The White Ashkenazi Image of Israel

When we discuss Israel’s image, we rarely mention the obvious: Since the founding of the state, Israel’s image has been dominated by white Ashkenazim: From Ben Gurion to Weitzman to Dayan to Golda to Peres to Begin to Rabin to Sharon to Olmert to Livni to Bennett to Lapid to Gantz to Gallant to Ben Gvir to Levin and, of course, to Netanyahu and countless others throughout the culture, the white Ashkenazi Jew has been front and center in the global media coverage of Israel.

This is not meant as a criticism; it’s more of an observation.

But for all those who worry about improving Israel’s image, it’s also a missed opportunity.

There’s a tendency among those in the “hasbara” business to take the idea of image figuratively. In other words, when they talk about Israel’s image, they don’t mean a real image; they mean a general perception of Israel that needs to be improved.

This is how we end up obsessed with talking points and arguments. We need facts! We need education! We need to correct the lies!

In sum, we assume we can best fix Israel’s image through words and arguments rather than through actual images.

The irony is that as we exert ourselves to correct the lies against Israel, one epic lie remains untouched: The lie that Israel is a white country. But where do we think this lie comes from? It comes mostly from Israel itself, from the simple fact that virtually every person who represents Israel in the media is a white Ashkenazi.

Each one of these white Jews may well be brilliant, but that’s not the point. The point is that their ubiquitous presence creates a distorted image of the Jewish state. It overlooks the multicultural kaleidoscope that makes Israeli society so vibrant. It overlooks the multitudes of “Jews of color” who add so much diversity to the streets of Israel.

“Only about 30% of Israeli Jews are Ashkenazi, or the descendants of European Jews,” Hen Mazzig wrote a few years ago in The Los Angeles Times. “I am baffled as to why mainstream media and politicians around the world ignore or misrepresent these facts and the Mizrahi story. Perhaps it’s because our history shatters a stereotype about the identity of my country and my people.”

Very true, but there’s yet another reason: It’s the stereotype Israel itself presents to the world. It would be a lot harder for the mainstream media to ignore Israel’s multicultural nature if Mizrahim and other Israelis of color would be fully integrated in its media relations.

I was reminded of this at a talk last Friday by Dr. Duygu Atias, a Muslim-Israeli historian who lives in Tel Aviv. She was discussing a new initiative that she hopes will change the way Israelis are perceived and understood by Muslim societies.

She kept coming back to this key point: The best way to talk about Israel and break down stereotypes is to show the many cultural colors of Israel. She wasn’t as blunt as I am in this column, but she could well have added: “Israel is not the white Ashkenazi image people see in the media.”

In an ideal colorblind world, maybe none of this would matter. But that’s not the world we live in. Color matters. Culture matters. Diversity matters. If Israel is so culturally diverse, why not show it?

(Indeed, the same applies to American Jewry and its leadership. If American Jews today are so culturally diverse, why not show it? Why not integrate Mizrahim and Jews of color in the communal leadership? Liberal Jews go on and on about the importance of diversity and inclusion, but what are they doing at the leadership level to show a more diverse Jewish face in the mainstream media?)

Here’s a thought for pro-Israel activists on social media: Fewer words, more images. In addition to your brilliant talking points, blast your networks with hundreds of images of Jews and Israelis from all corners of the globe who are anything but the white stereotype people see in the media.

You might call the campaign: “Jews in Living Color.”

As far as the Israeli government, they might follow with their own campaign: “Spokespeople in Living Color.”

“In living color” is the true face of Israel and the Jewish people. White is not. “In living color” adds complexity and nuance to Israel and its many challenges. As long as the state continues to show only one face to the world, it has no business complaining about its image.

“I am Mizrahi,” Mazzig wrote, “as are the majority of Jews in Israel today. We are of Middle Eastern and North African descent.”

After 76 years of conveying one image based on one ethnicity, it’s high time Israel shows its true colors to the world.