Behind the image of Israel, spread through their Hasbara Propaganda, ‘as a hot and modern fantasy, been realized by civilized and liberal people’ lies an evil and sinister reality, The mesmerizing gaze of Israeli hot super models and Bikini beaches, There lies Israel as an evil Racist colony state built on the the land of Palestinian people. Upon critical and careful discourse analysis one can easily disclose the unholy tactics of Israel’s sexualized public diplomacy which is aimed to distract and redesign the world public opinion about the Palestine-Israel conflict and hide their contentious policies and human rights abuses from the world. There is a necessity to uncover the truth behind the allure of Israeli super models and LGBTQ+ friendly rhetoric and discuss how Israel uses sex to sell out Zionism and masks their occupation, war crimes and human rights abuses in the eyes of International world.
For centuries in Europe, there was this stereotype of Jews as “Old Jew” who was weak, pale and frail, The Zionist movement started in late 19th century and they eventually started to plot for the creation of homeland for the Jews in the ‘Promised land’ of Palestine. Zionists were not fan of this stereotype and wanted to uplift the image of “Jew” and prepare them for the huge task that lied ahead of them, i.e., the struggle for the Creation of the State of Israel. Max Nordau, one of the co-founder of the Zionist movement presented the idea of “Muscular Judaism” in the second conference of Zionism in 1898, The idea was to replace the ‘Old Jew’ with a new muscular, physically strong and attractive image of ‘The New Jew’, and also propagate the idea of new physically strong Judaism.
Max Nordau in his speech during the second conference said, “Zionism breathes new life into Judaism. This much I am sure of. It does this morally by refreshing the ideals of the People, physically by the physical education of our offspring, who shall reestablish a bygone muscular Judaism”.
All this effort to rebrand the image of Jew and present a new Muscular, good looking physically and mentally strong Jew, and will have the ability to fight the battle for the creation of the Jewish Homeland and realize the goals of Zionism.
“In a report titled, “Muscular Judaism,” for the new association newspaper, Jüdische Turnzeitung, Nordau described it as the “last, globally historic embodiment of a battle-hardened, weapon-ready Judaism.” He called on Jews to “connect with our oldest traditions: (Then) we’ll again be broad-chested, strong armed, bold-looking men.” (Nordau, 1903)”
It was these Zionist Militias of young Zionist Jews that planned and orchestrated the Naqba, the forced displacement of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in 1948.
The situation become complicated for Zionists when these Militias become the Army of Israel and it became a new Visual of the Zionism, These muscular and Good looking Soldiers started to portray the Brutal and violent image of Zionists Militias who were involved in the massacre and displacement of innocent Civilians. Israel was perceived only as a hub of Conflict, Terrorism, Oppression and occupation.
According to surveys in the early 2000s there was a “generation gap in opinions toward Israel” the surveys were showing that Israel was having a great PR problem with male population from age 18-35, they were seeing Israel as a conflict zone with war and destruction and heavy militarization with very little to no interest in Israel.
This was a big problem for the image of Israel and they have to come up with a strategy using ‘Soft Power’ to change the perception of young Americans and World Public opinion in general about Israel. The Project Brand Israel kick started in 2007 with the Budget of 4 million USD by the foreign Ministry and Ministry of tourism. They wanted to portray an image of Israel which is more advanced and free of military conflict and danger, their Goal was to Present Israel as the land of 3 religions coupled with the advanced rhetoric of Liberalism, such as an advocate of LGBTQ+ rights.
The Brand Israel Campaign used the beauty and glamour of Feminine Gender to attract tourists from across the world. In this process the Rebrand they came up with were ‘Bikinis’.
Herb Keinon described this photo-spread in Maxim Magazine by the Foreign ministry and Ministry of Tourism of Israel, which was a popular men’s life style magazine at the time, The head line of his article “Israel to put its babes forward in Maxim-um PR effort” . with Its sub-heading, “To change the perception of Israel as only a land of conflict, present an Israel with… bikinis.” popularized the idea of “Bikini Diplomacy” , According to David Saranga, a former diplomat and ambassador of Israel, Keinon quoted “The Israeli models, Saranga said, were a “Trojan horse” to present Israel as a modern country with nice beaches and pretty women.” Israel was formed on Religious and historical bases and doing photo-spread in Bikinis for Hasbara was considered UN-Holy for the “Chosen people of Israel”. To counter this argument, As the Keinin quoted David Brinn, who was the editorial director of ISRAEL21c, said “the idea behind the project was to “open up another lens” so that people can view Israel through a lens that is not militaristic, religious or historic – the lens through which, he said, “99 percent of Americans view Israel.”
