Marketing Israel to Itself

At this moment in time, Israel sits between that casual non affected place we all fell in love with in the seventies and a slick stylised future of the new century - hovering somewhere between the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Kylie Mons 'locomotive'. Last weeks Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration was a case in point. Podiums designed to look like large blue underpants , a pompous staged military presence, endless formations of predictable Israeli symbols visible only to the camera's eye, and masses of dancers all doing the same thing over and over again to the backdrop of (I concede) some relatively impressive entertainment technology.

I imagine some big Israeli names were called in to produce the event but still it felt staged and flat. Of course in the Tel-Aviv world of design Israel is well and truly up there with the best, as it is in the world of the arts, music and dance, but the rest of the country, is still very much stuck in flared jeans and gaudy fonts.

During the week I attended a small Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration where Children from all the kindergardens in the town gather at the local military courtyard to sing national songs, wave Israeli flags and be indoctrinated through a somewhat dated socialist youth project. Scattered parents hovered close to their children as they all swore emotional allegiance to the State through song and dance. Of course there isn't a dry eye when little Jewish children sing Hatikvah but it's the military and nationalistic overtone that I found somewhat dated. If this country wants to market itself to the next generation, it's going to have to find a better strategy.

I understand why Israeli children need to be indoctrinated, they will all give at least two years of their life to the country in service and it's important that they have a strong sense of National Pride to do so. Still as I watched little mouths yawning away to no less than six official speeches, I couldn't help but feel that these ceremonies are more about the adults reaffirming their allegiance to the state than the children who would be just as easily bought off with a Magen-David shaped chocolate on a stick and a bag of Bambas.

Last week I went with my daughter to the Misrad Haklita, the Absorbtion Centre in Hadera to sign some forms. On the way up to the office, we went in to what looked like a regular pharmacy, though the name of one of the National Health Funds was clearly signed. My daughter needed to buy a packet of tissues. When we finally get to the counter, the woman serving us asked if we were members of Macabbi. What, to buy a tissue? I ask back, astounded. Yes, she replied, you can only buy tissues here if you are a member of Macabbi. My daughter and I burst out laughing; the woman serving us doesn't get the joke.

When we got upstairs I shared my tissue story with the woman at the misrad - who has been nothing short of a Godsend to us. She told us that during Chol Hamoed, across the state, the misrad employ staff to sit in the office all day to answer the phone, even though the office is officially closed. Their sole purpose, for that week is to tell whoever calls that the office is closed. She shrugged her shoulders and explained in a word - "Inertia".

'Inertia' indeed – the country that markets itself on its intelligence is still running on the generators of a dated socialism, reflecting the cumbersome sluggish style of its post hippy era. We will never return to the Zionistic free-style of long days in the Sinai but the conservative style of the eighties and nineties has been replaced by diversification and vitality that must be reflected in all things Israeli not just its hi-tech industry.