From Hadesh - Renewal Vol. I Issue. 1
By: Efrayim ben-Yeḥi’el
The failure of Israeli hasbara has become so obvious it can no longer be ignored. Yet denial of one sort has been replaced by another. Instead of hand-waving away our incompetence, Israelis now prefer to argue that hasbara is futile. You see, Israel is a country of some seven-million Jews, all against an army of two billion Muslims… What were we to do?
This argument is ridiculous for several reasons, most importantly because it ignores Jewish agency. In fact, Israeli PR was quite successful for many decades. This was accomplished because Israel’s international image was that of a scrappy, competent, neo-biblical state nestled among the West’s enemies. This image was largely a lie, but one that Israeli leaders could sell to European and American allies with a straight face. The failure of Israeli hasbara is largely attributable to Israeli marketers selling what they want to sell to a world which does not want to buy that product.
To understand, we must look at two familiar examples from the world of product marketing: Bud-Light and Jaguar. Bud-Light was an American beer consumed by working-class (and vocally socially-conservative) men. When Bud-Light’s marketing team decided to create a customized can with the likeness of a transgender Broadway actor on it, Bud-Light became immediately toxic to its actual consumer. Similarly, when the automotive company Jaguar, which historically targeted their vehicles at successful and status-conscious British men, advertised their new electric vehicles with a video depicting a rainbow-clad band of gender-amorphous characters… let’s just say, they haven’t been flying off the dealer’s lots.
Both advertising failures are examples of out-of-touch marketing departments projecting what they want others to see instead of what their actual consumer wants to see. Bud-Light drinkers are disgusted by transgenderism; Jaguar-drivers are masculine men, not subjects for these ultra-progressive marketing campaigns. A bad advertisement will get far more eyes than a good one as people share the horror with their friends. Consequently, the new negative association will quickly displace the older positive one.
The historical international audience for Israeli PR can be divided in two. There were the old post-war liberals, who believed in liberal democracy, civilization, and the associated social values. Then there were the religious Christians of the Bush-coalition, ordinary people who witnessed biblical prophecies coming true before their eye. Both demographics are now much older than you think.
The post-war liberal is almost extinct, having been replaced by “diverse” progressives whose international policy can be reduced to two principles: might makes wrong, and darker is better than lighter. “Civilization” is as anathema to the progressive as transgenderism to construction workers. To this new progressive left coalition, Israel has committed the cardinal sin of being a technologically advanced nation-state in Arab lands. It can therefore only be redeemed by being destroyed. It goes without saying that there is no convincing this audience to become pro-Israel.
The Bush-coalition may have been replaced by the Trump-coalition, but as of 2016, the American right was overwhelmingly supportive of Israel. This relationship has soured due to several causes, but the most important is a disillusionment with Israel as Israelis actually live. So long as Evangelical Christians could see biblical Israel in the modern state, they could identify the people of the bible with Israelis. That illusion can no longer be maintained. It is very difficult for the unbiased audience to take seriously the claim that your ancestors lived in this land 3,000 years ago when you dress, eat, and speak like you grew up in New York 30 years ago. Unfair, but when has international conflict ever been fair?
We see ourselves as a “51st state” and try to imitate Americans, which we view as high-status. We take great pride in learning English, shopping at Ikea, dressing like Americans, and being otherwise indistinguishable from other members of the international business class. This is very much a product of Zionism, which asserted that Jews could become free of antisemitism by adopting high-status cultural and political signifiers. Once that was a country of one’s own, but today it is that of a common consumer.
We do so in vain. The image of the international business class is extremely off-putting to Americans of all political tribes and ideologies. America conquered the globe; it does not want to see other nations superficially imitate it. The American motto is: Be Yourself. Or in advertising terms, lean into what is authentic to your brand. When Israelis reveal ourselves to be nothing more than socially progressive, consumers of western brands, upholders of post-war “civilization”, Israel comes off as inauthentic and dishonest. Americans of both political tribes lose respect for Israel.
We should not change because other nations want us to change. We must recognize that our current state is our failed attempt to be who we thought they wanted us to be. Sometimes criticism allows us to see the truth we blind ourselves to.
People naturally desire the real and authentic, not the superficial imitation. Israel must see ourselves as biblical people and embrace our authentic self-image beyond cheap rhetoric. An authentic Israel is one which takes inspiration from the high points of ages past. We must embrace a revived Israelite culture from food to architecture, from dress to language, from religion to politics. This is not about imitating our ancestors from the reign of King Hezekiah or any other particular point in time, but about taking an academically rigorous inspiration from the highest expressions of ages past and adapting it creatively to the 21st century.
If you transported an Israelite community into modern Israel, how would they adapt to our technology and problems? Examples abound around you for the careful observer. Here’s one. Several years ago, Dr. Tova Dickstein published a cookbook on making foods mentioned in Miqra and early rabbinic literature in the modern kitchen. It does not matter if academics have unearthed information about ages past if it remains confined to dusty tomes. What matters is what can be acted on and normalized in our individual lives and shared with the wider Israeli culture.
Our goal is not to do things exactly as our ancestors did. Our goal is to do it better.
That kind of authenticity cannot be bought.