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.
Israel wants its international brand to be that of the startup nation, but however hard it promotes the gay-friendly villa-in-the-jungle cliché, all its achievements in the field of innovation are not enough to blot out the occupation.