|
|
May 20, 2005/Iyar 11 5765, Volume 57, No. 38
Israel selects 'Ambassador'
RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The winner of Israel's most popular reality TV show jokes that when he's in Israel, he feels like Elvis.
"People see me as some kind of national hero," says Eytan Schwartz, 30, who won the reality show "The Ambassador" in February. The show, which drew top ratings this winter, tapped into the zeitgeist of a country desperate to polish its portrayal in the media, which many Israelis think unjustly depict them as oppressors.
The prize was the chance to burnish Israel's image from New York City through the job he won with philanthropist Joey Low.
Low funds Israel at Heart, which coordinates groups of young Israelis who tour college campuses around the world, telling their life stories.
Schwartz's task is to expand the list of places where the Israelis speak and to come up with other activities for them. He's also speaking to as many people as possible, in lectures to Jewish and non-Jewish groups and through media appearances.
His goal: to show his audience the beauty and bounty of Israel, to give them a chance to understand that there is much more to Israel than the Palestinian conflict.
"There's so much more to our country than" the intifada, says Schwartz, who would rather people imagine the lively culture of his adopted hometown, Tel Aviv.
Schwartz lived on Manhattan's Upper East Side before making aliyah with his family when he was 7. He returned to New York to earn an undergraduate degree in anthropology from Columbia University.
At that time, rallies in favor of ending the Chinese occupation of Tibet were in vogue on campus, though many students were clueless about the details, Schwartz says.
He draws an analogy to campus life today, where "Israel has become China," he says.
But the Palestinians have set the agenda on college campuses, where Israel is unfairly judged to be the enemy, he says.
"Don't be against Israel because it's hip," he says. "It's a fashion for you," he says of many American students. "It's my life."
Schwartz's debut comes as Israel's Foreign Ministry reworks its public relations effort.
"For 57 years we, the Israelis, excelled, concentrated, focused on the management of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and its ramifications vis-Ö-vis Israel's image all over the world, but in particular in the United States," says Ido Aharoni, Israel's consul for media and public affairs in New York. "While we did that, we neglected the other dimension of what Israel represents, the other facets of life in Israel."
Market research consultants found that when Israel highlights news that is not related to the conflict with the Palestinians, it can create emotional resonance with the public.
That's also the formula used by Israel at Heart. By introducing young Israelis to students on campuses all over the world, the group aims to foster a human understanding about Israelis that transcends the Palestinian conflict.
Aharoni praises the group and "The Ambassador" for showcasing Israel's diversity and the patriotism of its young citizens.
He calls Schwartz "a positive and welcome addition" to the landscape of public, private and communal efforts at hasbarah, a Hebrew term for public relations.
But "at the end of the day," he notes, "the people who the media looks to are Israel's officials."
Aharoni also says "The Ambassador" operated on a false assumption because it suggested that Israel is disliked in America.
"Israel's image in America is very strong," and "the level of political support for Israel in America is unprecedented," he says.
Furthermore, working to promote Israel's image is not glamorous, as the show suggests, but hard work, says Aharoni.
Schwartz appears ready to roll up his shirtsleeves.
"Every Israeli is an expert on hasbarah," Schwartz says. He decided to try out for "The Ambassador," he says, because of a desire for "patriotism, adventure and putting myself to the test."
Like other Israelis, Schwartz says, he's good at complaining about how the world mistreats his country. Now, he'll have the chance to do something about it.
|
|
