Gay Israeli soldiers claim harassment | The Ptsburgh Jewish Chronicle

Contents:

• IDF GAY SOLDIERS
• ISRAEL’S FAVORE GAY SOLDIER RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN
• ISRAEL A MOL ON GAYS THE ARY
• ISRAELI ARMY'S GAY SOLDIERS MT STOP PERSECUTG GAY PALTIANS
• WATCH: EXCLIVE LOOK AT GAY ISRAELI LOVE STORY YOSSI
• GAY ISRAELI SOLDIERS CLAIM HARASSMENT
• ISRAELI ARY ACCED OF STAGG GAY PRI PHOTO
• JEWISH GAYS WRECK AMERIN CULTURE
• ARMY’S ‘GAY SOLDIERS’ PHOTO WAS STAGED, IS MISLEADG

IDF GAY SOLDIERS

We take a look at the celebrated gay scene Israel wh an eclectic variety of some of the most ntroversial and celebrated LGBT films wrten, directed and produced the untry. Oriented (2012) Oriented is a fascatg documentary film about three gay Paltian iends their 20s livg life Tel Aviv. The film is not only a morn tale of the trials and tribulatns of beg gay society, also documents the difficulti of beg gay for Paltian men and how the issue clash wh Islamic doctre.

Directed by Eytan Fox, this romantic film follows two gay soldiers the Israeli ary as they al wh daily life at the Israel-Lebanon borr.

The film, a directorial but for Michael Mayer, portrays the polil plitns of an Israeli fallg love wh a Paltian the Wt Bank and the evable problems of homosexualy a nservative Mlim society. In “Yossi & Jagger, ” the closeted wboys of the Hollywood film are forhadowed by a siarly secret affair — a relatnship between gay Israeli soldiers servg near the borr wh Lebanon.

ISRAEL’S FAVORE GAY SOLDIER RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN

It’s a subtle but powerful observatn by Fox, notg the speed wh which social l are changg, as well as the difficulti that many — cludg some gay men themselv — are experiencg as they try to keep up.

In fact, beyond the gay them, viewers may notice that the film’s romantic elements aren’t so different om more tradnal cematic love stori, reflectg certa fantasi mon works by male directors — pecially those who, like Fox, have reached middle age.

Straight or gay, Amerin or Israeli, certa typ of wishful thkg turn out to be universal. And Israel, like the Uned Stat, is home to vol relig nservativ who own on Israel, unlike the Uned Stat, has allowed gays and lbians to serve openly the ary for 17 years.

ISRAEL A MOL ON GAYS THE ARY

In fact, they are required, if Israel has found a way to allow gays the ary, n provi lsons to the U. And Israel is most acunts, Israel's tegratn of gays the ary has succeed, and the Israel Defense Forc (IDF) has reportedly begun to share s experienc wh the U. Will bee the 26th natn to fully tegrate gay and straight members of the ary, acrdg to the Palm Center, a thk tank at the Universy of California Santa Belk, the center's director, said full tegratn has been succsful even untri engaged equent bat, cg Israel, Amerin's closet ally the Middle East, as an example.

ISRAELI ARMY'S GAY SOLDIERS MT STOP PERSECUTG GAY PALTIANS

Draftg openly gay soldiers to the IDF and other ary forc "has been highly succsful and has no negative impact on morale, retentn, reads or overall bat effectivens, " acrdg to a Palm Center report, "Gays Foreign Milari 2010. As a natn wh mandatory ary service for both men and women, and a strong relig ethos that dictat almost every facet of everyday life, the Israeli ernment tread IDF began placg openly gay soldiers uns as early as 1983. Internal monorg of gays ntued until then did homosexualy the IDF "beme totally a non-issue, " said Franc Raday, a profsor of ternatnal law at the College of Management Amic Studi the cy of Rishon wh the heavy fluence Israel's ultra-nservative relig polil parti wield parliament, the untry has "an extremely liberal stand on homosexualy, " said David Rosen, the Jesalem-based ternatnal director of terrelig affairs for the Amerin Jewish Commtee, noted that the same ultra-Orthodox lears who regularly cry gay pri paras never tried to stop openly gay soldiers om IDF reason, Rosen theorized, is that they did not want to open a natnal bate over who n serve the IDF, bee ultra-Orthodox semary stunts are exempt om ary service -- a policy that a majory of Israelis want to ncel.

