Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan. Photo: Wikipedia.

The Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs organized a closed conference in Jerusalem to combat the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, the Hebrew news site nrg reported on Monday.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan invited over 150 Jewish leaders from across the world to the conference — called the “Global Coalition For Israel”  — whose objective was to consolidate and refine the efforts of pro-Israel groups combating BDS efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state.

The conference also highlighted some of the shortcomings of pro-Israel messaging. One of the participants commented, for example, that the Tourism Ministry’s attempts to present the Jewish state as a country of bars, beaches and bikinis “simply doesn’t work.”