So Much for Brand Israel 
In August of 2008, the Israeli Foreign Ministry embarked on an ambitious PR campaign to re-brand Israel. Toronto’s status as a multicultural centre made it a perfect test site for the “Brand Israel” initiative, which will be launched internationally in the coming years. According to Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin, the marketing mission is to “make Israel relevant and attractive to Canadians and to refocus attention away from the conflict.” By purposely omitting politics from the re-branding agenda, the hope is to shine a positive light on some other aspects of Israel’s identity, such as its role as a medical and technological innovator.
Unfortunately for those involved in the re-branding effort, Israel just doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. Five months into the campaign, and Israel goes and has a war with Gaza. So much for trying to avoid the political conflict.
The thing is, Israel’s image problems are nothing but political. It was created as a response to an attempted genocide of the Jewish people. It is surrounded by hostile neighbours, most of whom regularly express their desire to see it destroyed. As a result, Israel’s military is fierce and its 60 year occupation of the Palestinians has been brutal. The current war in Gaza is a tragic outcome of the reality of Israel’s very existence. Until Israel is able to come up with a tenable solution for the Palestinian problem, it will be continually forced to bare its military might. No amount of positive PR will ever change this sad fact.
posted by Emma Jo Aiken-Klar, PhD at 7:56 PM
3 Comments:
a) for some reason, israel doesn't appear to be having much of a pr problem with this one. tzipi reeled in her diplomats, gave them a couple of really great lines, and almost all i've heard from mainstream press has been supportive of israel's right to defend itself. so yeah, her branding is working just fine...just not sure it's gonna last until they're done, especially when schools and UN envoys are hit.
b) pulling out of gaza wasn't the answer to peace - it was the first step. and then poor sharon, the only man who seemed to have a plan, fell into a coma, mr. corruption himself has been leader since, a little mishandled war with lebanon happened in the middle, and all those other steps after somehow got lost along the way.
c) aside from that, i do agree with your theory though - israel is not helping its own branding initiative...but that doesn't mean it doesn't have some pretty cool technology and beaches that the world should know about.
While I agree that the mainstream media seems to be generally positive towards Israel, on the ground the situation is slightly different. Renewed calls for boycots and bans on Israeli academics by CUPE and renewed energy and interest in the anti-Israel movement in general is not was those in charge of Brand Israel were hoping for.
Here is a detailed account as to how University of Toronto administration went into crisis mode to prevent a Palestine solidarity conference in Oct 2008 after advance 'warning' from Hillel. Amazingly President Naylor had formulated a plan to deny space to the group even before the request for space came in. One of the dangers with a brand is that it rests on a whitewashed squeeky-clean image. Critics simply need their oxygen removed - but this occurred at one of Canada's preeminent universities. This brand exercise is doomed to failure, but along the way it will lead to increasingly frantic and unethical activities such as that described below. One fallout will be young Canadian Jews who cannot understand where the hatred comes from because they do not have the basic historical and intellectual grounding upon which to understand the competing narratives and this is partly because of a continuing community lobby to silence any dissent. In fact the 'brand' exercise may be ultimately seen as another organizing matrix for the community that has value in keeping questions at bay for another young generation irrespective of the ultimate 'success' of the brand exercise.
http://www.rabble.ca/news/exposed-university-toronto-suppressed-pro-palestinian-activism
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