Guest shebavon Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Foreign Ministry promoting Gay Israel Jerusalem Gay Parade - Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski - 36.7 kb Jerusalem Gay Parade - Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski By Tovah Lazaroff The Foreign Ministry is promoting Gay Israel as part of its campaigns to break apart the negative stereotypes many liberal Americans and Europeans have of Israel. The initiative flies in the face of the swelling protest against Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade set for November 10. But even as its organizers are receiving anonymous threats of a holy war against them, Gay activist Michael Hamel is traveling in Europe and North America working on publicizing Gay Israel. A portion of his work, he told The Jerusalem Post by phone as he sat drinking coffee in a California airport, has the support of the Foreign Ministry. "We are working very closely with them," said Hamel, who heads the The AGUDAH, Israel’s Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders. As part of its joint work with the Foreign Ministry, said Hamel, they were going to bring Gay journalists to Israel last summer, but the event was canceled because of the war with Lebanon. It is also working on a map of Gay Tel Aviv. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Foreign Ministry official told The Jerusalem Post this week that efforts to let European and American liberals know about the gay community in Israel were an important part of its work to highlight this country’s support of human rights and to underscore its diversity in a population that tends to judge Israel harshly solely on its treatment of Palestinians. Still it’s a topic that is so touchy, he did not want his name used. But David Saranga, who works in the New York consulate, was more open about the need to promote Gay Israel as part of showing liberal America that Israel is more than the place where Jesus once walked. The gay culture is an entryway to the liberal culture, he said, because in New York, it’s that culture that is creating "a buzz." Israel needs to show this community that it is relevant to them by promoting gay tourism, gay artists and films. Showing young, liberal Americans that Israel also has a gay culture goes a long toward informing them that Israel is a place that respects human rights, as well, said Saranga. Hamel said that portraying Israel as a place where normal life occurs, including gay culture, helps people relate to it as a place much like the country in which they live. Among the stops in his trip was a conference in Madrid to place Israel in the running to host the Europe Pride event in 2009 as part of Tel Aviv’s centennial celebrations. "We are also trying to promote gay tourism in Israel," said Hamel, who said that he works to include material on Israel at Gay conferences and in tourism shows. He is also working on an Internet site that will be devoted to gay tourism in Israel, and speaks about Israel’s efforts to help Gay Palestinians who are persecuted in the West Bank. In some instances they have been killed and tortured, said Hamel. Israel is the only country that is trying to help them, he said. Just knowing that gives people a different outlook, he said. "We come and we say Israel is not exactly the monster you thought it was," Hamel said. * Archive o Press Archives in the same section : * Eastern LGBT Jewish Conference * Two new Jewish congressmen elected * Thousands Attend Jerusalem Pride * Gay parade sashays through capital * Say no more: Transsexual Israeli tops Lebanese song chart * HIV in Israel: new cases among gays up sharply * World Congress 2008 Board Meeting * Two Families Grapple with Sons’ Gender Preferences * Pinking Tel Aviv * Monument to Honor Homosexual victims of the Holocaust * Jew vs. Jew in debate over sex-change operations for children * Same sex families recognized * Rabbi calls for ’rehabilitation of gays’ * Religious homosexuals hold first meeting * From Tolerance, To Acceptance, To Celebration * Israel-Diaspora Gay Rift * Gay Clergy Controversy * My big fat gay Jewish family * ’The Bubble’ wins GLADD award * Gay israeli Film brings Gay Rights to the Forefront * When Girls Will Be Boys * Proudly Introducing Gay Tel aviv * Gay Acceptance and Gay Synagogues * A Proud Father of a Gay Son * Conservative Rabbis Rally Behind Same-Sex Marriage Rights * Gay bashers sentenced to prison term * Man, woman, and everything in between * Family in every respect * Gay-friendliness is not only about values * Drags For Peace * A Gay Person Cannot be Straight * Religious Homosexuals Seek Acceptance * Gay Orthodox group emerges on Web * Light Fell: A student and His Rabbi * Yelling Melodiously * Taking on Halacha * Michael Lucas Responds to Andy Towle * Religious MKs seek end to all J’lem gay parades * Shas MK: Gays are causing Israeli society to self-destruct * President of World Congress visits member organization Congregation Etz Chaim * Pink Revolution, Online * More Israeli Women ’changing’ Gender * Israel’s Other War * Reunion Row Redux * "New-Clear" Family * Orthodox rabbi to oversee Reform conference in Jerusalem * Reform shies away from homosexual rabbis * Body Language * First Guide for LGBTIQ Students * Jewish and Queer on Campus * A welcome change * Sweeter and Richer * Outsourcing Offspring * Single Sex Couple Adoption * Eastern Promises * ISJO Names Program Associate * ’My life is a tango, my heart - a melodrama’ * For Those AIDS Victims Less Lucky Than I * ’A Perfect candidate for death’ * Homosexuality in Haredi World * Film premières with Biblical take on gays * Open Letter to Rep Mark Souder * Ban on Anti-Gay Discrimination * 3 Jews that make a difference on Forward 50 list * Rainbow Badge of Courage * Reform Jews support ENDA * From Blessing to Curse * Australian Rabbis Approve Gay Union Rite * Fury Over Zionist Mr. Gay Tour * Minorities at Risk in Israel * ’Out’s’ most important gay list * Proud and pious * What Does Gay, Jewish R&B Sound Like? 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Guest fountainhall Posted January 26, 2009 Posted January 26, 2009 That's one helluva long post! Is there a point to the list at the end when there's no link to any of them? Quote
