Bad Publicity
As you may or may not have noticed, this months edition of jock rag Maxim Magazine is featuring a special on the “Girls of the Israeli Defense Forces”. Plugging a photospread of bikini clad and stilettoed ex-soldiers lounging around Tel-Aviv, Maxim advises that the soldiers are “Drop dead gorgeous and can take apart an Uzi in seconds”. While the first part may be true, the Uzi – a lacklustre Israeli made weapon prone to malfunctioning- was phased out of use by the IDF several decades ago. Unfortunately, this factual error is only the tip of the iceberg that is this embarrassing publicity stunt.
Background
Following last summers Israel-Hizbollah War, during which the Israeli Air Force all but leveled Lebanon, Western public opinion- already critical of Israel- veered sharply into the negative.
According to a recent BBC poll I’m a citizen of the worlds most popular and least popular countries. Holler at me.
As part of the effort to rehabilitate its flagging image, the Israeli Consulate in New York conducted a survey of Americans about their opinions of Israel. The consulate found that most Americans view Israel as a sort of land of perpetual warfare and conflict: of exploding buses, hill-top settlements and religious fanatics. And this was from Israel’s closest ally. However, at the same time, they also found that many American men replied that, from what they understand, Israeli girls are really good looking. The consulate decided that this response provided the best avenue- or at least better than bus bombings- for improving Israel’s public image. Thus, was conceived a plan to display to American audiences Israel’s apparent #1 natural resource: its babes.
Israeli model Gal Gadot lamping on balcony in Tel-Aviv
Idiocy
As usual, Israel has exhibited its trademark incompetence when it comes to self-promotion. While anti-Israel propagandists have proved very skillful at painting an extremely negative and damning picture of Israel, their Israeli equivalents have consistently demonstrated a high degree of ineptitude when it comes to effectively conveying the Israeli position to the public. Indeed, this is very much a result of Israeli national temperament, which does not have an appreciation for the nuances and subtleties of public appeal. Israelis have a reputation for being rude, and while it would appear that this is true, the reality is that Israelis are just blunt. They mean what they say and they speak what they think. A combination not conducive to effective public appeal, particularly when the opposing camp often resorts to half-truths and blatant lies with impunity.
Nivit Bash
6 Reasons
1) Callous: Firstly I’d like to state that I have nothing against these women choosing to posing suggestively for a mens magazine. If they wanted to pose for Maxim, Playboy, Hustler or whatever, thats their prerogative not mine. However, my general feeling of disgust with this project stems from the fact that this whole operation was orchestrated by the Israeli Consulate in New York. That is to say that the Israeli Consulate- the representative of the Israeli government-conceived of the idea of a photo spread of “Girls of the Israeli Defense Forces”, independently approached Maxim magazine to pitch their proposition and even paid to have Maxim photographers flown to Tel-Aviv. This government sanctioned commoditization of its womenfolk is questionable to begin with, but in lieu of a rash of sex scandals involving high profile Israeli politicians (Moshe Katsav and Haim Ramon), this verges on callous and plain disturbing. Does the state of Israel really want to be seen as a country where the President and Minister of Justice (!) are involved in sexual misconduct cases, while the state is paying for titillating photos of Israeli women to be published in a semi-pornographic mens magazine???
2) The Lowest Common Denominator: Sex sells shoes, deodorant, cars, cats, dogs, coffee whatever. Apparently now it also sells states. The reality that sex sells is a fact, but as I’m sure most people would agree, its really the lowest form of marketing. When lacking ideas of how to sell your product, just put a scantily clad girl next to it and you have a winning advertisement. For Israel, a country which has so much to offer, it really did not need to resort to t&a to improve its image.
Yaarden Eden
3) Its Sexist: I mean, yeah, there is no state-sponsored photospread in a womens magazine of soldier boys in their underwear or whatever.
4) Why Soldiers?: I think the thing I most take offense with is the fact that these girls are explicitly advertised as soldiers. I mean, what is the point if every female Israeli citizen (except most Arabs) over the age of 18 is technically a soldier. Its a contradiction in terms, by default a photospread of Israeli women is going to be a photospread of “soldiers” because every adult Israeli women has at least some military training. Secondly, women in the IDF serve mostly in a support role. There is only 1 female combat unit, as well as a unit of female divers and border guards. Other than that women serve as so-called “jobniks” doing stuff around the base, working as clerks, communications officers, security guards etc. One of my cousins, for example, spent her two years in the army as a lifeguard on a base. Another girl I met spent her service guarding a room with classified documents. This whole marketing of soldier girls who can “take apart an uzi in seconds” is completely idiotic. In my opinion its shameless pandering (state-sponsored no less) to male sex fantasies of a masculinized “amazonian” female sexuality. Of course this is pandering to the fantasies of Western (American) men, as seeing a girl in uniform is about as novel and exciting as seeing a tree for Israelis.
5) Its Exclusionary: Another effect of advertising the girls as soldiers is that it essentially restricts the photospread to Jewish Israelis. Arab (except the Druze and some Bedouin men) Israelis do not serve in the army. While I’m not sure how many Arab girls would want to pose in Maxim on behalf of Israel they should at least be given the opportunity to do so. Had the photospread just been “Israeli Girls” it could perhaps feature a few Arab-Israeli models. For Example: Rana Raslan Miss Israel 2000, an Arab who didn’t serve in the army.
Rana Raslan:”I am totally Israeli, and I do not think about whether I am an Arab or a Jew”
5) Its Sad: The fact that Israeli youth are required to shoulder the burden of safeguarding their country is, in my opinion, not something that merits celebration. Its a sad reflection of the state of affairs in a region torn by conflict. The fact that the Israeli government chooses to celebrate and glorify the fact that its young women are soldiers is cynical and utterly mystifying to me.
Nivit in what looks like Tel-Aviv Ha’Shalom Train Station
6) No Offense: Yeah its true girls in Israeli are really sexy, but no offense to Nivit Bash, Gal Gadot, Yaarden Eden etc, they are not even that spectacular. Go to Yerushalayim Beach in Tel-Aviv any day around 4pm. Believe me.
I don’t know if a country sort of known for its sex tourism should be advertising like that…