This Campaign was not limited only to photo shoots in Maxim, Videos were recorded and played before the “Eurovision” concert in 2019, these videos such as “Two cities – one break” were published on many social media platforms with young males as the targeted audience, A hot girls was shown in the Video in Bikini leading a man into the Sea and museum, holding him from hand. This video was about promoting tourism in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is a sexy way.
“The success of this project is evidenced by the fact that between 2016 and 2019 the number of tourists arriving in Israel increased from 2.9 to 4.5 million”.In the face of this Hot Fantasy, Palestinians come off like a backward, pesky nuisance trying to disrupt this liberal orgy Utopia, not like colonized people looking for freedom and dignity.
Despite all these efforts, The establishment of a positive, developed and attractive image of Israel is not an easy task to be achieved by posting Pictures of Hot girls in Magazines and on social Media. With the advancement and spread of social media and Internet, The world has seen both sides of the coins, especially after the October 7th events. The massacre of Civilians in Gaza and Convictions of Genocide, war crimes and human rights abuses on Israel from social media users and several influential organizations, such International Court of Justice, has severely damaged the International Reputation of Israel, The question emerge, is Israel doing enough in its information war amid the ongoing Conflict?
Dozens of Diplomats from several countries Including that of Pakistan Walked out from the United Nation General Assembly when Israeli Prime Minister came out to address the UNGA on Sept. 27th 2024. But on the other hand, When PM Nethanyahu addressed ‘Joint session of US Congress on July 24th 2024, The Audience who were the Congressmen of US, applauded more than 50 times in a speech of 55 minutes.The time has changed by the spread of Social Media, and when the Palestinian reality has started to reach the audience around the globe, the ‘Sexy Offensive’ has to change. Before it was all about branding Israel and presenting soft image f Israel so that to attract tourists and visitors, The main objective now is to distract and whitewash, so the Bikinis in the magazines are now been replaced by Military Uniforms, Hot Blonde Girls with Guns and Rifles modeling on social media, the Tiktok Dances in the Uniform and Playing the ‘Innocent-Cute’ cards as if they are portraying the Fun side of Military Occupation, as if saying, ‘Fine; Military operation is the reality but it is also Fun, Empowerment, Entertainment and sexy’.Social Media posts by beautiful Female Israeli soldiers in Uniform with captions like “Look me in the eye, do you really think I can commit the war crime” is a perfect example how the Hasbara 2.0 is in action to deceive the young audience and brainwash the dead brains.
Israel’s obsession with undergarments and sexafication of Propaganda is not only limited to their Brand Israel Program and Bikini Diplomacy, They also take pride in defaming their opponents by shaming them with, for example, Under a project named as “Israel Victory Project” which came with the ambitions to force Hamas to submit to the wills and demands of Israel, This Project emphasized the use of Military, economic and diplomatic means to force Hamas to stop their aggression, One such provocation, which was a brainchild if Israel Victory Project came into NEWS when a billboard was displaced in a crowded location of Tel Aviv with a Photoshopped photo of Ismail Haniya, Former leader of Hamas wearing Green Bikini, The Billboad also features a Hebrew Translation of an Arabic Quote “Thanks Israel, I love you – Ismail.” .
Another example is from the ongoing conflict in Gaza, When Israeli soldiers posted videos of themselves playing with the Bikinis and undergarments of Palestinian Women after Raiding there homes. Reuters reported on March 28th 2024, “In one video, an Israeli soldier sits in an armchair in a room in Gaza grinning, with a gun in one hand and dangling white satin underwear from the other over the open mouth of a comrade lying on a sofa.”. “Elsewhere, another soldier sits atop a tank holding a female mannequin dressed in a black bra and helmet and says: “I found a beautiful wife, serious relationship in Gaza, great woman.”