Guest BobGainford Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 Or if you are in Jerusalem, just walk through Independence Park (not far from Zion Square) and not far from Abraham Lincoln, where I lived. Busiest park I have ever see. Find whatever you want. Quote
Guest shebavon Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 That's one helluva long post! Is there a point to the list at the end when there's no link to any of them? I did not know whether the links would follow or not. I thought that the subjects being discussed would be of interest. Does anyone know of any Islamic majority countries which welcome Gay visitors, and treat their Gay citizens with dignity? What about welcome Gay tourism? Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 I'm not sure that the US particularly welcomes gay visitors, according to their immigration forms. Quote
Guest shebavon Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 I'm not sure that the US particularly welcomes gay visitors, according to their immigration forms. I did not know the US did anything to stop Gay visitors. I know the US bans HIV+ visitors from entering under the infamous Helms Amendment. At least the US does not put it's Gay citizens to death as does Iran, and others under the yoke of Islamic Theocracy. Quote
KhorTose Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 I did not know whether the links would follow or not. I thought that the subjects being discussed would be of interest. Does anyone know of any Islamic majority countries which welcome Gay visitors, and treat their Gay citizens with dignity? What about welcome Gay tourism? I would say Turkey, which is not perfect, but is far more liberal towards gays then say Poland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Turkey However, Turkey is suppose to be a secular nation, not a muslim one. Of interest to gays is the fact that Mustafa Kamal may have been gay. However, you will go to jail, or worse if you said that in Turkey Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 At least the US does not put it's Gay citizens to death as does Iran, and others under the yoke of Islamic Theocracy Combining "Islamic" and "Theocracy" in your statement tends to demonise Islam more than you perhaps intended. Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic nation, has quite a sizeable gay community. Our Islamic neighbour Malaysia, for certain, has many gays. On the other hand, Iran, Afghanistan in Taleban times, and I guess perhaps a handful of other Islamic states have executed gays, but that is/was the law of their lands, even though we may abhor it. The rest of the world may be more accepting of citizens being gay, but remember it's less than 20 years since a supposedly advanced society like Hong Kong decriminalised homosexuality. Some say this is because the Chinese are a conservative society - but China itself has never had any laws against homosexuality. Hong Kong's Victorian England masters put that one in the statute books. Even Scotland (unlike England) did not decrimalise until relatively recently. Punishments under the old laws did not include execution, it is true, but a few years in jail must have been a pretty ghastly experience. Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 In malaysia there are the religious police who will arrest Muslims who are breaking Islam laws. I don't know what the punishment is. I do know that a Malay in Malaysian cannot change religion from Islam under pain of death. Quote
Guest slackersam Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 If I was promoting Israel as a gay destination I think I'd post the ads on Bear dating sites. Quote
Guest shebavon Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Combining "Islamic" and "Theocracy" in your statement tends to demonise Islam more than you perhaps intended. The intent was not to demonize Islam, rather Islamic fundamentalism in governance. I share the same attitude towards Christian fundamentalism in government here, as well. And yes, if I lived in Israel, I would feel the same about the Uber Religious there. To paraphrase Robin Williams said in a one hour show just after 9/11, "Virgin Birth, 76 Virgins, which is the bigger fairy tale" Quote
Guest slackersam Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 The christian fundementalists in America don't make people want to bomb us and haven't taken land away from people in more than 100 years. Quote
Guest shebavon Posted February 2, 2009 Posted February 2, 2009 The christian fundamentalists in America don't make people want to bomb us That may be true. They only feel we are abominations who are damned to eternal hell. "haven't taken land away from people in more than 100 years. " Whom do you think controlled the UN apparatus which gave us the birth of the State of Israel? While not just US Christians in control of our government, it was done with the consent of just about the entire Christian world, over the objections of pretty much the entire Muslim world. Having been on the side of the World War II victors had it's benefits. Quote
Guest slackersam Posted February 2, 2009 Posted February 2, 2009 Still better than attracting suicide bombers! Quote
Guest shebavon Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Still better than attracting suicide bombers! They may not have been suicide bombers, but we did have Christian sponsored mass murder not too long ago in the Balkans. Not to mention the religious motivated hate crimes against Gays in this country. Remember Mathew Sheppherd? There are many fundamentalists who would just love to invoke Leviticus against Gays in this country. Are they really any better than suicide bombers? Or just armed with different weapons? Quote
