■ The minister that a series of Italian ambassadors have been able to count on to attend their various events is Silvan Shalom, who currently holds the portfolios for Energy, Water and Regional Cooperation. Shalom and his wife, Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes, live a hop, skip and jump away from the Ramat Gan residence of the Italian ambassador, and can frequently be seen walking down the street in the direction of the ambassador's garden. Indeed, unless they are abroad, the Shaloms always attend the ambassador's Republic Day reception. This year's celebration contained an additional element, in that it introduced the 1,200 guests by Ambassador Francesco Maria Talo and his wife, Ornella, to what is being planned for Expo Milano 2015, in which Israel will be participating together with more than 140 countries. Its theme is “Feeding the Planet – Energy for Life,” and expo commissioner Giuseppe Sala – who had specifically chosen to spend Republic Day in Israel, and had met earlier in the day with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – revealed some details about the event, and said he was confident Israel would contribute something quite unique to the exhibition. Shalom was not the only minister present. The government was represented by International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz, who in his address announced that Israel was anticipating delivery in July of the first two M346 aircraft that the Israel Air Force had purchased from Italian manufacturer Aermacchi. One of the more exciting moments of the evening was when Maccabi Tel Aviv's Udi and Shai Recanati, together with Israel Prize laureate Tal Brody, who in 1977 put Israel on basketball's world map when he led Maccabi Tel Aviv to its first Euroleague victory, appeared on stage with the Euroleague cup. Italian Republic Day receptions have always included traditional Italian cheese delicacies. This year, the fare included genuine Neapolitan pizza freshly baked in the embassy's new pizza oven. ■ One doesn't expect to see a steady stream of people entering a retirement home in the evening hours. But that's what happened last week when TbT (Truth Be Told) held an information evening in the dining hall of Beth Protea in Herzliya. Guest speaker was former Labor MK Einat Wilf, who tweeted just ahead of her address: “Honored to be speaking this evening at Truth Be Told event on winning the war of ideas waged against Israel.” TbT was formed to counter distortions about and demonization of Israel in the global media. It functions along similar lines to HonestReporting, and its writers act as rapid-response teams monitoring foreign media and reacting to any inaccurate reports about Israel. Their responses appear in publications abroad as well as on the TbT website. TbT is also proactive and presents a broader picture of Israel, with emphasis on the positive aspects of the country. For the past two years, it has supported IDC in the successful training and dispatching of delegations of top students from Israel's Ethiopian community to South Africa, to counter BDS propaganda and other anti- Israel endeavors. At the event at Beth Protea, Jonathan Davis, the head of IDC's Raphael Recanati International School, delivered a report on the successes of these students in defending Israel during Israel Apartheid Week in South Africa last March. It wasn't just a matter of speaking out and presenting the facts; it was an act of courage to metaphorically walk into the lion's den. At the TbT event speakers also included TbT activists, who informed the packed hall of examples of impressive reversals in anti-Israel mind-sets in South Africa and elsewhere, as committed and passionate “ambassadors for Israel” persevere with new, innovative outreach methodologies. Wilf noted that when Israel's adversaries realized they could not defeat Israel militarily, they shifted gears to attack the very idea of Israel. Before there was a strong Israel with a powerful army and resilient economy, there was the idea of Israel that willed the state into being, she said. “This is Zionism and this is our strength, and the aim of our enemies is to so morally malign the idea that the physical manifestation, the State of Israel, will one day tumble,” said Wilf, who along with other speakers made it clear that this will never happen.
