Israel tries to bolster its image via Oscars "swag bag"

Top Academy Award nominees will have a politically charged gift in their swag bag this year - a luxury trip to Israel paid for in part by a government that hopes such celebrity junkets will offset news coverage of the country's troubles. The $55,000 trips are on offer to actors and directors vying for Oscars in the Feb. 28 ceremony, according to Israel's tourism ministry. "They will experience the country first-hand and not through the media." Among the recipients of the 10-day VIP trip-for-two will be actors Sylvester Stallone, who signed a pro-Israel petition during the 2014 Gaza war, and Leonardo diCaprio, who sent Israeli paparazzi into a frenzy in 2010 while visiting the country's top model, Bar Refaeli, his girlfriend at the time.