Hagar Shezaf : Opinion In Israel, Conan O'Brien Became a Patsy for Netanyahu's Propaganda
In Israel, Conan O'Brien Became a Patsy for Netanyahu's Propaganda
They
say the best publicity you get for free, and Israel sure got a ton of
free publicity over the past week from none other than Conan O’Brien,
who has been filming a "Conan in Israel" special for his show.
Using
Facebook Live, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube, O’Brien has broadcast
his trip non-stop. And what he's seen hasn't strayed one inch from
precisely the kind of image Netanyahu and his government would want the
world to see. O’Brien has amplified Israel's positive propaganda
apparatus more efficiently than the state itself could have dreamt
someone of his stature would ever do.
Floating in the #DeadSea and enjoying Garfield in Hebrew. #ConanIsrael #Israel pic.twitter.com/qW1c32sBRl— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) August 30, 2017
Every
country engages with public diplomacy, seeking to promote its best face
to the world. One could argue Israel's PR efforts are no different, but
they're also predicated on an attempt to shift global public attention
away from one critical issue that defies PR laundering: the occupation.
Israeli public diplomacy, or hasbara,
often conveys two key messages about Israel to the world. First: Israel
is a key player against terrorism, the Iron Dome of the Western world.
Secondly, Israel is a fun, western, liberal state in the middle of the
wilderness of the Middle East. In other words, it is a small, attractive
country with unfortunate and unfair PR, but the cocktails are great and
the women a
Both elements are very much present in O’Brien’s social media tour of Israel: he sampled Tel Aviv’s "craziest drink", visited the offices of the start-up nation’s most recent big success, the navigation app Waze,
talked about Israel’s beautiful women and buff men and even did a
50-minute long Facebook live broadcast from an IDF training session with
an all-female unit.
Most
of his visit went by without the barest acknowledgement of the
political reality here. His two main encounters (broadcasted on Facebook
live) with Palestinians were stereotypical Orientalist encounters, both
in marketplaces: in Jerusalem, he was "taught how to haggle" by the
merchants; in the second, in Bethlehem, was sold a "fake hookah" and was
treated to tea.
Visited an Arab Market and became an expert at haggling. If "haggling" means "paying full retail and then crying." #ConanIsrael #Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/5X7av7pHPh— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) August 29, 2017
Watching O’Brien walking through the streets
of Jerusalem’s Old City, scene of a massive Palestinian protest
movement only a month ago but left unmentioned, was perplexing. The most
politically charged location in the country has suddenly become -
through O’Brien’s gaze - just like any other "Arab market" (in his own words), in Marrakech or in Disney’s imaginary Agrabah.
He also visited the Aida refugee camp, from where he shared a photo alongside
with kids who were "not impressed with his showbiz stories." Their lack
of enthusiasm was an eloquent pushback to O'Brien's attempt to turn
them into a sycophantic audience and his utter lack of commentary about
their lives as refugees.
Hanging with some Palestinian children in the West Bank Aida Refugee Camp. They are not impressed with my showbiz stories. #Palestine pic.twitter.com/QKTkVp9KD5— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) August 29, 2017
Social
media platforms are a key battleground for competing sides to frame
Israel’s reputation. Israeli politicians and those employed in many and
various public diplomacy efforts urge Israelis and their supporters to
take on social media to challenge pro-Palestinian narratives online, and
to tell the world about what a beautiful place Israel is.
The Israeli government recently supported and spearheaded an app called ACT.IL
where users are assigned daily tasks on social media such as reporting
on so-called 'anti-Israel' Facebook posts or sharing and retweeting
positive news about Israel.
One of the app’s team members told Ynet: "We
asked the users to send us videos of all sorts of sports they've done
in Israel. We edited it together into a spectacular video and spread it
on Facebook with the help of the app's users."
O’Brien’s
videos did just the same, not stepping an inch from what you would
expect from a full-fledged hasbara campaign. "I think there might be a
lot of people in the world who would think that’s a very tense place and
it’s not the impression that you get," O’Brien told Israeli news
anchorwoman Yonit Levi during an interview last We
O’Brien obligingly sat down with Prime Minister Netanyahu
and joked around with him about the Prime Minister’s dog, Kaia. This
meeting followed an Instagram video Netanyahu shared where he welcomed O'Brien.
Netanyahu's
celebration of O’Brien’s visit not only contributes to his social media
image as a cool, worldly guy (the same politician who copycats Trump
terms like "fake news" and calls African refugees and asylum seekers "infiltrators"),
but serves as proof of Netanyahu’s claim that Israel is far from being
isolated and that his policies have done no damage to Israel’s image in
the eyes of the world. I mean, how can you say that after you have
someone as famous as O’Brien coming here?
"One
thing I can tell you, you think you in Israel you got problems? It’s
every day in the United States," O’Brien said in the very same Channel 2
interview.
Conan has declared his comedy non-political
in the past, though it seems that since Trump’s election his comedy has
leaned at times towards the political – like the sketch where 'Trump' narrated a documentary about the civil war or when he went down to Mexico in March and asked Mexicans to "chip in" for Trump's wall plan.
Filming on the Syrian border where you can hear gunfire between rebels and regime forces. pic.twitter.com/s32IlYZwkS— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) August 31, 2017
That's
why it's even more surprising that as a politically aware American,
O’Brien could tour Israel, even paying a short but dutiful visit to the
West Bank - and completely ignore the political situation. This sort of
wilful ignorance may have been acceptable before the Trump era, but
today it’s even harder to excuse this constant attempt to not talk about
politics abroad when you do talk politics at home.
O'Brien's
attempt to shut his own eyes, not see the checkpoints he crossed on the
way to Bethlehem for what they are, the Old City for its volatility or
Netanyahu for his dire role in local politics - are ever more apparent
when you compare it to his critical approach towards Trump.
Celebrities
coming to Israel aren’t a new thing, obviously, and they always stir a
heated online debate. Most recently, Radiohead’s performance was hailed
as an anti-BDS victory after Roger Waters of Pink Floyd called on the band
not to perform in Israel because of the occupation, to which Thom Yorke
replied saying they chose to come to Israel in order to send a message
of peace.
Smoking #hookah and making friends in the West Bank. #Bethlehem #Palestine pic.twitter.com/rSbUoOSpPU— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) August 29, 2017
O’Brien
has absolved himself from the debate altogether, choosing to completely
ignore politics. Some may say that this is O’Brien’s way to remain
neutral, even pointing to the fact that he visited Bethlehem (even
tagging a photo or two #Palestine) as a way of acknowledging Palestine
and representing Palestinians.
But
we live in times where neutrality actually means choosing a side;
painting Israel as just another fun tourist spot, and normalizing what
isn’t normal, is an active contribution to the narrative of Israel's
right-wing government.
O’Brien’s
trip has done nothing but strengthen Israel’s “villa in the jungle"
self-image. And that image is crucial to Netanyahu because it
facilitates justifying all of its policies and actions – and not least,
to an American audience.
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