• BDS = Beautiful, Diverse, Sensational: Israel fights Eurovision boycott campaign using Google ads
    The new PR campaign attempts to counter BDS by putting up ads that use the same acronym but lead to a website exalting Israel
    Reuters - May 10, 2019 5:46 PM
    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-fights-eurovision-boycott-campaign-using-google-ads-1.7220938

    File photo: Demonstrators boycott Eurovision Song Contest and call for Denmark to withdraw from the contest hosted in Israel this year, in Herning, Denmark, February 23, 2019. Reuters

    Israel has launched a PR campaign to counter calls for a boycott of the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest final in Tel Aviv, using Google ads which refer to the boycott but lead to a glossy website extolling Israel.

    The international boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement dismissed the tactic as “crude propaganda”.

    BDS has called on artists, music fans and broadcasters to avoid the 2019 contest, arguing that it amounts to “whitewashing” Israel’s policies towards Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel calls international boycotts discriminatory and anti-Semitic.

    Internet advertisements on Google featuring the words “boycott” and “Eurovision” encourage searchers to click on a link that, in fact, leads them to a pro-Israel website which - in a play on the BDS initials - extols Israel as “Beautiful, Diverse, Sensational”.

    #BDS