The initiative was meant to “dispel hostility, build and maintain trust, and assist in the development of democratically accountable armed forces,” and called for increasing the number of defense attachés, or “ambassadors of defense diplomacy.” The paper plainly stated that defense diplomacy was “not a new idea,” and the term simply attached “greater intellectual coherence” to a collection of previously unlinked diplomatic engagements. The term defense diplomacy was first coined in the UK, in the Strategic Defense Review White Paper of 1998. In the last two centuries, defense attachés progressed from low-ranking officers who were focused on gathering intelligence and viewed as detrimental to the diplomatic mission, to their current role as senior military advisors to the ambassador, tasked with identifying and realizing multifaceted avenues of engagement. The scope and nature of these interactions gradually evolved into what we now call military (or defense) diplomacy. Militaries have engaged in dialogue since the dawn of time but usually for limited military purposes. It is odd that diplomacy in Israel is mostly disregarded, and military diplomacy is totally unnoticed, when, in fact, it plays a significant role in managing and shaping reality. But in reality, things are not clear cut, and the military regularly uses diplomatic tools to serve both its mission and broader national goals. This makes the term military diplomacy an oxymoron. According to this way of thinking, there is time for diplomacy, managed by diplomats, and when diplomacy fails, warriors wage war. Historic and cultural influences have led to a perceptional timeline with wars as milestones, and everything else either leading to or resulting from them. Israelis tend to perceive national security in a narrow prism of military might and downplay other fundamental pillars, such as robust democratic institutions and national resilience. Is the pen truly mightier than the sword? It depends on whom you ask.
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