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Shift Your Image of Tel Aviv (Part 2): Virtual Peace, Like London or Paris or Rio

The words peace and Tel Aviv do not fit in the same sentence too well. You will not find them in the daily BBC report on Israel. Israeli political corruption has taken the place of negotiation with Arabs, so politicians do not speak of peace much. Hate speech from Nasralla or Ahmadinejad will certainly not have Tel Aviv and peach in the same sentence. But if you think a little more creatively than a global news media, London, Madrid, New York and Paris have experienced more violent events the last five years than Tel Aviv. From a personal perspective, Tel Aviv is safer than many western cities. There is more security here than just about anywhere (OK Baghdad excluded.) Private security guards are everywhere. You can not enter a mall, bank, train station or school without opening your bag or purse and passing a metal detector. Palestinians or for that matter any Arab looking male under the age of 50 no longer work or shop anywhere in central Israel. Cars with Palestinian license plates are as rare as a Ferrari anywhere in Israel. I call it virtual peace. This is like virtual security in war torn countries where sections of cities are walled off and private security forces protect anyone that values his life. If you look at Tel Aviv and all of central Israel, essentially we have the same situation. Just that our "wall" is a fence around the country. Here we are safe, we don't worry and we play and enjoy life.

If its a case of personal security instead of real peace how do we change people's perception? From a personal viewpoint what is virtual peace? Is it a safe place to live? and visit? Is it defined by a government policy list? [US State Department Travel Warning] Is it a feeling you formulate from personal knowledge or experience? (a real visit) Does it come from friend's recommendation? Probably all of these are elements which make up your perception of a good place to go. So why do you perceive Tel Aviv different than Mexico City or Rio de Janeiro? (where sections of town are affluent and safe and others are dangerous) It still comes down to image. Which can be largely influenced by mainstream media for most people. After all, where do people get their information? If you don't know what Tel Aviv looks like, CNN is the next best thing. Even if it not exactly a balanced representation of real life. Rio is known for it's beaches and carnival. Mexico city for it's Mayan calendar and roving mariachi bands. Tel Aviv should be known for it's stylish dress and calm Mediterranean lifestyle. For now, it seems like Tel Aviv does not have an image at all. There was a large duck balloon on top of city hall for a while. There is the "white city" designation from UNESCO as a world heritage site, put that against dancing all night next to a bikini clad troupe in Rio. But maybe the Bauhaus architecture and the beaches along small restaurants and the quiet cafes along tree lined boulevards are a start. Now we need the PR and the advertising all around the world and the "re-branding" experts from Madison Avenue. Instead, how about a few blog articles and some flexible and imaginative readers spreading the word. I wish, but this blog writer has not bought the whole blog revolution to that extent. Tel Aviv will need the bikinis or the Eiffel tower or even the changing of the guard and a big collection of diamonds or the city itself like New York. Hey here is an idea, New York is the big apple, Tel Aviv could be the big melon, or the ripe tomato, or the crunchy cucumber. If you get a better idea for a character or a tag line for Tel Aviv, let me know. In the mean time, I got to catch the next BBC report on Gaza, that's what we have here, sad kids in rubble because a small band of terrorists are holding a skinny lonely Israeli soldier for four years in some hole under ground. But than again, there is a good game at the bar down the street and a few friendly faces at Hillel cafe at Ibn Gvirol and Arlozorov. If this makes sense to you, leave a comment or just send the link to a friend,   T H A N K S !

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