ISRAEL: Babes in bikinis over war machines -- Israel's latest PR campaign

Israel uses eye-candy in their latest PR campaign - beautiful girls are to make the conflict torn Jewish state more attractive to tourists. "We want to make people in the world to see Israel through our glasses," said Aviv Shiron, Deputy Director General for Media and Public Affairs in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. In a bid to promote tourism, Israel's Foreign Ministry backed a public relations campaign out of its consulate in New York showing former female soldiers in minimal wear on its sunny beaches. A spread in last July's issue of Maxim magazine features female Israeli ex-soldiers in bikinis headlined "Women of the Israel Defence Forces". Shiron said the latest campaign had a clear objective -- to make the country more appealing to tourists. Tourism in Israel was hit hard by harsh images of violence and death during the Intifada, or Palestinian uprising for statehood and last summer's war with Lebanon. "What we are trying to achieve is to show the world that Israel is not only conflict," said Shiron. Tourism in Israel had been on a record pace in 2006 but cooled off due to last summer's war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. Gal Gadot, a former Miss Israel and army fitness instructor, appears in a bikini and high heels lying on the ledge of a Tel Aviv high-rise. The photo also appeared on the cover of the New York Post headlined: "Peace in the Mideast." Israel's foreign public relations department utilized what some believe is an attractive idea - females in combat and airforce units. Model Nivit Bash wearing a military-style black cap that matches a minimal swimsuit could do nothing less than make Israel's military image appealing to men, at least. Israel's image of a military society aside, many tourists would agree that Israel's often dark toned skinned women, rooted in the merge between eastern European and Arab descendants, are indeed beautiful. It was no surprise when Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am told a crowd of youth during a peace concert in Jerusalem that Israel has "the most beautiful girls in the world". "The image of Israel is not only men, either armed in uniform, or Jewish orthodox dressed in black...you have beautiful women here," said Shiron. Israel's New York consulate took the initiative to offer the provocative photo shoots of Israel's ex female soldiers to Maxim and Israeli girls applauded the idea. "All the world knows that Israel is the 'holyland,' so maybe they have to know more things about Israel," said Ortal Katz, a dark toned skin girl laying on a Tel Aviv beach. "It's a kind of way to tell tourists to come here, and it's fine. I don't think it's anything wrong about it". The ad campaign has raised hackles among Israeli feminists who see a setback to women's efforts to achieve equality on the basis of achievement rather than appearance. Some accused Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni -- Israel's highest-flying woman politician since Golda Meir -- of encouraging "sex tourism". "You ask me -- what's wrong with showing beautiful young Israeli women as a promotion for tourism? That's not wrong. What's wrong is showing the bodies of young women as an attraction for young men to come to Israel and use however they want," said Etti Livni, former head of the Israeli parliament's panel for the advancement of women. "Using sex through young women as a promotion of tourism or anything else to me its inappropriate, to me its wrong, to me its vulgar and I don't like to see it anymore," she said.

ITN Source | September 24, 2007

Tags:. .panel. .encouraging. .eastern. .conflict. .sunny