Scantily-Clad Women Used to Promote Israel

When this idea first came up at the Israeli consulate in New York, somebody should have had enough common sense to put it in the "Just Asking for Trouble" file.

In an effort to boost Israel's image with 18-to-35-year-old men in the United States (or as the site Truthdig put it, "Israel reaches out to horny U.S. men"), the Israeli Foreign Ministry consulate in New York encouraged the laddie's magazine Maxim to create a feature called "Women of the Israeli Defense Forces" for its July issue. The pictorial features four former Israeli women soldiers posing in Tel Aviv while wearing -- not much.

The magazine, which The Guardian reports was first approached with the idea by the consulate, said it's "pleased with the results of our work together."

Women in the Israeli Knesset aren't so pleased.

Zahava Gal On, the leader of the Meretz party, said it was inappropriate for western countries to market themselves using half-naked women. "It is unfortunate that the New York consulate thinks that Israel's relevance will be expressed by the use of naked women who are treated as an object, and not as women of substance who exude achievement and success," she said.

The New York Post featured a picture of one of the young women on its front page with the headline "Piece in the Middle East." The Jerusalem Post notes that if Israel's beaches fill up this summer with "an unusually high number of leering, beer-guzzling young American men," people will know who to blame.

In fact, if all the consulate wanted to do was promote Israel to testosterone-riddled U.S. males, they might have achieved the same result by dressing four beer cans in IDF uniforms.

9:34 AM ET | 06-21-2007 | permalink