The Israeli government has stepped in it again. The Ministry of Absorption
released a campaign in the US aimed at Israelis living abroad, encouraging them to return to Israel before they become too assimilated. It was initiated in I think five places where there are large contingents of Israeli expats, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Palo Alto. The campaign apparently consists of billboards with phrases like "Before 'motek' becomes 'honey'" and "Before 'aba' becomes 'daddy'", warning of the dangers of...speaking English, I guess.
The billboards are accompanied by videos which are so melodramatic and heavy-handed (Israelis are not known to be subtle) as to be comical. The tagline is: "They'll always be Israeli. Their children won't. Help them return to Israel", complete with sad piano music and the requisite sense of fear and foreboding that Israelis are so well-trained to respond to.
Aside from portraying Israelis themselves as lazy (if your kid doesn't know what Hanukkah is, it's no one's fault but your own)
*, oblivious (I hope your kid knows the word for "fire" in Hebrew, Dad), and socially inept (hey, Dafna: stop creepily staring at the graphic of a candle and explain to your boyfriend what Yom Hazikaron is; he's American, not retarded), it insinuates that Americans and American culture are incompatible not only with being Israeli but with being truly Jewish. You can imagine
how American Jews feel about that...
"The idea, communicated in these ads, that America is no place for a proper Jew, and that a Jew who is concerned about the Jewish future should live in Israel, is archaic, and also chutzpadik (if you don't mind me resorting to the vernacular). The message is: Dear American Jews, thank you for lobbying for American defense aid (and what a great show you put on at the AIPAC convention every year!) but, please, stay away from our sons and daughters."
The reaction of diaspora Jews is a little more complex than that, depending on if you're reading the more
conservative Ynet or the more
liberal Haaretz talkbacks sections. I'm not going to wade into that issue, because a) I'm not Jewish, and b) given the tone of this blog entry already, do I really need to? What I think is interesting is what this says about Israel and, more importantly, Israelis.