Israel and the 2017 Maccabiah Games

Israel and the 2017 Maccabiah Games

Figure 1. Israeli patriotic kids with flags in Jerusalem

Trolle. K (2016)

The nation of Israel is currently only 70 years old, yet it hosts the third largest competitive athletic event, behind the Olympics and the Universiade games. Israel is a nation that has faced many great adversities during it’s 70-years of existence as a sovereign nation. However, Jews struggled for many decades before 1948, the year of Israel’s independence, to establish a sovereign Jewish homeland. Zionists, people of the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, convened in 1898 to develop a new way to change the public perception of the Jewish people and the idea of an independent state. Max Nordau was first recorded using the phrase “Muscular Judaism” at the Second Zionist World Congress and was suggesting it as a way to change the perceived stereotype of the worlds’ Jewry. One of the ideas that was used to develop this was the Maccabiah Games.

            Since 1953, the Maccabiah Games have taken place every four years in Israel. The structure was designed in a similar way to the World Cup and the Olympics, with the event being hosted every four years. However, unlike the aforementioned events, the location does not change, and different countries do not host. Israel hosts the event every time and it does so strategically. From the inception of the event, it was intended to be used to brand the nation of Israel and promote its public diplomacy. In order for both to be accomplished, the event had to be held consistently and within the bounds of the nation. In 2017, the games consisted of national, regional, and continental games. These were comprised of both European and Pan-American delegations competing in forty sports with over 10,000 competitors. Although the global perception of Israel is mostly positive, Israel does suffer a lot of negative exposure from organizations such as BDS. BDS is an anti-Israel and anti-Zionist group. BDS stands for boycott, divest, and sanction. These are three actions that they tirelessly promote, at times successfully, to nations and organizations in order to cripple Israel’s image and economy.

            Because of groups like BDS trying to delegitimize Israel’s existence, Israel used the 2017 Maccabiah games as an opportunity to brand their nation and promote public diplomacy. Many different methods were implemented to achieve these goals. Similar to the Olympic games, the Maccabiah games have lengthy ceremonies that honor the host nation, Israel. These ceremonies are directly targeting the participants, the participants families, and anyone that has a stake in the games, such as advertisers. The ceremonies include strategic use of storytelling in order to deliver an historically truthful message about the nations’ culture and to promote a positive image of Israel as a whole.

            The next way that Israel used the 2017 Maccabiah Games to promote national branding and public diplomacy was by using commemoration events throughout the course of the games. One example was in the 2017 game which recognized the four Australian athletes who died during the 1995 Maccabiah Games in a bridge collapse incident. This was done in their memory and also shows Israel’s humanity and compassion. They are a nation that genuinely cares about people and values the sanctity of life. Honoring the athletes who lost their lives during past events, helps reflect Israel’s true nature in contrast to what is usually being shown in the media.

            Another aspect of Israel that is not usually seen in the mainstream media coverage is it’s thriving tourism industry. Hosting an event as large as the Maccabiah games is very effective way to promote the tourism of a country. Having over 10,000 competitors and even more thousands of spectators is a great way to showcase the robust tourism industry of Israel. Some of the largest tourist destinations in Israel include the dead sea, the city of Tel-Aviv, the old city of Jerusalem, Haifa, and many other historically significant sites venerated by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.  By bringing so many people into the country at a single time, creates a huge spike in demand for lodging, food, and other goods which is a nice boost for the local economy. Israel’s infrastructure and technology is very advanced. It is the envy of many countries around the world. Exposing the world to this only helps to promote Israel and its contributions to the world in the fields of technology, medicine, and agriculture. As mentioned before, a group that continually denounces Israel is the Boycott Divestment & Sanction movement. By showing the world how many of the innovations and technologies which are used daily by hundreds of millions around the world, were developed in Israel, helps combat the BDS movement head on.

            In a time where Israel has been barraged with hate and false accusations in the world media and by agenda driven organizations, the nation needed to develop a response. Using one of their most popular events, the Maccabiah games, to help reshape the perception of the nation, has proven to be an extremely wise and successful strategic decision. It allowed Israel to showcase its humanity, its innovative nature, and its cosmopolitan democracy to the world in a time where it is accused of the exact opposite.

By Aaron Sarner, Business Management in the Heavener College of Business at the University of Florida

References

Dubinsky, Y., & Dzikus, L. (2019). Israels strategic and tactical use of the 2017 Maccabiah Games for nation branding and public diplomacy. Journal of Applied Sport Management, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.18666/JASM-2019-V11-I1-9170

Trolle, K. (2016, April 5). Israeli patriotic kids with flags in Jerusalem [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/kristoffer-trolle/26456072735/in/photolist-GiQhH6-nMJRE8-r997w-o71oeF-eV6Ldj-29ym5sm-o2etE2-k59J1-271pnMo-e55aAM-ag9goq-fPNGZg-gSn4-e9P6cY-5PAPF8-Hj5XT-5PE5v1-5PxZ6P-5tKZSF-zTsJhf-2391Gvy-zShCDG-678svr-67cEH7-VLex6V-33gAH1-nKZgxd-TVV8og-6fmyvc-5W8NZK-BL6yJ-81JzLb-aH6kj4-81EsMc-8ArXKT-81JAH3-RLoYk-5QQ8z5-kYKbD-TH69u4-4ZMZpA-5J9PNw-bBziSP-dHx8oP-nGfZZ1-7dTxLd-i7aT9-bE9MS3-HVg5Q-6yX5xL