Scarlett Johansson is new poster girl for ‘pro-Israel’ advocacy

Mairav Zonszein By Mairav Zonszein February 3, 2014 | Edit

Scarlett Johansson is apparently the new poster girl for Israel – or more accurately, for those who blindly cheer for it and have no criticism of the myriad human rights violations that come with its occupation. The over-exuberantly American “pro-Israel” advocacy group, The Israel Project, has appropriated the actress in its effort to advocate for Israel and combat any kind of boycott, BDS or not.

As everyone must know by now, Johansson is no longer the global ambassador of Oxfam, choosing instead to stick with her new contract as the face of SodaStream, an Israeli company with a factory in a West Bank settlement. As a result, she is now the darling of the “pro-Israel” movement, and as Noam Sheizaf pointed out, even those who oppose the settlements somehow found themselves aligning with the actress and with SodaStream.

And so The Israel Project, a U.S. non-profit known for its aggressive promotion of Israel, had a twitter campaign going Sunday, asking people to literally “Thank Scarlett” and linking to a page where you can sign a letter that reads: “Dear Scarlett — Thank you for standing up for Israel, for peace, and for the truth. You told the anti-Israel bullies they were wrong. Your courage in the face of anti-Israel hate is inspiring. Thank you!”

Here are two of the tweets with well-orchestrated and invested photoshopped photos. The tattoo is really over the top. Is it even legal to put a fake tattoo on someone and campaign it around?

This is probably one of the most glaring examples of why “pro-Israel” has come to mean “pro-settlements” and “pro-occupation.”

 

 

Related:
5 things I learned from the Scarlett Johansson/SodaStream affair
Scarlett Johansson chooses SodaStream over Oxfam

Mairav Zonszein

Mairav Zonszein is a journalist and editor who writes about Israel-Palestine and its role in U.S. politics. Her publications include The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, The Intercept, VICE News, Foreign Policy and many more.