The Conflict over Branding Israel in the United States: Case study of the “BDS Movement” and the Inter Disciplinary Center of Herzliya

Branding nations by capitalist means of marketing is a new phenomenon and a public policy strategy, aimed to sell new images of cities, countries and regions to the world. Israel has been ranked quite negatively in the Roper Nation Brands Index in the several years because of wars against the Palestinian and Lebanese people. Anti-Israel campaigns around the world have also contributed to this negative image. There is a conflict on branding Israel in the world. This paper takes “country image theory” to show how the conflict on making image of Israel is taking shape. Country image is “the sum of people’s beliefs, ideas and impressions about a certain country” (Kotler, 1993, p.141). The article concludes that nation branding which is relatively a new and successful method in marketing nations has been challenging for Israel. Certain concepts are promoted through pro (IDC Herzliya) and anti-Israel (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement) branding process which are extracted by qualitative content analysis. The article concludes that Israel branding is a continual process conducted by the new communication tools, especially social networks and reflection of economics in meaning. The pro-Israel branding has not been successful to represent itself separate from news that comes out of Israel and despite touristic, scientific and cultural attractions, Israel's branding faces serious challenges especially during the times of conflict.