The Herzliya Conference is Israel’s foremost global policy annual gathering, drawing together Israeli and international participants from the highest levels of government, business and academia to address pressing national, regional and global strategic issues.
As a Jewish student living in New York City and attending NYU I’m influenced by two main sources when it comes to my media consumption. The first being American popular culture whether it be the endless amount of TV shows I religiously watch or the tech blogs I can’t take my eyes away from and more recently my Twitter, Facebook and YouTube feeds, which converge them all into one. The second source comes from news about Israel. Will my friends and family be able to go to the beach safely next week? Will they have to engage in another war, will there be peace? These questions are important but only facilitate one conversation about Israel.
When I think about Israel, I see beautiful beaches, a vibrant nightlife, cafes booming with entrepreneurs looking to invent the next iPad and an economy that has thrived off Israel’s democratic principles and entrepreneurial spirit. I look forward to the times when I can focus on Israel’s most important fight: how to add dimensions to Israel in a way that conveys all the amazing things the small state has to offer. As a “millennial†living in the fast-past world of constant, real-time information, I want to receive these messages on the digital spaces that I live in: Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. If they’re not there and if they’re not there consistently, my friends and I just won’t have the opportunity to learn about Israel and more importantly we won’t have a medium to pass along to our friends all the amazing things that are happening.
This week the 10th Annual IDC Herzliya Conference will begin and will host some of the biggest names in politics from around the globe. The prominent figures include Senator John McCain, and diplomats from Hungary, Japan and Germany just to name a few. They will be speaking about topics that range from education and Israel’s elderly population to sustainability and green living in the 21st century. Israel is leader in green technology. Most recently Israel was commended by Time for plans to lower the tax rate on electric cars while installing more charging stations across the country. It is no surprise that the conference will host multiple panels on different green topics.  I have the chance to assist David Saranga at this conference, the former Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the Israeli Consulate in New York.
We met on Twitter and I’ve been lucky enough to have him invite me to collaborate on this groundbreaking project. A few summer’s ago David made the dreams of Zionists around the world come true when he secured a MAXIM shoot for Israeli models in a summer issue. More importantly he showed the entire world that Israel too has beaches, beautiful women and a vibrant city. David, myself and a team of new media specialists plan on bringing each one of our networks of friends and followers and their networks of fans and followers the amazing messages that we know will come out of the conference.
Download the agenda from the conference here (http://bit.ly/conferenceagenda) and stay tuned for more coverage.
Natan Edelsburg is an undergrad studying communications at NYU’s Steinhardt School. He blogs for NYULocal.com and Examiner.com. Natan is currently in Israel helping the new media team upload the content from the 10th Annual IDC Herzliya Conference and amplifying the messages via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Natan is currently stationed in the New Media room of the Herzliya Conference where he is reporting on behalf of Jewneric and officially as part of the IDC NYU New Media Team. The New Media Team, headed by David Saranga and a team of IDC and NYU students is uploading messages from the conference and amplifying them via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to jumpstart conversations via the social web.
