Israel is in last place in the Nation Brands Index, which was conducted in July-August 2024 by polling 40,000 people in 20 countries. The index ranks 50 countries and marks six aspects of country brand strength: policy and governance, culture, people and society, exports, migration and investment, and tourism.
The study notes that Generation Z overwhelmingly rejects Israel, giving it the lowest possible scores across all parameters. The report also observes that there is a de facto boycott of Israeli products and that Israeli exports are at high risk, with a significant aversion to products labeled “Made in Israel.”
Israel, the report finds, is associated with global instability and according to ranking sentiments, Israel is perceived as part of the “forces of chaos” rather than those contributing to global stability. Even Israel’s innovative strength does not save it in this index, and it ranks below most developed European countries and even below the UAE.
I wonder what proportion of that is the mass murder of Palestinian civilians and what is 2,000 years of deeply entrenched antipathy to Jews in European culture colouring opinion. You do notice that the suffering of, say, Sudanese or Rohingya people is not given as much attention as that of Palestinians, and while some of this is down to the closeness of Israel to Western governments, it seems implausible that subconscious antisemitic bias doesn’t play some role.