Guest slackersam Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Christian America is bad but right wing Israeli settlers are far, far worse. Quote
Guest shebavon Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 Christian America is bad but right wing Israeli settlers are far, far worse. To whom? Native Americans and African Americans , as well as Gay Americans may differ with your assessment. Quote
Guest slackersam Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 I suspect that lots of gays, Native Americans and African Americans have died in 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, none of which wouldn't have happened if we didn't blindly support Israel. Quote
Guest shebavon Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 I suspect that lots of gays, Native Americans and African Americans have died in 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, none of which wouldn't have happened if we didn't blindly support Israel. I'm not quite sure where you are going with this quip. Are you suggesting that 9/11, and both the Iraq and Afgani Wars happened because of blind support of Israel? If so please substantiate such a charge. It sure seems far fetched to me. Quote
Guest slackersam Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 It's just common sense. If we didn't support Israel the arabs wouldn't hate us and they wouldn't have done 9/11 and if they didn't do 9/11 we wouldn't have started either war. This is what most sane people (i.e. people who don't support Israel) think. Quote
Guest shebavon Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 It's just common sense. If we didn't support Israel the arabs wouldn't hate us and they wouldn't have done 9/11 and if they didn't do 9/11 we wouldn't have started either war. This is what most sane people (i.e. people who don't support Israel) think. That is nothing but a whole lot of crap. Just look at Israel's relations with Egypt and Jordan, not to mention the Muslim nation of Turkey. Since you fail to look at this issue with an open mind, here are some of the many accomplishments of the small State of Israel. Closed minded people tend to overlook these facts. Reprinted from the web site of PRIMER (Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting) www.tampabayprimer.org Some of Israel's Accomplishments July 08, 2004 Some of Israel's Accomplishments Here are some facts to make us proud. Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can lay claim to the following: Israel did all of these while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction and an economy continuously under stress by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other country on earth. 1. The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel. 2. Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel. 3. The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel. Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed, and produced in Israel. 4. The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel. 5. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel. 6. Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel. 7. The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis. 8. According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security. US officials now look to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats. 9. Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined. 10. Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita. 11. Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. 12. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people -- as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed. 13. In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the second largest number of startup companies after the US (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech). 14. With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration hi-tech companies in the world -- apart from the Silicon Valley, US. 15. Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the US. 16. After the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies. 17. Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK. 18. On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups. 19. Twenty-four percent of Israel's workforce hold university degrees -- ranking it third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland -- and 12% hold advanced degrees. 20. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. 21. In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at risk in Ethiopia to safety in Israel. 22. When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times. 23. When the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day -- and saved three victims from the rubble. 24. Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world. 25. Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. 26. Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free." 27. Israel has the world's second highest per capita rate of publishing new books. 28. Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert. 29. Israel has more museums per capita than any other country. 30. In the field of medicine, Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer. 31. An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in US hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes. 32. Israel's Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders. 33. Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors. 34. Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the US, over 70 in Japan, and fewer than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions, Israel places first in this category as well. 35. A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the ClearLight device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct -- all without damaging surroundings skin or tissue. 36. An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant (in southern California's Mojave desert). Courtesy of the Joint Action Taskforce recognizing anti-Israel media bias St. Petersburg Times anti-Israel bias Quote
