ISRAEL21c’s mission is to focus media and public attention on the 21^st century Israel that exists beyond the conflict.  By highlighting, emphasizing, and promoting positive images of Israel and Israelis, people will come to view Israelis as more like themselves and understand the relevance of Israel to their own lives. ISRAEL21c’s operations are focused on the development and dissemination of content that is used to advance the mission. The outcome of this process is increased support for Israel during difficult times and a greater appreciation of the role that Israel has in the lives of people the world over. Israel, to the extent that it is understood by Americans at all, is generally seen as a place of war; a place that is characterized by virtually nothing but the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Two significant pieces of research, the continuing Young and Rubicam Brand Asset Valuator study of Israel’s brand in America (BAV, started in 2004), and the 2005 Brand Israel Group’s (BIG) Focus Groups on Israel’s Brand in America, conclusively support this disappointing conclusion. This has happened because, for more than 30 years, those who are engaged in pro-Israel communications have let the media’s preoccupation with conflict and politics—as well as the pro-Israel community’s own preoccupation with the same—define Israel.

Both the BAV and BIG studies substantiate ISRAEL21c’s approach: When Americans learn about the ways in which Israel adds value to their lives, their affinity and respect for Israel increases. If Israel wants to improve its image around the world, it must be seen through the lenses of its humanness, its diversity and all that it contributes through medical advances, technological innovation, art, culture and acts of human kindness.  ISRAEL21c’s “New Paradigm” for pro-Israel communications includes positive messaging about Israel, messaging that makes Israel relevant and interesting to the lives of targeted audiences; ultimately creating a greater personal affinity for Israel.  ISRAEL21c was created because there was virtually no organization creating “beyond the conflict” messaging and distribution channels for that messaging. The organization’s approach is gaining widespread acceptance as a necessary and valuable component of pro-Israel communications. Founded by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurial philanthropists in 2000, the website went live on November 1, 2001. A 501c3 educational foundation, ISRAEL21c now maintains its offices in Los Angeles and Israel.

ISRAEL21c has identified, pitched and placed more than 10,000 stories in hundreds of media outlets that include network and local television stations, The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, and more than 30 stories that have been distributed by the Associated Press and Reuters wires. Beginning in February 2009, CNN has accepted ISRAEL21c as an affiliate of its World Report program and a number of news features produced by ISRAEL21c have appeared worldwide on CNN.Rather than portraying Israel as a place of conflict and strife, these stories have highlighted Israeli accomplishments in science and technology, arts and culture, and philanthropy. ISRAEL21c has trained more than 1,500 Israel activists in 7 cities at its New Paradigm Communications Summits, and hundreds more at sessions on campuses and at conferences nationwide.  Each Summit has included: a greeting and endorsement from a representative of the Israeli government, a presentation of the aforementioned Brand Israel Group and BAV research, a common sense example of the existing pro-Israel communications paradigm, the rational for a “New Paradigm,” and a training session on how to combine word-of-mouth marketing with community organizing and New Paradigm messaging. Each Summit participant leaves with a CD-ROM that includes a 40-page Toolkit, draft emails about Israel, bundles of ISRAEL21c stories on various subjects, links to positive online stories about Israel, a New Paradigm PowerPoint presentation, and other useful implementation tools.  In a new initiative, follow-up guidance is given to the community to sustain the Summit learning and to advance the use of the New Paradigm.

ISRAEL21c’s primary content delivery tools are: its web site, www.israel21c.org, which includes 2,900 stories that show how Israel adds value to the world; its blog, www.israelity.com, “the chronicle of the reality of daily life in Israel;” and its YouTube site,www.youtube.com/israel21cdotcom, which contains hundreds of highly ranked videos that show how the 21^st century people of Israel live, create and work.  This dynamic group of web products includes stories, videos, and news updates, and tools to help inform visitors and, enable them to add content to their own blogs or web sites.  ISRAEL21c expects that these sites will receive more than two million unique visitors in 2009.  Its blog has won awards and is growing rapidly, and its YouTube site is the #1 most subscribed Israel-related nonprofit channel on YouTube and consistently ranks as the #1 most viewed in most weeks and months. As of July 2009, it was the 74th most-subscribed non-profit site in all of YouTube.  More than 1,000 other organizations link to ISRAEL21c’s home page, and the editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post has said “It is my hope that one day The Post will be as well written and edited as ISRAEL21c.” Each Wednesday morning, ISRAEL21c sends its weekly email newsletter to nearly 30,000 subscribers.  The newsletter includes new stories posted in the previous seven days along with links to each of those stories on the ISRAEL21c web site. Many of the subscribers, and a number of organizations, re-distribute the newsletter to their personal or group lists, making the actual number of weekly subscribers much higher. It has been estimated that more than 1,000,000 web pages have been derived from ISRAEL21c content.