Akiva Tor
Israeli diplomat; leads the INSS project to "repair" Israel's image
| Akiva Tor
| |
|---|---|
| Image |  Tor (CC0) |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Occupation | Diplomat; Visiting Senior Researcher, Institute for National Security Studies |
| Known for | INSS plan to "rehabilitate" Israel's public diplomacy (2025–2026) |
Akiva Tor is an Israeli diplomat and a Visiting Senior Researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). There he leads, in INSS's words, "the project for the repair of Israel's image and rehabilitation of its public diplomacy apparatus".[1] He was previously Israel's ambassador to the Republic of Korea. He also headed the Foreign Ministry's Bureau for World Jewish Affairs and World Religions, served as Consul General in San Francisco and was Director of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan.[1]
The INSS public diplomacy plan
With Ofir Dayan, Tor wrote INSS's analysis of Israel's public diplomacy after the war in Gaza. In a Jerusalem Post article of 4 March 2026 the two said that "Israel's public self-defense has been badly mismanaged". They pointed to the vacancy at the head of the National Information Directorate since May 2024. They called for an "apolitical senior professional" to "take up the budgetary and leadership reins of Israel's hasbara apparatus", and for a public diplomacy campaign against the genocide charge at the International Court of Justice.[2] INSS published the plan as a policy paper, Israel's Deteriorating Image as a Threat to National Security: A Plan to Rehabilitate Israel's Public Diplomacy. It argues that "the failure of Israel's strategic communications threatens these gains". It also proposes a broadcast authority for Arabic and Persian outreach and a joint initiative of "the Jewish people and pro-Israel Christians".[3]
In leaked INSS emails
Emails and documents attributed to INSS were released by the hacking group Handala, which is believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence, and published by Distributed Denial of Secrets.[4] According to them, Tor and Dayan presented the plan at an INSS research forum on 23 November 2025 (Handala files 15954 and 14025). A draft INSS letter of 2 December 2025 (file 15691) offered contacts a Zoom session with "Ambassador Akiva Tor" on "the project we are leading to repair Israel's deteriorating image". The same draft said INSS was "working closely with the government" on social media and related challenges.[4] The material has not been independently verified and may have been altered.
See also
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Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Institute for National Security Studies, Akiva Tor INSS, accessed 22 October 2026. INSS-side.
- ↑ Akiva Tor and Ofir Dayan, Israel's public image is in shambles, can it be saved? The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem Report), 4 March 2026, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ Institute for National Security Studies, Israel's Deteriorating Image as a Threat to National Security: A Plan to Rehabilitate Israel's Public Diplomacy INSS, 2026, accessed 22 October 2026. INSS-side.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Distributed Denial of Secrets, Raz Zimmt emails DDoSecrets, 13 March 2026, accessed 22 October 2026.