In recent weeks it’s been hard to escape the raging debate over the issue of the “ugly Israeli.” It seems that there isn’t anyone who hasn’t recently tut-tutted over one or another video documenting Israelis behaving crassly, violently and loudly. The opening shot was the “chocolate video” that shows passengers on a flight aggressively shouting at a flight attendant, demanding that he sell them chocolate. One of them says, “Sell her chocolate, what is she, an Arab?” The combination of verbal violence, aggression, racism and poor grammar made the video go viral, and it has been shown on TV news broadcasts as testimony to the lack of restraint in Israeli society, which seems to have forgotten how to behave.

In the weeks following, a wave of such incidents has flooded the media, so much so that Israeli daily Globes devoted an article to the phenomenon, with a headline that was itself vulgar: “Watch the Ranking: the 10 Crassest Videos of the Ugly Israeli.” The article included an edited video prepared by the travel website Daka Ha-90, and was shared on the Facebook page “Fighting the Ugly Israeli,” which has already gotten 35,000 likes. The chocolate video has a starring role, but it’s not even ranked first. Alongside it there’s a dangerous ATV ride on the beach, a picnic in a handicapped parking spot, an attack on a hotel worker and other delightful pearls of Israeli behavior. The Passover holiday added some cherries on top in the likes of fights at vacation destinations, destruction of hotel rooms and leaving an awful mess at tourist sites.

It can’t be denied that these are embarrassing and unpleasant sights for the decent Israeli viewer. Interested parties have rushed to find the roots of the problem, each according to his inclination. There were those who claimed that it’s the violent Mizrahi culture (of Middle Eastern origin) that has overcome Israel, and there were Mizrahim who claimed that the uproar over the phenomenon is in itself racist against Mizrahim. Many people claimed that the worsening rudeness and violence are a result of the corrupting occupation, which has accustomed society to behaving aggressively. But this phenomenon is apparently not at all unique to Israel, and it seems it hasn’t really gotten worse in recent years. Something else has changed.

There’s a Wikipedia entry for “Ugly American,” which describes loud, arrogant, demanding, thoughtless and ignorant American behavior. Last July, The Economist published an article titled, “I know your type: tourists’ reputation abroad,” which was meant to show that the British are not unusual in their loud and aggressive behavior, but rather similar to the rest of the world. The Germans are also known for harsh self-criticism of fellow countrymen who act shamefully. Actually, YouTube is full of videos of embarrassing human behavior from all over the world.