Anger at campaign to woo gay couples on Holy Land holidays
Posted by Gay News Desk at 10:32 AM. Filed under: Gay News
The Israeli Government has been brought to the brink of collapse by a string of criminal investigations, sex scandals and a failed war in Lebanon.
Next week it will face its most unusual challenge yet: a vote of no confidence over a controversial advertising campaign aimed at bringing gay tourists to the Holy Land.
Dozens of MPs have vowed to bring down the Government over the campaign, saying that it offends Israeli religious sensibilities. Published on the front page of Yedioth Ahronoth, the largest-circulation Israeli daily, the adverts feature affectionate gay couples at some of the most famous tourist sites.
One shows two young men in kippahs about to kiss near Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Another shows a gay couple embracing on a camel. Another features a group of men smeared in mud and poised to take a dip in the Dead Sea.
“This is a delusional campaign for a minority with a normative defect,” said Eli Yishai, Deputy Prime Minister, who is a member of the ultra-religious Shas Party. “Those who fail to recognise Jerusalem’s holiness should stay away from it.”
It is not unusual for Israel’s staunch right-wing politicians to attack the public promotion of gay rights. A law that would allow Jerusalem to ban the Gay Pride parade is due to be debated in parliament next week. And attempts to legalise “gay marriage” and same-sex adoption have been thwarted. Such hostility prompted a civil rights group to launch the campaign to attract more gay tourists to Israel. “We wanted to make Tel Aviv into the San Francisco of the Middle East,” said Shai Doitsh, head of the Association of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexuals and Transgenders in Israel.
Two years ago his association approached the Tourism Ministry, arguing that a campaign aimed at wealthy, jet-setting same-sex couples would boost the ailing tourist industry, which had suffered from the second intifada.
Mr Doitsh estimates that several thousand gay tourists visit Israel every year, pouring millions of dollars into the economy. “We weren’t talking about accepting or not accepting a homosexual lifestyle. We were talking about a good business decision,” he said.
At the time, the ministry agreed, according to Mr Doitsh. The Government offered to co-sponsor the campaign, sharing costs and distributing brochures in its tourist offices overseas. It also helped to set up a website to promote gay bars and nightclubs in Tel Aviv.
But when the adverts stirred controversy this week, a ministry spokesman said that the Government had nothing to do with the campaign and refused further comment.
The religious National Union Party has threatened to file a no-confidence motion unless the adverts are pulled. With a stable majority the ruling coalition would likely survive such a challenge, but the controversy hardly helps the beleaguered leadership of Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister.
Source: timesonline.co.uk