Something the Haredim and the IDF can agree on: Who wants to use Bar Refaeli?
The Foreign Ministry thought they had a great idea: Use 'supermodel' Bar Refaeli as a spokesperson for a new public relations campaign. The Leftists at the Ministry likely expected - and discounted - objections from the country's Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community. What they might not have anticipated is objections from the IDF. This is from the first link.
The students decided to
make their voices heard in light of the Foreign Ministry's announcement
to use the supermodel as the star of a campaign aimed at showing the
world that Israel is not just a war-ridden country.
They drafted a letter in
cooperation with the "The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel," which
has thus far been sent to Foreign Ministry Director-General Rafi Barak,
until a minister is officially appointed.
"We know that Refaeli had a publicized relationship with a
gentile actor," said Eyal Cohen, a law student at the Ono Academic
College's haredi campus. "And in this way, she certainly doesn't
represent the Israeli public."
Cohen's friend, Gilad Israeli, a student at Bar Ilan University,
said "Refaeli did not serve in the army and even takes pride in that.
Before we offer ourselves up to the world, we need to decide who we are.
We have much more to offer than girls playing matkot (Israeli
paddleball) on the beach.
"We have a glorious Israeli heritage – in which we must take pride. Trying to be Hollywood 2 won't work."
The Foreign Ministry asked Refaeli to participate in an internet
campaign to improve Israel's image abroad, prompting a letter of
complaint from the IDF, due to the supermodel's not having performed
mandatory military service, Channel 2 reported on Sunday.
The IDF Spokesman's Office wrote a letter to the Foreign Ministry
complaining that "it would send a negative message to Israeli society if
you were to use Bar Refaeli, who did not serve in the IDF, as a
representative of the IDF in a public diplomacy campaign abroad."
The letter added that famous people such as Refaeli serve as role models for the youth of Israel.
"Choosing
Refaeli for such a campaign sends a message of "forgiveness and ignores
the failure to enlist in the IDF and even encourages young people to do
so by showing them how those who did not enlist have succeeded."
The
Israeli media has reported that Refaeli, 27, evaded military service by
marrying a 37-year-old and divorcing him immediately thereafter.
And you thought the Haredim and the IDF couldn't agree on anything, didn't you?
Israel's Foreign Ministry is so Leftist that it's unlikely that they understand what's wrong with using Refaeli. I'll bet Miss Brand Israel has something to do with this.
Marketing guru Rebecca Rachmany explains why the 'Palestinians' are doing a much better job than Israel at marketing the current war (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).
First of all, let me say that the Palestinians are doing it right.
Their long-term strategy and branding are completely aligned. Their
tactics are not bad, either. This is the Palestinian branding:
We are victims.
The Israelis (Jews/Zionists) are the oppressors.
Our long-term goal is to eliminate Israel.
I haven’t ever seen any other long-term goal, such as making life
great for the Palestinian people. Those 3 points are very clear,
consistent statements. The Palestinians are doing a great job not only
in maintaining a consistent campaign, but also in maintaining the
situation where they continue to be victims.
...
Any management consultant would understand that Israel is doing it
all wrong. Rather than setting out a clear strategy and message, Israel
is in a reactive position. From a marketing perspective, this is a
disaster, which is why you see very confused messages coming out from
the country. The left-wing group in Israel is doing a better job of
sending a clear message, but they also are in a reactive position.
Following are some of the messages Israel is trying to convey.
We are victims.
We are a healthy, economically-independent democracy.
Part of Israel's problem is that we are divided on our goal. It's not just that our goals are contradictory, it's that the list above is one in which nearly every Israeli would disagree with at least one or two (or more) of the items listed. We've never had a dialogue in which one side has persuaded the other. Instead, at least for the last 30 years, one side has gone about imposing its will on the other depending who is in power. We have a political class that is largely untouchable that believes that like Orwell's Big Brother, it knows what is best for us. And we have a political system that has destroyed the ordinary checks and balances that keep governments in other democracies from imposing their will on the people. Each side comes to power and makes radical changes in policy to undo what the other side imposed on it during the previous government. We need a marriage therapist for ourselves before we can even think about dealing with the 'Palestinians'!
Differing goals are part of the nature of democracy, but one of the reasons many Israelis have radically differing goals is because the one thing that could have been a unifying factor was the one thing the government of Israel never promoted: Jewish education. As a result, our experiences are very different, and each of us tends to watch out for himself or her tribe.
I heard that David Ben Gurion was asked shortly after the state was established why he let the religious Jews have their own schools. His response: "In another generation, no one will want them anyway, and they will close of their own volition." He could not have been more wrong.
