Showing the True Colors 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 Weitzmann to Dayan to Golda to Peres to Begin to Rabin to Herzog to Sharon to Olmert to Livni to Bennett to Lapid to Gantz to Gallant to Smotrich to Levin and, of course, to Netanyahu and countless others, the white Ashkenazi Jew has been front and center in the global media coverage of Israel.

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

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

There’s a tendency among those in the “hasbara” world to take the idea of image figuratively. That is, 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!

Yes, but somehow, no one ever says we need new pictures.

We assume, in other words, that the best way to fix Israel’s image is 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 white Ashkenazi. The good news is that this can be fixed by being more accurate and recognizing the multicultural diversity that makes Israeli society so vibrant.

“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 let’s recognize that this stereotype is also what Israel 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 Atlas, a Muslim-Israeli historian who lives in Tel Aviv. She was discussing a new initiative, Muslims Connect with Israel (MCI), 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 its cultural and ethnic diversity.

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 ethnically diverse, why not show it?

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

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

Same goes for philanthropists who buy billboards and advertising to “make the case for Israel”– a picture is worth a thousand clever phrases. Use striking images that celebrate the ethnic kaleidoscope of the Jewish state. Title it “Israel in Living Color.” Nothing breaks the ice like true ethnic diversity.

For the Israeli government, if they want their communication to have more impact, there’s no better place to start than to have “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 the conversation about Israel and the many challenges facing the Jewish world.

“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 mostly on one ethnicity, it’s high time Israel and world Jewry show their true colors to the world.