In future, to keep up colonization, there must be enough population of settlers’ population and enough Youth to depend them in the form of IDF, Israel uses Intimate gatherings of young Jewish Zionists to have kids with other Jewish Zionists.
‘Taghlit Israel Birthright’ is an all expenses paid trip for the Jewish youth all across the globe from age 18-26. “The organization, funded by both the Israeli government and individual donors, “seeks to ensure the future of the Jewish people by strengthening Jewish identity, Jewish communities, and connection with Israel,” according to its website. In the past two decades, it has sent nearly 700,000 young Jewish people on Birthright trips.”
The advertisements of the birthright clearly says “More than just a free trip to Israel.”
The young Jews in their formative age are gathered in Israel accompanied by Israeli military (selectively Good looking) on the beach side and night camps where they usually stay in concentrated (Fake beduoin tents) Tents that are setup trigger intimate relations, The idea is that of more Jews in this age visits Israel, They are 54% more likely to continue Jewish Tradition and marry a Jew partner. It’s the continuation of Cultural Zionism in 21st century. Yossi Beilin, The founder and originator of the birthright said, “one of the top goals for Birthright: “to create a situation whereby spouses are available.” .
One of thee Key driver behind the Birthright was the fact that during the 90s and well before that , The intermarriages between Christians and Jews and Muslims were on record high, The Birthright movement, aimed to make Jewish Zionist babies from Jewish Zionist Parents. The beaches, the parties, concerts, Night tents and even buses and trains are designed in a way to make the Intimacy possible.
In the early days of Birthright, Birthright co-founder Bronfman said, “he was bothered that the kids on those early trips weren’t bonding with their Israeli peers. Bronfman’s answer: developing the mifgash—the encounter—between Jewish Israeli teens and their diaspora counterparts.” These encounters “move very fast to what we call ‘hormonal mifgashim,’” Ezrachi told me. “Things happen.”
There are a lot of Videos from Birthright trips in which teens and early adults are expressing their experience and also promotion videos by Birthright official YouTube Channel, for example A video posted in Jan 2023 by the official YouTube channel of Birthright Israel, In video, there is a hot girl dancing on the song(It’s girls dream of Baby ben’s Partner, Baby) with the Caption “This is your sight to take the trip. There are countless number of other interview and reactionary videos as well for example a video in which the Trip Participant Says “I am high on Zionism” when asked how he feels about the trip and Israel.
One other example is the story of Elissa Stuart, She writes in ‘What We Brought Back, a glowing essay collection from Birthright’s alumni program’ “It works.” “The bus is a love incubator,” (Strauss’s entry is written with her husband, whom she met, naturally, on Birthright).
To maintain a demographic over the Palestinians, and maintain the colonization, Israel needs to make more Jews out of Jews Parents, Birthright trips provide the est possible way to encourage reproduction and immigration of the Youth in their formative age full with Euphoric emotions and adventure.
The reality of Israel’s Nation building is Violence, Displacement, Disposition, Colonization and Settlement. This violent image has troubled Israel for decades. Along with fights on the battle fields, Israel had to fight the battle of its legitimacy. Israel had used Sexualized Propaganda in the past to distract the world focus from the conflict in Israel and encourage tourism, and propagate a positive and developed image in the eyes of world public opinion so that the world accept it as a modern civilized and liberal state. More importantly, the representation of Israel as the only true democracy in the middle east is often used as a mask to hide out the evil reality of Israel’s colonization. In the receent conflict, they used sexualized Public diplomacy to distract the masses’ attention from the war-crimes they committed in Gaza and Lebanon. In order to keep the settlers interested in the vision of nation building and ensure a secure future, Sex is a great tool. Beauty and aesthetics are great marketing tactics and they have tangible outcomes like more babies. More babies mean more people to get recruited to the oppressive forces and maintain the Violent and oppressive military infrastructure necessary for Israel to exist. And what’s better way to convince people to at least look the other way at at most participate, than by making it Sexy.
The author, is currently pursuing Bachelor in International Relations and is interested in Middle Eastern geopolitics and global diplomacy
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