Zionist Fed needs to think again
IT’S NEARLY May and the Yom Atzmaut party invitations are starting to swing round. No matter your age group, your Tube station and — dare I say it — your stance on the Green Line campaign, the choice is unlimited for where you can go on May 5. That is, of course, unless you’re into wholesale gender equality. wish I could say I was more surprised when the original advert for the Zionist Federation’s Blue and White Party first hit my Facebook news feed. Though fairly typical in its choice of Zionist hero (this time, the great Theodor Herzl) and standard El Al aeroplane, right in the middle of the advert was a scantily-clad woman in a sexedup, Halloween version of an IDF uniform. The message was clear: Israeli women are for sex, not for celebrating.
Considering the number of female role models in Israel’s illustrious history, it’s fair to say that this is more than a little disappointing. There is something highly problematic about the fact that in 2014, the best representation of an Israeli woman the ZF can come up with is essentially a glamour model. Not Hannah Senesh, not Orly Castel-Bloom, not even a Natalie Portman. And not, might I add, an actual female IDF soldier. And while there are thousands of young Israelis (of both genders and all faiths) serving right this minute, here we are imagining that the Holy Land is just a place of Milfs and honey.
But the problems exposed in the ZF advert go even further. Having received multiple complaints on social media, the advert was edited and re-released, with a photo of an ambulance in place of the token female. It remains as hyper-masculine as before, and still there is no effort made to reach out to the young women in our community. It seems to me that if we won’t conform to male expectations, then maybe we just aren’t wanted. Yet strangely, when I think of Golda Meir, my first thoughts aren’t about how fit she looked in her trademark beads.
One of the shortcomings of our community is a tendency to shrink back from promoting a full and rounded picture of Israel to our young people. While it’s incredibly important to be engaged with the cultural symbolisms and meaning of Israel, we simply aren’t keeping up with the reality of the homeland. We’re at risk of adopting a simplistic image of what we want our peers to see in Israel, but the longer we try to stay in this bubble, the more distant we’ll become from Israeli society itself.
It’s so much more than sun, sex and shwarma. We have to educate our youth that Israel is a complex country of immense political variety. In the past few months, we’ve seen the breakdown of the peace process and the Foreign Ministry strike, both having worldwide effect. There’s been a surge in improving accessibility for disabled citizens in Jerusalem’s restaurants and shops. The Welfare Ministry has even announced it is donating NIS 7.5 million to charities to provide food aid for Passover. Where is the recognition of all these developments in our Yom Atzmaut leaflets?
We’ve got an opportunity to turn it all around. Youth movements, synagogues and communal organisations all have the power and resources to reignite our passion for learning and our hunt for truth. It only takes one person to put up their hand and start asking the right questions. If there’s anything I’ve learned from my time at UJS and from the Rethink2014 campaign, it’s that even if I don’t find the answers, there’s never a good time to stop asking questions.
If we can only take one thing from Yom Atzmaut this year, it’s that I hope it comes back in 2015 with a celebration of strong women at its forefront. Sure, Israel does have a few good beaches — and you never know who you might meet at these events. But there is so much more to Israel than being a hummus-fuelled holiday destination. There’s even more to its women than a fake, barely visible IDF costume. Hannah Brady is founder and campaign manager of Rethink2014 and national council member of the Union of Jewish Students