NEW YORK – Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, executive director of This World: The Values Network, and Stand With Us have taken out a full page ad in The New York Times to highlight Israel as a nation that respects the rights of gay citizens. The ad exposes violence and oppression inflicted on LGBT communities by Hamas, ISIS and Iran. Voicing the fears faced by Rennick Remley, a gay American and supporter of Israel, the ad urges the rest of the world to fight for justice by speaking up for Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.
Though he is not Jewish, Remley calls Israel the only place in the Middle East where he feels safe. He writes, “Israel is the only country where I can live without fear. I am free to adopt children, serve openly in the military, advocate for my community’s rights and be accepted as a human being.” He continues, “If I lived in Gaza or Israel’s neighboring states, I would be thrown in jail, mutilated or killed.”
The ad demands that the Western World hold autocratic governments accountable for the inhumane treatment of the gay community, using Israel as a model for the rest of the region.
“Israel is the only country in the only Middle Eastern country that is a bastion of liberty and human rights,” said Rabbi Shmuley. “It is a safe haven that respects the rights and humanity of every citizen. A place where the gay community need not fear persecution.”
Israel’s “Basic laws”- their equivilence of our constitution recognizes that everyone has the right to “Privacy and to intimacy”. America isn’t even there yet.
I had my first gay, sexual encounter with a Palestinian man from the West Bank at a hotel in Jewish West Jerusalem. He was nervous and ashamed…I felt free (and ironically more Jewish).
Bless Israel
complete and utter consciousness infiltration…
i resent isreals appropriation of my lufelong struggle for equality to be used in their war against their enslaved native peoples.
a full page ad in the new york times cost a lot of money…i would urge my gay bothers and sisters to think about exactly what isreali zionists expect to get out of this propaganda.
I would also ask that we consider the contexts in which our rights might be realised. we can’t imprison an entire population and then give another the illusion of freedom.
Israel doesn’t discriminate what the sexual orientation of Palestinians are, they slaughter them the same. I know gay Palestinians,(and myself am Jewish), not fans of the occupation. The ad as Zionists typically do take token minorities and use them to justify committing illegal acts of war. Their vapid, disingenuous cheerleading squad then come to comment threads with fake handles making up stories, claims about law and governance, and spreading misinformation that they call “hasbara.” This was an ad paid for by conservative Americans like Sheldon Adelson. Sheldon supports the oppression of the LGBTQ community in the United States by contributing to the republican party, choosing money, power and nationalism over human rights, gender equality and sexual freedom. Think people.
What a distasteful and despicable AD. Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians as second class citizens and its annexation of their land is nothing short of war crimes …
Yet we have these biased individuals trying to tell us that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East where gay people can live freely… What a load of garbage.
The rest of the world has long ago realised that Israel is a state that is happy to annex land that does not belong to it and kill thousands of civilians … If it wasn’t for the US using its VETO powers then Israel would have been isolated by the international community a long time ago… Having said that, the US will not be the only remaining super power for long and hopefully this is when Israel will be held accountable for all the atrocities and war crimes it has and continues to commit .
For the nameless person who posted about “Zionists” (read: “Jews”) who post with fake handles: You do not choose to identify yourself–why the hypocrisy. further, Sheldon Adelson has nothing to do with this ad; if you had read the ad and looked at its sponsors, you would know this. We’d love to see your condemnation of truly oppressive regimes, like China and Saudi Arabia (how do you think gays fare in Saudi Arabia?) or in Uganda, where homosexuality is a crime and people are jailed, or worse, for being gay. You pick and choose what to condemn and are hypocritical in your choice to solely condemn Israel and not other, truly oppressive governments. Including Hamas.
It’s so fascinating that the facts of the ad are dismissed because people are so venomous in there rejection of, and hatred of, Israel. The critics who have written here are so one sided, insisting on seeing Israel as the total villain and the Palestinians as pure, helpless victims. Like so many of Israel’s opponents, they are quick to castigate Israel while consistently ignoring the heinous acts of aggression of the Palestinians. No one admires the killing of 2000 Palestinians yet I find it fascinating how loathe these anti-Israel advocates are to lay any blame on the Palestinians. Where is your heart when Israeli children are butchered and their murderers celebrated as heroes? Really, can you think of any other nations in the world that you would ignore (and even celebrate) this kind of sickening massacre without being totally repulsed? So take a look at your own prejudices.
Isreal is the aggressor here…
Isreal holds the keys to the prison.
Isreali nationals are the colonialsts and the designers of this new appartied. It is not suprising to me that I am accused of venomous hate and anti-semitism… I consider myself an objective observer.these passionate insults reveal your rabid nationalist agenda… Agendas that include manipulation of our own election processes
here in the U.S.
very happy to see there are a good number of savvy gay people who, with their intelligence and powers of articulation will always win an agument like this….simply because we are right…
shame on you Isreal!
what happened to you?
While we condemn the treatment of LGBT citizens in other oppressive countries, no one is pretending they are a bastion of civil rights. This ad suggests Israel is the land of freedom, while many commentators are simply acknowledging the irony considering how it treats Palestinians.