Israeli Arms Industry Does Bollywood

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, an Israeli government-owned arms company, has produced a Bollywood-esque video that aims to strengthen Israeli-Indo defense ties. The clip, which was recently showcased at Aero India expo in Bangalore, features a man (Israel) who promises to defend and shield a woman (India) asking for protection and security. Dancing on a stage flanked by flower draped missiles the actors jointly sing: “”Together, forever, I will hold you in my heart. Together, forever, we will never be apart.”

According to Assy Josephy, the Director of Exhibitions for Rafael, the idea of the video came about as a result of Israel’s familiarity with Indian culture. “In Israel we have Jewish people from India,” explains Josephy, “so we know about Bollywood and the song and dance numbers. Israelis are generally aware of Indian culture. This video is to help build familiarity between India and Israel and Rafael.”

Josephy further explains that making a locally flavored defense videos is not unusual for his company. “In Brazil we did a video of football. Football is very big there. In Paris the video had a theme that included Napoleon and the Renaissance. In Poland our video had themes of Chopin and Copernicus. In England it was about Shakespeare.”

The blogo-sphere has not been so kind to Rafael’s culturally-sensitive promotional video. The security-centered Danger Room has claimed that “every element of the promotional film is just plain wrong.” Over at the Dew Line, Stephen Trimbles calls it a “catastrophic collision of Bollywood and the arms industry.” And at MenXP.com, India’s largest men’s lifestyle portal, the films lyrics are lambasted as representing “everything that is wrong with arms and defense equipment marketing campaigns.”