Poor Israeli gays. I really mean it. They might as well be Arabs. But at least if they were Arab and and the Arab world was expressing homophobic and ignorant views about them, every human rights organization and newspaper in the U.S. would have opined by now. I guess Foxman and Dershowtiz can sleep soundly knowing that Israeli gays don't count in this country unless their situation can in some way cast Arabs or Muslims in a negative light.
Haaretz survey: Half of public thinks gays are deviants
Almost half of the Israeli population believes that homosexuality is a perversion. A Haaretz-Dialog poll, conducted under Prof. Camil Fuchs finds that 46 percent of the people surveyed answered the question "Do you see homosexuality as a perversion?" in the affirmative, while 42 percent answered that it was not a perversion. Twelve percent said they did not know.
The treatment of gays in Israel is slightly worse than the US.
“The treatment of gays in Israel is slightly worse than the US. ”
As is Israel’s traetment of Arabs, Msulims and non Jews.
I just came across this fascinating op ed by Gilad Atzmon:
“As much as the Israelis do love to see themselves as being ‘tolerant and liberal’, they hate their neighbors and would implement the most murderous lethal tactics against them. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t take us by a complete surprise that in a country that pours white phosphorous on civilians and starves millions behind barbed wire, some people develop deadly inclinations.
The Jewish state is founded on negation. It hates everything that fails to be Jewish. It hates Arabs, it hates the Palestinians, it hates the Goyim, it hates criticism, it hates Islam, it hates the Pope, it hates Christianity. You name it, they hate it. As it happens, all it takes to hate Gays is for someone out there to think that Gay is not Jewish enough. And in fact it isn’t. It is as non-Jewish as much as democracy and tolerance are totally foreign to the spirit of Jewishness. ”
link to palestinethinktank.com
I would have never figured Israel to be very gay friendly. Arabs, homosexuals and fat women were the targets of most kibbutznik humor that I remember.
I’ll add that I don’t believe that many people really care about homosexuals as a group. I was in stockholm last week at the same time as a gay pride parade, and my impression is that the parades largely organized and attended by a group of people who travel from one event to the next.
Asaf Gefen in Ynetnews.com opinion 08.08.09:
Let’s hate them