The first Jew in the world, Abraham, was also the first victim of antisemitism, when the self-declared king of Babylonia, Nimrod, threw him in a fiery furnace.
I attended a fascinating presentation by Stern College senior Bible lecturer Dr. Nechama Price at Herzog College’s impressive Bible study conference in Alon Shvut this week. Price explained that Nimrod was Abraham’s nemesis, and their clash of values continued for centuries in the Book of Genesis.
While Abraham aimed to spread the word of God and build His reputation, Nimrod sought to build the Tower of Babel to rebel against the Almighty and make a name for himself. God intervened and scattered the builders, who no longer spoke the same language, and Abraham later defeated Nimrod in a world war.
Unfortunately, not much has changed since Abraham was born in the Jewish calendar year 1948. The Jewish State that was born in 1948 on the civil calendar continues to spread Abraham’s values of justice and truth, while antisemites spew their lies, corruption, and violence, for which the Torah has one word: Hamas.
In that clash of values, Israel did not have the best week. Two potential presidential candidates came here on campaign stops to criticize the Jewish state and build their street cred among anti-Israel Democrats and received plenty of headlines that made Israel look awful in America.
Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein did a great job standing up to both of them, exposing inconsistencies in Representative Ro Khanna’s accounts to the media and revealing Rahm Emanuel’s hypocritical views in his interview with the former mayor of Chicago.
Emanuel was especially disappointing for me personally, because his father, Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, distributed Zionist propaganda in the Irgun, saved lives as a medic in Israel’s War of Independence, and was my pediatrician in Chicago. Dr. Emanuel, who passed away seven years ago, attended some of my lectures, and clearly would not have approved of what his son is saying nowadays about Israel.
Israel's PR problem
The anti-Israel organizations that brought Khanna and a CNN crew to the West Bank and the Jews they met there in different incidents did not help improve Israel’s image, to put it mildly.
And some of the bills that passed in the Knesset this week are not going to make Israel look particularly enlightened abroad.
But apparently not all is bleak in that clash of values. Foreign Ministry Director-General Eden Bar Tal painted a surprisingly rosy picture of Israel’s public diplomacy at a meeting of the Knesset State Control Committee on Sunday.
Bar Tal highlighted the NIS 1.2 billion allocated for public diplomacy in the current state budget, which was allocated to the Foreign Ministry – and not as a one-time allocation like the year before. He said his ministry was constantly checking which messaging works with different target audiences and adapting.
He said Israel had fought successfully against false claims of starvation in Gaza and was restoring support in the US that had been falling among Republicans partly due to Tucker Carlson.
One of Bar Tal’s messages that resonated was also one of the lessons of the World Cup: We need to focus on the entire world, not just the United States. He spoke about successful outreach in India and Central and Eastern Europe.
One of my accomplishments I am most proud of during my time as the executive director of the media watchdog HonestReporting was initiating a Spanish Instagram account, following a speaking tour in Panama where I was told about the urgency.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar declared 2026 the year of Latin America. To that end, Bar Tal said Israel had sent experts and equipment to Bolivia and eye doctors who restored the eyesight of hundreds of people in Honduras.
Israel praised for earthquake response
Despite there being no official diplomatic ties between Israel and Venezuela, interim president Delcy Rodriguez praised the Israeli delegation saving lives in Venezuela following its devastating June 24 earthquake and asked Sa’ar to extend the humanitarian mission. She shunned outrageous calls to reject aid from Israel that came from antisemitic organizations.
Bar Tal said the delegation had received great press everywhere in Latin America. Skeptical, I asked his office for proof, and they sent back many examples, including one with 1.2 million views and others with 230,000, 144,000, and 110,000.
A report on Colombian Channel NTN24 called the delegation one of the most trained and sophisticated in the world. The channel’s anchors praised Israel’s engineers and noted that Israel even used drones with artificial intelligence.
An anchor pointed out that the war in Gaza gave Israel experience and technology in finding hostages in tunnels that were being employed to help find people under the rubble in Venezuela. Another anchor noted that the previous regime in Venezuela used very strong language in condemning Israel, but the delegation came regardless.
Israel’s Ambassador-designate to Mexico Yoed Magen, one of the heads of the delegation, explained to the channel that not having diplomatic relations with Venezuela made it challenging, but that Israel still felt obligated to contribute its knowledge and technology.
“Since Israel is a country that always contributes to humanitarian issues, we couldn’t miss it,” Magen said. “Wherever there is a disaster, wherever there is a humanitarian crisis, Israel will be present.”
Those are exactly the values of Abraham that Israel wants the world to see.
The writer served as the chief political correspondent and analyst for The Jerusalem Post and as executive director of HonestReporting, and has lectured about Israel in all 50 US states.