Make sure you follow the links and read the comments. The other two posts from Rebecca are up already. It should be obvious from this blog that I don't agree with the silent treatment or with not posting pictures of Hamas' atrocities. We cannot let Hamas or the Arab/Muslim world control the narrative. But there are a lot of other thought-provoking assertions in those posts.
And by the way, my Twitter follows have been jumping this week as well.
The Times cannot even do an unbiased puff piece on Jerusalem
It looked like a story that would please the Brand Israel crowd at the Foreign Ministry. What to do on a Saturday if you're in Jerusalem and not into religion. Humus in Abu Ghosh from the one-time world record-holder, a nice, easy hike in the Sataf forest, and a trendy cafe in mostly secular Ein Karem. And maybe the story did please the Leftists at the Foreign Ministry. But it sure didn't please me and it shouldn't please you either when you read this.
We left with full stomachs, and 10 minutes later, turned off at the Jewish community of Mevasseret Zion, and followed winding roads through the Jerusalem Forest to Ein Karem. Situated inside a gorge and dominated by a golden-domed Russian Orthodox church perched on a hilltop, Ein Karem, now incorporated into municipal Jerusalem, is believed by many Christians to be the birthplace of John the Baptist.
During the war of 1948, 300 Arab guerrilla fighters from Ein Karem, with support from Iraqi, Syrian and Egyptian troops, battled Jewish soldiers and ambushed convoys on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road. After the April 1948 massacre by Jewish paramilitary forces of 120 Arab civilians in the nearby village of Deir Yassin, Ein Karem was evacuated, and resettled by Israelis. The Muslims are all gone now, and as I wandered through the village, one of the few to survive the 1948 war with most of its buildings intact, I was keenly aware of Ein Karem’s controversial past and couldn’t help but notice that there was no mention — in tourist guides or signs at historic sites — of the Arab evacuations.
There was no 'massacre' at Deir Yassin (and the fact that the Times admits only 120 deaths out of the 750 people who lived there shows it, but they still call it a massacre) and the only 'evacuation' from Ein Karem was the one voluntarily undertaken by the Arab population. No one forced them to leave.
Surprisingly, after the “massacre,” the Irgun escorted a representative of the Red Cross through the town and held a press conference. The New York Times' subsequent description of the battle was essentially the same as Begin's. The Times said more than 200 Arabs were killed, 40 captured and 70 women and children were released. No hint of a massacre appeared in the report. “Paradoxically, the Jews say about 250 out of 400 village inhabitants [were killed], while Arab survivors say only 110 of 1,000.”7 A study by Bir Zeit University, based on discussions with each family from the village, arrived at a figure of 107 Arab civilians dead and 12 wounded, in addition to 13 "fighters," evidence that the number of dead was smaller than claimed and that the village did have troops based there.8 Other Arab sources have subsequently suggested the number may have been even lower.9
In fact, the attackers left open an escape corridor from the village and more than 200 residents left unharmed. For example, at 9:30 A.M., about five hours after the fighting started, the Lehi evacuated 40 old men, women and children on trucks and took them to a base in Sheikh Bader. Later, the Arabs were taken to East Jerusalem. Starting at 2:00 P.M., residents were taken out of the village. The trucks passed through the Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim after the Sabbath had begun, so the neighborhood people cursed and spit at them, not because they were Arabs, but because the vehicles were desecrating the Sabbath. Seeing the Arabs in the hands of Jews also helped raise the morale of the people of Jerusalem who were despondent from the setbacks in the fighting to that point.10 Another source says 70 women and children were taken away and turned over to the British.11 If the intent was to massacre the inhabitants, no one would have been evacuated.
After the remaining Arabs feigned surrender and then fired on the Jewish troops, some Jews killed Arab soldiers and civilians indiscriminately. None of the sources specify how many women and children were killed (the Times report said it was about half the victims; their original casualty figure came from the Irgun source), but there were some among the casualties. Any intentional murder of children or women is completely unjustified. At least some of the women who were killed, however, became targets because of men who tried to disguise themselves as women. The Irgun commander reported, for example, that the attackers "found men dressed as women and therefore they began to shoot at women who did not hasten to go down to the place designated for gathering the prisoners."12 Another story was told by a member of the Haganah who overheard a group of Arabs from Deir Yassin who said "the Jews found out that Arab warriors had disguised themselves as women. The Jews searched the women too. One of the people being checked realized he had been caught, took out a pistol and shot the Jewish commander. His friends, crazed with anger, shot in all directions and killed the Arabs in the area."13
Contrary to claims from Arab propagandists at the time and some since, no evidence has ever been produced that any women were raped. On the contrary, every villager ever interviewed has denied these allegations. Like many of the claims, this was a deliberate propaganda ploy, but one that backfired. Hazam Nusseibi, who worked for the Palestine Broadcasting Service in 1948, admitted being told by Hussein Khalidi, a Palestinian Arab leader, to fabricate the atrocity claims. Abu Mahmud, a Deir Yassin resident in 1948 told Khalidi "there was no rape," but Khalidi replied, "We have to say this, so the Arab armies will come to liberate Palestine from the Jews." Nusseibeh told the BBC 50 years later, "This was our biggest mistake. We did not realize how our people would react. As soon as they heard that women had been raped at Deir Yassin, Palestinians fled in terror."14
One of the places from which the Arabs fled was Ein Karem.
