Fetishizing the Israeli Army

I really like the rising Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer, and she played a fantastic quarterfinal match against Serena Williams last night, barely losing 8-6 in the third. That said, I'm totally sick of and disgusted by the media's fascination with her relationship to the Israeli army.

EVERY interview, every television soudbyte and newspaper article throws-in her military status like some kind of sexy other life she has -- some kind of alluring special talent. Not only do they totally ignore the fact that *many* of these athletes underwent mandatory military service (INCLUDING the Swiss athletes!), but the way they talk about her time in the Israeli army is nauseating. You can see in this short interview after her match last night a bit of what I mean, although I've seen much worse; I find the part where they ask her if she can shoot a gun pretty disturbing (more the way it's asked than the question itself -- like: "Can you shoot a gun, too? WOW! HOT!"

ESPN had a tv segment about her last night during her Williams match, and not only was there this dramatic introduction about how she's defending the peace and security of Israel (is she?), but they even had clips of her in training in Israel, and interviewed other young army officers. I thought it was pretty revealing when she said, at one point, that she felt like it was an important thing to do because it was an essential part of being Israeli, and that she learned a lot about Israel's history by serving in the military (one wonders what sort of history lessons are being taught there!). I am also left wondering where ESPN got the footage of her in Israel -- I mean did they send a crew there two months ago even though she's not a top player yet, or is it perhaps a media package put together by Israel, itself, or her publicist/agent?

Not only does it bother me the way they create this spicy allure around her service, but it also bothers me that they refuse to problematize it at all. I've never heard a reporter ask her (and it can be done non-confrontationally, of course!) how she felt being an army officer during the recent WAR with Lebanon (from which she was exempt so long as she was traveling to play tennis tournaments and make tens of thousands of dollars a month in endorsement and prize money). Not only that, but no one has talked about how different it is to serve in the Israeli army than (to return to our favourite example) the army of Switzerland. Has anyone asked her how she feels about many young Israeli's refusal to serve in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, or her feelings about the Israeli government prosecuting them as criminals?

It's one thing to find it sexy if the number one tennis player is also an avid skydiver, of if some hot young tennis star is also in medical school back home and the press wants to invoke all kinds of naughty nurse imagery (or heroize the star as a tennis player AND life saver). It's totally different to try to turn Shahar Peer into some kind of Rambo and Laura Croft Tomb Raider lovechild with a Star of David thrown-in.

VC