In the lead-up to Israel's hosting of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest a video advertisement circulated on social media that said a great deal about how Israel currently wants to be seen by the international and, crucially, European, community. Produced by Visit Israel, the video begins with a reminder of Israel's 2018 Eurovision win as a male and female presenter in evening dress announce ‘twelve points’ to Tel Aviv and ‘douze points’ to Jerusalem. It then shifts abruptly to a beach location as an upbeat R&B track fades in and the two presenters are surprised, but apparently pleased, to find themselves in swimwear from the waist down. A troupe of smiling, youthful (and thin, able-bodied and almost entirely white) Israelis dance, sing and beckon to us on the sandy Tel Aviv beach under a cloudless sky, next to – and in the case of the women, often in – Tel Aviv's crystal-clear sea, fountains and outdoor pools. The camera rushes between the dancers and the buildings of Tel Aviv’s famous white shoreline, gleaming in the Mediterranean sunlight. Tel Aviv’s luxury Dan Hotel, with its famous rainbow facade, provides the centrepoint of the beachfront vista and a colour scheme for the clip, echoed in the dancers’ bright costumes and the font in the final slide, which urges us to ‘book your trip now’. While the video names Israel as a country of two capitals, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the latter appears only briefly. We are left in no doubt that the true star here is Tel Aviv and its Mediterranean coast.

With its sun, sea, sand and conspicuous rainbows, the advert is an example of the attempted reorientation of Israel's image undertaken by the Israeli government since 2006 as part of the ‘Brand Israel’ campaign, discussed in this book's introduction.