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New academic course at IDC teaches diplomats a thing or two about Israel
By Cnaan Liphshiz

Pleading with students to "show understanding for the dreams and aspiration of the Jewish people" is hardly characteristic of lectures by Professor Uriel Reichman, a top jurist and president of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. But that's exactly what Reichman did last week, in speaking to an unusual group of 50 IDC graduates, who were all foreign diplomats. They had come to IDC on Friday to receive certificates after graduating from Israel's first academic introductory course on Israel for foreign envoys.

"The story of the Jewish people's return and constant presence in the Land of Israel is unlike any other," Reichman told the participants in explaining why Israel's case merits special consideration. "And so I think it's not out of order to end the course with a plea for some understanding for the core, the dreams and the aspiration of our people."
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The graduation ceremony came at the end of an English-language, ten session program on Israeli society. The program, taught at IDC's Lauder School of Government by prominent public figures such as Aharon Barak, Shlomo Ben-Ami, Amnon Rubinstein and Uzi Arad, aims to provide diplomats with background information on Israeli history, politics and legal system.

"In some countries, the foreign ministry offers introductory courses for diplomats," said Alex Mintz, dean of the Lauder school. "Israel doesn't have this, and that's what the program is meant to address." The fact that the program is academic and not official, according to Mintz, "makes diplomats much more open to it."

Belgian Ambassador and course graduate Benedicte Frankinet concurs. "The graduation ceremony was actually the first time in the course that we've heard anything like what Reichman said. The course itself was very matter-of-fact and academic, which made students more receptive."

The course taught envoys from Venezuela, Greece, Albania, Costa Rica, Turkey, Croatia, Canada, Belgium, El Salvador, Czech Republic, Chile and Singapore, as well as Denmark, the U.K., the U.S. and France. However, no graduates from the four latter countries attended the graduation.

Avoiding an Israel advocacy-type curriculum was especially important for the man behind the course, the foreign ministry's chief of protocol Yitzhak Eldan. "The idea took shape one year ago at a reception for the Nigerian ambassador," recalled Eldan, the former head of the foreign ministry's diplomat training unit. He discussed the idea with Mintz, and they approached Etoundi Essomba, Cameroon's ambassador to Israel and dean of the diplomatic corps, to get other envoys onboard.

"I knew foreign diplomats will have more confidence in an academic course than a course by the ministry," said Eldan. "So I delegated the mission to the IDC, but I'm not influencing content. I'm also keeping a low profile here. No speeches, no nothing."

Eldan also insisted IDC charge payment from ambassadors instead of subsidizing the program. "When people pay, they feel more obligated to follow through," he added. The next class of diplomats will begin next February.
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