A pro-Arab lobby group which has always claimed that 254 Arabs died during the 1948 battle of Deir Yassin has quietly changed its story, and now admits that about 100, not 254, were killed. The change comes just weeks after the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) released a study showing that the number of Arabs killed in Deir Yassin was less than half of what has been claimed, and that they were not massacred.
The "Deir Yassin Remembered" group, which is headed by Daniel McGowan of Hobart & William Smith Colleges (NY), had repeatedly claimed that 254 Arabs died at Deir Yassin. For example, in the April 1996 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, McGowan wrote of "254 innocent men, women and children who were systematically slaughtered." A February 1998 posting on the group's web site, the "Deir Yassin Remember Online Information Center," claimed that "In all, 254 men, women, and children were systematically slaughtered."
But during the past week, the "Deir Yassin Remembered Group" has twice revised the death toll downwards. In a press release on March 22, 1998, McGowan wrote that "an estimated 100-250 Arab villagers were slaughtered." Then, in a listing of forthcoming activities, released on March 25, 1998, McGowan reported that "over 100 Palestinian men, women and children were killed."
The changes in the death toll count come in the wake of the ZOA's publication of a new study, Deir Yassin History of a Lie, a 32-page analysis (with 156 footnotes) by ZOA National President Morton A. Klein. (For a free copy, please call (212) 481-1500.)
Among other things, the ZOA study shows that the original claim of 254 dead was not based on any actual body count. The number was invented by Mordechai Ra'anan, leader of the Jewish soldiers who fought in Deir Yassin. He later admitted that the figure was a deliberate exaggeration in order to undermine the morale of the Arab forces, which had launched a war against the Jews in Mandate Palestine to prevent the establishment of Israel. Other eyewitnesses to the battle estimated that about 100 Arabs had died. Despite Ra'anan's admission, the figure 254 was circulated by Palestinian Arab leader Hussein Khalidi. His claims about Deir Yassin were the basis for an article in the New York Times claiming a massacre took place--an article that has been widely reprinted and cited as "proof" of the massacre throughout the past 50 years.
The ZOA study describes how in 1987, researchers from Bir Zeit University, an Arab university in Palestinian Authority territory, interviewed every Arab survivor of the battle and concluded that the number of civilians who died in Deir Yassin could not have been more than 120. Despite the study, the "Deir Yassin Remembered" group continued using the figure of 254 dead.
But no, the Times had to call Deir Yassin a 'massacre' even if they cut the number of dead to a close-to-accurate number, and then they invented an 'evacuation' from Ein Karem as if Israel had expelled the local residents.
Just the usual Times bias inventing 'facts' to fit their predetermined narrative....
Israel is sort of participating in the 'gay pride' festival in Berlin in June. I say 'sort of' because like good dhimmis, Israel's participation will be entirely incognito.
Berlin Municipality invited Tel Aviv to take part in the main festival, which will be taking place ahead of the gay pride events. But the Israeli delegation decided to leave out any state symbols at the stand, as well as in any performances by Israeli artists taking part in the festival.
Thus, there will be no Israeli flags and the emphasis will be on Tel Aviv as a global city – pluralistic and liberal, which accepts members of the gay community no matter where they're from. Moreover, visitors to the festival will receive information about Tel Aviv which will include a map that highlights LGBT entertainment centers.
A source within the tourism industry told Ynet that "in the past it has been proven that the correct and smart way to 'export' Israel, especially these days, is through emphasizing brands it excels in, without using anything that symbolizes the state of Israel. Unfortunately, the Israeli flag or Star of David can cause antagonism among many."
The Tourism Ministry understands this new reality and explains: "Unfortunately, this is the smart way to market Israeli brands abroad." It should be mentioned that the ministry promotes some Israeli sites and destinations without mentioning the word Israel.
One would think that Israel would (and could) at least appeal for some credit from the gay community for being the only country in this region where gays are not the subjects of 'honor killings' just because they are gay. But sadly, that is not the case. And now that we have expediently rebranded Israel into something other than the Jewish state, we aren't even going to try to get credit for the things that we do for which other countries do get credit.
Now you all see why I was (and remain) so angry with the Foreign Ministry's Brand Israel program when it was introduced to bloggers two and a half years ago. Israel's gay community should be ashamed of itself for acceptingcreating these terms of participation.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
