I hate to bring this to you, but although there are Orthodox Jewish Israelis who dress modestly, it is still easier for an average white Brit to relate to a bikini-wearing Israeli, than to a more modestly dressed Muslim, Arab, or Palestinian woman.
The notion of a Judeo-Christian narrative which has taken root in recent times has served white European Jews well in when building homes on lands stolen from Muslim and Christian Palestinian Arabs. This notion is now taking a more ‘secular’ guise, as it extends to the way people look and dress. If you’re more ‘white’ and reveal more flesh, then you’re in. If you differ from that, you’re more likely to be out.
A losing battle for the many people like us, whether we wear bikinis, one-piece suits, western clothes, hijabs or niqabs.
You must hand it to Israel: it has succeeded in pink-washing, tourism-washing and bikini-washing.
People like us, no matter how ‘westernised’, will never be fully accepted in the West.
I can now readily see why so many Muslim women, even non-practicing ones, took to the hijab after 9/11.