Another celebrity visit last week boosts Israel’s image

When pop icon Jennifer Lopez uploaded to Instagram images of herself on a camel in Jerusalem and then standing in the Mediterranean Sea on Tel Aviv’s coast, her 100 million followers instantly had a positive image of the Holy Land — and JLo handed a slap in the face to BDS.

In recent years, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement has succeeded in pressuring many top artists from performing in Israel. Local producers have been struggling to get top international artists to schedule concerts in Israel due to the BDS threats. 

But as we reported last week, rock and roller Jon Bon Jovi delighted a crowd of 45,000 Israelis last month while Lopez wowed a crowd of 50,000 last week. Bon Jovi and Lopez were the only big name performers this year, but their presence certainly did help.

As Ynet reported, “A thousand ambassadors would not have been able to improve Israel’s image in the eyes of the world the way Jennifer Lopez, who has over 100 million followers on social media, has done during her five day visit to the Holy Land as part of her concert tour.”

Lopez came to Israel with her twins and her celebrity fiancé Alex Rodrigez, Yankees baseball legend. She and her family visited Jerusalem, the Western Wall and took selfies with a camel. She also ate at a popular Jerusalem restaurant, Adom, and took a dip in the Mediterranean — all of which was covered by the media and posted on social media. 

Her trip is being considered one of the most successful visits by an international artist to Israel ever, which is a nice jab at BDS. Lopez resisted the BDS pressure and instead made a vacation out of her stay here. A-Rod also shared photos from the trip with his Instagram followers and called the experience “unforgettable.”