Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Conflict Condoms Turn Up the Heat

Israel advocates don’t just want you to visit. They want you to come.

Over the past decade, pro-Israel campaigns have internationally turned up the heat, by printing pro-Israel messages on widely distributed…condoms.

The unambiguous mix of sex and sightseeing first began in 2003, at the behest of the University of California — San Diego’s Inside Israel Initiative. The campaign, funded by the campus Hillel, aimed to promote Israel’s unique gender equality record through the dissemination of condoms branded with the slogan “Israel: its still safe to come.” T-shirts with condoms waving Israeli flags were featured as well.

Since their conception in 2003, the propaganda prophylactics have popped up on college campuses around the globe — each with their own creative twist.

Condoms handed out by the Australian Union of Jewish Students entreated others to “Never Forget Your First Time” and “Stand Tall and Firm With Israel”. Student groups at The University of Pittsburgh printed rubbers declaring “Israel: Its all about protection.” Canada’s University of Calgary Hillel promoted an event that featured “Size Doesn’t Matter” condoms alongside falafel and pita.

Even the Israel Tourist Ministry has jumped on the trend, by manufacturing a “Come and Visit Tel Aviv” condom, which was disseminated at a 2009 tourist gala in London. Unfortunately, some well-intentioned husbands didn’t realize what it exactly was that they were bringing home in their packaged goodie bags.

“Some thought they were beauty supplies and brought them home to their wives. They were appalled when they opened the package,” said an official at the London event.

Most recently, the condoms were picked up by buzzfeed, a popular content aggregation website, with the caption ‘Israel Tourism Done Right’.

And while we all know the old adage that sex sells (as the CFJA’s Size Doesn’t Matter campaign makes explicit) the Shmooze can’t quite get a handle on how we feel about these dang Israeli conflict condoms.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.