Ynet's homepage recently displayed a troubling juxtaposition. The headline "No auditions for Ethiopians at the moment" was sandwiched between an article about Marine Le Pen and an ad for baby food. The ad featured a stock image of a blond, blue-eyed baby - a common yet misrepresentative choice in Israeli media.
Obviously most Israelis don't resemble Scandinavians. The majority have Middle Eastern heritage, while those of European descent typically trace their roots to Eastern Europe, as do most North American Jews.
The persistent use of such imagery in Israeli media fails to reflect the country's diverse population and may explains self Israelis [self] loathing of everything middle estate, like the notorious #Wix reference mentioned.
“… unlike the Gazans, we look and live like Europeans or Americans.”
Bezalel Smotrich, Still the Finance Minister despite abundance of evidence he’s semi-illiterate, #NationalReligiousParty, heritage Ukrainian presumably.
#Eurovision / The fact the world is missing is that threatening to ban Israel from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest, would have had much bigger impact than any #ICJ ruling against it. Israelis are addicted to attention, and pity.
Feel bad for Eden Golan. Representing Israel while your country is standing accused of #genocide must be morally challenging for her … or maybe not?
Q: How are you preparing for the public diplomacy [hasbara] front?
[…] I'm planning a huge and powerful Eurovision number. I want to show everyone how strong we are.
[…] I have a huge team behind me that will help me, that will get me ready for this. All we need to do is bring our truth. I will bring this truth, because we have nothing to hide.
Note to self: “having nothing to hide” is the literally the antonym of #Hasbara 🙈 … maybe her #Hebrew is not that great?
The heated debate over Israel's participation in #Eurovision reveals a deep-seated desire among Israelis to be seen as European. For a significant portion of the population originating as migrants and refugees from Eastern Europe, Israel served as a place to shed their "Oriental" identities and reinvent themselves. Like a manager at the startup #Wix notoriously demanded of its staff, who were encouraged to support Israel’s ‘narrative’ in #Hamas conflict:
“Show Westernity [...] unlike the Gazans, we look and live like Europeans or Americans”
However, the inherent contradiction is that if Israel is accepted, or is part of Europe, or merely Exists because of European colonialism, then it's unavoidably also exposed as a colonial project.
This poignant opinion column, by Noa Limona, perpetuates the debate over Israel's empty symbolic gestures and its cynical exploitation of a grim reality of a forever-war.
"October Rain" well represents what Israel offers to the world. They're talking about a political solution to the conflict, a vision of "the day after", but what is the return that we offer? A vision devoid of vision, a solution devoid of solution, some moaning about our misery, "Haven't the Jewish people suffered enough?", and that's it. More of the same thing, which essentially contains nothing and nothing at all.
This is how we are perceived in the world, this is how the world sees us, and we have become repugnant to it.
"Writers of history," says the songless song, "stand by my side / Look into my eyes, and you will see."
The heated debate over Israel's participation in the #Eurovision reveals a deep-seated desire among Israelis to be seen as European. For a significant portion of the population originating as migrants and refugees from Eastern Europe, Israel served as a place to shed their "Oriental" identities and reinvent themselves. Like a manager at the startup #Wix notoriously demanded of its staff, who were encouraged to support Israel’s ‘narrative’ in #Hamas conflict:
However, the inherent contradiction is that if Israel is accepted, or is part of Europe, or merely Exists because of European colonialism, then it's unavoidably also exposed as a colonial project.
This poignant opinion column, by Noa Limona, perpetuates the debate over Israel's empty symbolic gestures and its cynical exploitation of a grim reality of a forever-war.
"October Rain" well represents what Israel offers to the world. They're talking about a political solution to the conflict, a vision of "the day after", but what is the return that we offer? A vision devoid of vision, a solution devoid of solution, some moaning about our misery, "Haven't the Jewish people suffered enough?", and that's it. More of the same thing, which essentially contains nothing and nothing at all.
This is how we are perceived in the world, this is how the world sees us, and we have become repugnant to it.
"Writers of history," says the songless song, "stand by my side / Look into my eyes, and you will see."
The heated debate over Israel's participation in the #Eurovision reveals a deep-seated desire among Israelis to be seen as European. For a significant portion of the population originating as migrants and refugees from Eastern Europe, Israel served as a place to shed their "Oriental" identities and reinvent themselves. Like a manager at the startup #Wix notoriously demanded of its staff, who were encouraged to support Israel’s ‘narrative’ in #Hamas conflict:
However, the inherent contradiction is that if Israel is accepted, or is part of Europe, or merely exists because of European #colonialism, then it's unavoidably also exposed as a colonial project.
This poignant opinion column, by Noa Limona, perpetuates the debate over Israel's empty symbolic gestures and its cynical exploitation of a grim reality of a forever-war.
"October Rain" well represents what Israel offers to the world. They're talking about a political solution to the conflict, a vision of "the day after", but what is the return that we offer? A vision devoid of vision, a solution devoid of solution, some moaning about our misery, "Haven't the Jewish people suffered enough?", and that's it. More of the same thing, which essentially contains nothing and nothing at all.
This is how we are perceived in the world, this is how the world sees us, and we have become repugnant to it.
"Writers of history," says the songless song, "stand by my side / Look into my eyes, and you will see."