Guest slackersam Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 With so many smart people you'd think they'd be less racist and realize that when you kick people out of their homes based on race/religion that they will eventually get pissed off and try to kill you. Quote
KhorTose Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 It's just common sense. If we didn't support Israel the arabs wouldn't hate us and they wouldn't have done 9/11 and if they didn't do 9/11 we wouldn't have started either war. This is what most sane people (i.e. people who don't support Israel) think. Sorry Sam, you and I disagree on this connection. First off, while I have no trouble linking Afghanistan with 9/11, Iraq was just a stupid decision by a stupid man and his corrupt war industry Vice President I just cannot blame 9/11 on our support of Israel. Before we supported Israel her best ally was France, prior to France, the first country to recognize and aid Israel was the Soviet Union. We have only really been in the game since 1972. While a lot of money from the US was going to Israel most of it was in Bonds paid for by Jewish Americans. Yes, we did give Jewish Americans a tax break, but we did not support the nation to the extent we do today. I am an agnostic, but I can say one good thing about Christianity, and to a lesser extent Judaism, in that it can change interpretations when reality changes. For example, when we find out that the earth goes around the sun, rather then the other way around, the bible and the text can be reinterpreted to fit reality. Some times it takes awhile, but it does happen. The Jews await a Messiah and Christians await the return of the lord, and both religions are still subject to change and interpretations except by the vary conservative, who think words written over 1000 years ago still apply to a modern society. Fortunately these 'set in stone' thinkers, are still a minority, although a very vocal part of American Judaism and Christianity. Unfortunately, this ability to change is very difficult in the Muslim faith. Not only was Mohammad a prophet, but he was the last Prophet of the Lord. There can be no others, and there is no further word to be had. Everything from television to blood transfusions has to go before a court of imams who can issue a fatwah to allow something, but with some of the most convoluted reasoning known to man. They are stuck in a society where public behavior is seriously prescribed. As an aside, the religion gets away with this rigid structure by allowing absolute privacy in the home. In public behave, in private---party on down. This public prescribed behavior is set down by Mohammad in the Koran, also by stories and how he lived his life, and by the lives of the first 12 caliphs who succeeded Mohammad. It is combined in several variations into a school of law called The Shiria, and it is not subject to change. To achieve harmony, all must live their lives this way. So what happens when a society like this tries to live in the 20th century where women are free to do what they want, and where things are done in ways never visualized by the Prophet? Something has to give and rather then change--what is suppose to be unchangeable---many find it easier just to demonize the West where most of these ideas and new ways of looking at things come from. No matter what we did or did not do, the West was and will always be a serious threat to this or any other rigid structure like the Moslem faith. Rather then confront their faith---not an easy thing for most people---they find it easier to challenge and demonize the messages that bombard them daily from the Western World. I think this rigidity of faith is far more a factor in 9/11 then anything we did in supporting Israel. The West with its science, with its human rights, with its freedom of believe, and with its overwhelming technological abilities is the main threat to their way of life, and Israel has very little to do with it. At most, it is only an excuse by the Muslim fanatics to try to justify a proscribed way of life that is long overdo to change. Now do not take this wrong. I am not condemning all Moslem. All faiths have fanatics in them. I am only saying that the Moslem faith has a built in tendency to have more then the West does at this period in history. It is interesting that when they ruled Spain, and first ruled Egypt, and in India under Babar, none of these cultures had problems with changing theology to fit reality. I have faith in people. The Muslims have broken out of their rigid mold before, and I hope they can do so again. In the meantime, the religious fanatics among them will use Israel or some other excuse to attack the West. However their real reason for hating the West will still be, that they are daily faced with many contradictions between what they truly believe is the correct way to live, and the way people live and prosper elsewhere. Blaming the West will always be easier then blaming the present structure of their faith. Quote
Guest shebavon Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 Sorry Sam, you and I disagree on this connection. First off, while I have no trouble linking Afghanistan with 9/11, Iraq was just a stupid decision by a stupid man and his corrupt war industry Vice President. Thank you for returning the topic to intelligent conversation as opposed to specious comments. Quote
Guest slackersam Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 I doubt Bush would have gotten the authority to start the Iraq fiasco without 9/11 happening. And, doesn't Cheney have an Israeli passport? Quote
