Ministry of Strategic Affairs

The Ministry of Strategic Affairs (Hebrew: המשרד לנושאים אסטרטגיים‎, HaMisrad LeNos'im Astrategi'im) is an Israeli government ministry. The ministry was created in 2006 for Avigdor Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beiteinu party had just joined the governing coalition. Lieberman had demanded the Internal Security post, but at the time was under police investigation, and the post was already held by Avi Dichter. As a result, a new post and ministry were created, with the role of co-ordinating security, intelligence and diplomatic initiatives regarding Iran and other strategic threats, reporting to Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert.[1] Lieberman left the government on 18 January 2008, and the ministry was closed down in April 2008. In 2009, it was resurrected and repurposed under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[1][2]

Ministry of Strategic Affairs
המשרד לנושאים אסטרטגיים

Emblem of Israel
Agency overview
Formed2006
JurisdictionGovernment of Israel
Minister responsible

It is currently headed by Orit Farkash-Hacohen.

Internal propaganda

The Ministry of Strategic Affairs believes that state propaganda is less effective in persuading the public than institutions and individuals perceived as independent of the state. For this reason, the Ministry created a “network” of domestic and international organizations to advance the state's "message." Starting in summer 2017, the ministry launched an ILS 7 million campaign to influence major Israeli newspapers, including Yedioth Ahronoth and The Jerusalem Post. The Ministry secretly gave millions of dollars to large circulation Hebrew-language and English-language newspapers in exchange for advertising, news articles providing "favorable coverage" of the state's anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign, "softball questions" asked to state officials in interviews for publication, and newspaper conferences in which a video produced by the state was screened and state officials presented. Thereafter, the Jerusalem Post published many articles and opinion pieces regarding the “links between BDS and anti-Semitism.” The newspaper and the Ministry denied any connection between the funding provided by the Ministry and the articles.[3]

List of ministers

The Strategic Affairs Minister of Israel (Hebrew: שר לנושאים אסטרטגיים‎, Sar LaNos'im Astrategi'im) is responsible for the ministry, and sits in the Israeli cabinet.

# Minister Party Government Term start Term end Notes
1Avigdor LiebermanYisrael Beiteinu3130 October 200618 January 2008
2Ehud OlmertKadima3118 January 200813 April 2008Serving Prime Minister
3Moshe Ya'alonLikud3231 March 200918 March 2013
4Yuval SteinitzLikud3318 March 201314 May 2015
5Ze'ev ElkinLikud3414 May 201525 May 2015
6Gilad ErdanLikud3425 May 201517 May 2020
7Orit Farkash-HacohenBlue and White3517 May 2020
gollark: See, I dislike rounded corners, personally.
gollark: Design-wise, not in any other way.
gollark: Personally, I don't really like Apple's design language much. I did like what Windows 8 did, though.
gollark: Like how MacBooks got increasingly many-cored CPUs but no capable cooling.
gollark: The hardware is frequently quite poorly designed, in various fun ways.

See also

References
  1. Gov't shuts down Strategic Affairs Ministry The Jerusalem Post, 13 April 2008
  2. Security and Defense: Who's in charge of whom and over what? The Jerusalem Post, 2 April 2009
  3. +972 Magazine, 14 Jan. 2020 "Israeli Ministry Paying for Anti-BDS Propaganda in Major News Outlets: The Strategic Affairs Ministry, which is Leading the International Campaign against BDS, Is Buying Space in Mainstream Israeli Newspapers to Promote its Messages under the Guise of Published Articles"; Original Hebrew-language article on "Seventh Eye" website published 19 Dec. 2019
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