Israeli ministry recruits queers and "diverse" flight attendants as pitchmen

Israel has stepped up its campaign to innoculate American liberals against critiques of its apartheid laws. The effort centers on queers and other minorities (just as New York's Jewish Community Relations Council specifically recruits NY City Councilmembers and other leaders from communities of color for its carefully-scripted junkets to Israel.)

Although the campaign is reportedly sending "ambassadors" to in response to invitations to speak, it looks like the ambassadors are being packaged as a tool for Israel lobby groups in places where anti-apartheid groups are having an impact. The flight attendants' first stop: Rutgers University.

In new pinkwashing recruitment campaign, Israel offers free travel for propaganda services
(Electronic Intifada)

"The story of the floundering “Brand Israel” advertising campaign continues. An Israeli government ministry... [is] asking for volunteer “candidates eligible to conduct public diplomacy activities abroad”. The volunteers “will not be eligible for any remuneration” apart from “costs of travel, daily expenses and insurance”...The ministry’s advert says it is looking particularly for “minority members” and “representatives of the gay community” to argue Israel’s case abroad."

In their off hours, El Al flight crews are now ‘ambassadors’
(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

"...an initiative [puts] El Al crews to use during their U.S. layover time to create a positive image of Israel in the United States. The idea is to counteract the negative images of Israel in the news with the personal stories and faces of El Al pilots and flight attendants... [T]he El Al delegation was unusually diverse: two gay men, a Druze Israeli, a woman who sidelines as an aerobics instructor and a pilot who also is a yoga teacher. The six also happened to be particularly attractive... The Monday talk largely kept clear of the Israeli-Arab conflict..."