Israel sells itself with sex

CNNI can’t resist:

It might seem counterintuitive that a state that wants to get away from its image of being in constant conflict would choose “Women of the Israeli Defense Forces” as a promotional gimmick. With the army so pervasive in Israeli culture — only North Korea has a higher % of its people under arms — Israelis can’t seem to think outside the box. The slang often used for women in the IDF is “sleeping bags.” Israel’s largest paper used to feature an “IDF babe of the day” in its pages. Young army women are treated as the personal perks of office for men like former Justice Minister Haim Ramon, who was convicted of sticking his tongue down the throat of a 20-year-old soldier. An Israeli court recently decided this wasn’t a “crime of moral turpitude,” and there is talk of Ramon rejoining the cabinet. The former Israeli president — and his brother — are both suspected of rape.

This campaign is part of Israel’s “rebranding” campaign; it currently ranks last in the “National Brands Index”. See also Bill Berkowitz on Israeli rebranding.

CNNI notes helpfully that Israel’s war with Lebanon last summer was “inept” and “ineffective.” One might think of other terms, like “insane and monstrous” — used by an Israeli commander to describe the indiscriminate firing of 1.3 million cluster bomblets at Southern Lebanon.

The Jewess blog concludes:

We all know sex sells, but shamelessly selling its women is hardly the best way for Israel - a country considered among the world’s worst offenders in human trafficking and prostitution, by the way - to boost its public image.

Maxim wonders, “They’re drop dead gorgeous and can take apart an Uzi in seconds. Are the women of the Israeli Defense Forces the world’s sexiest soldiers?” Uzis aren’t all these hotties can handle — some look positively fetching wielding old-fashioned billy-clubs. Take this quote from an Israeli babe in blue in 2004:

Whoever [Arab stopped at a checkpoint] does not act nicely gets beaten. … We have clubs for that. … Sometimes I might just not like his face. … And then he gets one too. Just a way of passing the time.

(Kol Ha’ir, Jan. 16 ‘04)