After the movie “The Tinder Swindler” broke ratings records and is stabilized in the top 10 of Netflix, we can only move in a chair in discomfort, how does it present Israel in the world? The answer is – not good. The ingrained anti-Semitism and stereotypes about greedy Jews with big noses and wigs, who exploit blonde gentiles named Ingrid who pick flowers in the meadow and run an orphanage named after Saint Mango, may sound absurd or reserved for dark regimes, but it is still far from gone.
The grotesque black-and-white cartoons of greedy Jews holding their paws in banks may have disappeared from the print press, but not from the collective consciousness, and the film (unintentionally) perpetuates stereotypes from dark times we would not want to remember. Indeed, anti-Semitism in the world is far from gone. According to a report published in 2021 by the Diaspora, one in four Jews in the United States was the target of an anti-Semitic incident, in Britain a record of decades has been recorded in violent anti-Semitic incidents against the kingdom’s Jews – and France is the pinnacle of virtual anti-Semitism.
The damage that the film “The Tinder Swindler” did to Adam Simon Leviev is dwarfed by the damage he caused to Israel’s image. No title of high-tech power will save us from this shame. Indeed, one of the most embarrassing and least pleasant points to watch throughout the film (at least for me as an Israeli) is the fact that Shimon Hayut, known by his stage name Simon Leviev, received no proper punishment when he returned to Israel: five months in prison for forging protests, not even something attributed to his social media exploits . It unequivocally presents us as a third world country that encourages crime and turns a blind eye to what everyone sees, literally. “It does not make sense that he received five months in prison,” everyone with his eyes in his head said and was right.
Does everyone who receives publicity in Israel become a star here? It seems that if there is one country that justifies the phrase “there is no bad publicity” it is the State of Israel, which has completely lost the understanding of who is admirable and who is not. At the moment, not only Shimon Hayut needs a PR man to restore his image, but the entire country.
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This whole story is so outrageous and disturbing that the only consolation I could find is our winner of the X Factor final, Michael Ben David who was chosen to represent us at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest with the song iM and thus officially became Israel’s representative at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest on May 14 in Italy. The excitement around him on social media is so great that it completely fills with a sense of pride, the only pride we needed. An incredible amount of talent and charisma combined with modesty and humility and all this is made of blue and white. exciting.
Only now has a picture been published of Michael riding a bus, when asked why he is still riding a bus I will reply: “I won the X Factor for the Eurovision and not the lottery, I rode and I will continue to ride the bus.” Michael Ben-David seems to be the antithesis of the Tinder crook, the beautiful Israeli. It is certainly understandable why the mayors of Ashkelon, Ramat Gan and Petah Tikva fought over him, Michael is a prodigy, one of his generation, unequivocally a star of international stature, and will hopefully give a contrast to how we are seen in the world. God knows we need it.