Here’s an article by Daniella Peled in Haaretz saying that Israel has been rebranded as the occupation nation, and BDS is gaining traction. By the way,

Forget ‘Startup Nation,’ Israel’s brand identity is occupation Israel’s efforts to market itself as a gay-friendly, villa-in-the-jungle, startup nation cannot blot out the occupation, BDS or the crushing symbolic force of the EU guidelines.

Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions, BDS, is already working. Not to devastate Israel’s economy – that’s still a remote prospect – but to do something just as effective: Destroy its global standing…

There’s a reason why the Israeli government is so exercised about BDS: It works. Whether you agree with its philosophy or not or not, or find its proponents objectionable – like all activist movements, it attracts an extremist political fringe – BDS is non-violent and legal, a classic example of civil society action to which there is no possible military response.

But the Israeli establishment, doggedly militaristic, doesn’t understand the use of soft power, and it’s going to take much more than an Israeli Mr Gay International winner to change that.