Message from Natan Sharansky

I would like to personally welcome you to the Israel Citizens Information Council website.

The ICIC Hasbara Program of volunteers seeks to create and maintain a sense of community, offering a deeper understanding of the situation in Israel today, and perhaps more importantly, of the people living here.

No one can convey the thoughts, emotions, and opinions of Israeli society today better than a person living in the country. And no Israeli can relate to the thoughts, emotions, and opinions of citizens in other countries better than the people who once lived in those countries. The Hasbara Program of ICIC combines these two truths into one powerful program.In my position as the representative of the government and people of Israel to the Jewish world, I believe that through initiatives such as the ICIC volunteer hasbara program and this website, we will be able to bridge the "information gap" between Israel and the outside world, and I welcome this addition to the field.

I hesitate to call the volunteers from Israel who go to other countries to speak, "ordinary citizens". In Israel, there is no such thing as an "ordinary citizen". This country consists largely of immigrants, but immigrants only in the sense that they were born someplace else, just to return home, to Israel, later. The community we have created - a diverse, vibrant and growing democracy - is best represented by its citizens, and this site is a gateway for you to join us. Welcome!

Natan Sharansky