a series of summits throughout the US, this year ISRAEL21c also launched a massive site redesign, adding exciting new Web 2.0 features and new multimedia and video offerings.

The site launch coincided with the launch of ISRAEL21c’s new YouTube site (www.youtube.com/israel21cdotcom), which now includes 276 original ISRAEL21c videos. Since its January debut, more than quarter of a million people have viewed those stories, and we are now the number one most viewed Israeli non-profit site on YouTube, the number one most subscribed non-profit from Israel, and the number 76 most subscribed non-profit YouTube site in the world.

In the last seven years, ISRAEL21c has created a new paradigm. We have shown people across the globe a completely different side of Israel than that traditionally portrayed in the world’s press: The reality of daily life… beyond the conflict.

The Arab-Israeli dispute continues, but the people who read our stories become aware, sometimes for the first time, of the human face of Israel. They become aware of the culture, the technologies created here that are changing humanity for the better, of the charities working to improve life in developing countries. They connect with Israel in a new way.

While much has been achieved already, there is a great deal still to do, and ISRAEL21c remains at the forefront of this work.

Everyday, the life of every American is made a little safer, easier, more efficient and healthier by the people of Israel and the products, innovation, research, treatments and advances they create. We plan to continue spreading this message for many more years to come.