The 'Carla Effect' Comes to Israel

JERUSALEM, Israel, June 23, 2008— -- Carla Bruni, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's supermodel wife, was the star of this morning's edition of Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. Bruni's photogenic, smiling face is front and center.

"Stealing the show," the caption underneath the photo reads.

Her husband and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are in the background of both the picture and the interest on Israel's streets.

Arriving Sunday for a three-day visit in Israel, the French president affirmed his country's positive relations with Israel, as his wife affirmed her positive relations with the media. Termed as the "Carla Effect" in Paris, Bruni brings her husband more attention when the two travel on diplomatic visits.

"It's just entertainment," David Peretz, a 20-year-old from Jerusalem, said of the presidential couple's visit. "It's fun for the media."

Sarkozy needs to draw the media focus back to himself as president, Peretz said. "She came here as his wife, but she happens to be very pretty," he said. "The media should be focused on Sarkozy. He has a lot of good things to say but, instead, everyone in Israel is talking about her."

Herb Keinon, diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, said that the coverage is completely out of proportion. "There was an opening to a radio segment that announced, 'Carla Bruni is coming with her husband,'" Keinon told ABC News.

"When he came off the plane yesterday, Israeli reporters were talking not about Sarkozy and his legacy but about how Carla looked and what she was wearing," he said.

Sarkozy and Bruni were scheduled to tour the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi by helicopter with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday. They cancelled the tour, along with Bruni's scheduled float in the Dead Sea.

"All of Israel's paparazzi are already waiting for the president and his wife on the banks of the Dead Sea," an official at Sarkozy's office said, according to Reuters.

Correspondent Keinon called that no surprise, noting that Israel doesn't have many celebrity visits. "When they do come, it's always a big thing," he said.