During a five-day trip to Israel last week, a delegation of 11 beauty pageant winners from the U.S. got a taste of the real Israel — which is much different from the common image of Israel worldwide.

The delegation in Sderot – Photo Courtesy

“If Israel had a ‘cover’ title based on what the media portrays, it would be ‘danger,’ ‘warfare,’ ‘disagreement,’ ‘pain,’ ‘death,’ ‘conflict’ … and yet after just the first day I realized that this couldn’t be any further from the truth,” said Alicia Monique Blanco, Miss Arizona USA 2009.

The trip was organized by The Face of Israel organization, which offers tours of Israel to influential figures from around the globe. During their time in Israel, the beauty queens visited all of the standard tourist destinations — Jerusalem’s Old City, the Dead Sea, Yad Vashem, and so on — but they also got off the beaten path, with visits to rocket-battered Sderot and Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. In addition, they got a closer look at the diversity of Israeli life by meeting with a wide range of Israelis, including IDF soldiers, Knesset members, high-tech executives and women leaders, among others.

The beauty queen delegation visits the Dead Sea

“[Israelis] have created an exquisite, highly innovative country that provides job security, democracy, health insurance, and top quality education to people of all religions and races. Most importantly, they value life over death. … I was mesmerized by the fact that every Israeli we talked to had a genuine smile on their face and a glimmer of courage in their eyes,” said Kristen Dalton, Miss USA 2009.

The delegation visits an IAF base

All of the women in the delegation have large numbers of young social media followers, with whom they shared their positive impressions of Israel during their trip.

“At a time when lies about Israel spread viral and some attempt to discredit the historical connection of the Jewish people to our homeland, these women have shared the truth of Israel — indeed the face of Israel — to hundreds of thousands of their followers in just a few short days,” said Ariel Bulshtein, CEO of The Face of Israel.

View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=20559