Naftali Shavelson, 24, is a member of the consular staff in New York, working for Consul General Ofir Akunis as director of print and online media.
Shavelson grew up in Passaic, attended Torah Academy of Bergen County in Teaneck for high school, and spent two years learning in Israel at Eretz HaTzvi. He is a 2022 graduate of Yeshiva University, where he majored in media studies and minored in architecture, and was one of the undergraduate valedictorians.
He joined the consulate’s media team after college, and has been there ever since. According to Shavelson, “In a couple of words, I’m a speechwriter and media advisor, telling Israel’s story from behind the curtain.”
Shavelson has written speeches for “a host of Israeli diplomats” and he and his colleagues also help prepare talking points for their media appearances. He shared that “it’s surreal to see these individuals, on stage or on set, engaging effectively with their audiences with words I helped craft.”
One of his favorite parts of the job is ghostwriting articles, meaning articles that appear in newspapers and magazines with other people’s bylines. “Without getting too specific, my writing has appeared in [publications] like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, attributed to high-level Israeli politicians and cultural figures. I don’t take it for granted – when done right, I know my work and that of my colleagues has the ability to change the narrative and introduce new perspectives into a singularly challenging media environment.”
Shavelson said that no two days are the same, especially since Oct 7. “For the first couple of weeks after the attack we were all working nearly around the clock, booking interviews and pumping out social media content, and though that’s since moderated substantially, we’re still very much at war – fighting for Israel on our own front across the Atlantic. That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning – the awesome privilege and responsibility of contributing in my own small way to the Israeli cause, and to the welfare of Jewish people everywhere.”