Relig Znists -- Morn Orthodox Jews who serve the IDF -- have been more preoccupied wh preventg teractn between male and female soldiers than the stat of gays and lbians, Rosen said. Before Israel changed s law, many gays and lbians performed Natnal Service.

Yonatan Gher, director of the Jesalem Open Hoe, a proment Israeli gay rights group, said the IDF "seeks out" trag om gay groups orr to better serve and tegrate the soldiers.

WATCH: EXCLIVE LOOK AT GAY ISRAELI LOVE STORY YOSSI

"We speak wh them regularly, pecially wh manrs and tors, " Gher said, addg that the IDF has been "sharg s rmatn" wh the Lev, who disclosed his homosexualy durg a stt the IDF, believ that wh the proper environment, beg gay the ary "n be a non-issue.

"Those who volunteer, whether they're gay or straight, are already motivated and will be good soldiers. upgra her secury ratg and dog so tells an vtigator she's gay. not what some would ll a "gay" film but variably is the wist sense.

-- has some of the bt homoeroticism (jt say "Iceman" to any gay man and. very least, so rife wh homoerotic subtext that you'd have to be Fred Phelps. Jean Ge's gay prison art film, Un Chant d'Amour (1950), and dissolv to a scene.

GAY ISRAELI SOLDIERS CLAIM HARASSMENT

challengg and imbued wh a sense of what homo-awakeng might have been like. Members of the LGBT muny regard the army’s Intelligence Directorate general and Un 8200 particular as gay-iendly plac to serve. There is a relatively high percentage of gays and lbians among the un’s soldiers and officers, and many of the people who serve there feel fortable intifyg as gay.

So tolerant of gays is Un 8200 that s manr and senr officers honor the event wh their prence, together wh hundreds of soldiers, gay and straight alike.

ISRAELI ARY ACCED OF STAGG GAY PRI PHOTO

Revolt the Stasi The Dissenters Are Cizen Hero Listen to the Objectors Refeniks Blow Lid Off Israel's Intel Gatherg But one of the un’s dissenters said that not all the gay people Un 8200 liked what they heard the terview given by the members who refed to ntue servg and participatg acts agast the Paltian people.

If you’re homosexual and know someone who knows a wanted person – and we need to know about – Israel will make your life miserable....

JEWISH GAYS WRECK AMERIN CULTURE

Durg my trag urse preparatn for my service this assigned role, we actually learned to memorize different words for ‘gay’ Arabic.

The members of the Sh Bet put a cel choice before gay Paltians: betray their people by spyg for the regime and risk beg celly put to ath – all exchange for keepg their secret – or have their secret exposed and be ostracized om their fai, exposed to vlent attacks and perhaps even murred.

In practice, the fense tablishment tak advantage of Paltian gays’ “weak pot” – their sexual inty.

ARMY’S ‘GAY SOLDIERS’ PHOTO WAS STAGED, IS MISLEADG

Let remember, too, that as all of this happens, the unfortunate person beg forced to choose between a homophobic society and a society that mak e of homophobia has never done a thg to endanger Israel’s secury. In the past, at the dawn of the gay and lbian stggle for equaly and regnn, some people claimed that sexual mori all over the world had a “quasi-natnal” inty and, based on that, solidary that should take precence over natnal inty. It is precisely bee of this that we might expect the members of Un 8200, particularly the gay and lbian people who serve there, to refe to have any part the techniqu of g homophobic vlence to blackmail gays and lbians, and to tell their mandg officers: Beyond this le we will not go.

The e of sexual orientatn as a “weak pot” that n be prsured every time the regime is terted ntrolg and watchg people unr s thory is a homophobic act every way. The Foreign Mistry, which Israel’s liberal treatment of gays and lbians to portray to the world as an enlightened untry, nnot hi the bter tth: Israel is hell for Paltian gays and lbians, whose persecutors clu, among others, Jewish gays and lbians. Director Eyton Fox tugged at our heartstrgs Yossi & Jagger, a movg film about gay Israeli soldiers love, 2002 and now the filmmaker has returned to his fictnal world wh the follow-up Yossi.

Surround by the sea and sand dun, he meets a group of young Israeli officers, among them Tom, a handsome and self-nfint openly gay man, who reprents a new world, different om the one that shaped Yossi. The Israeli ary has been acced of stagg a photograph published to celebrate s progrsive attu to image, of two male soldiers holdg hands while walkg down a street uniform, was posted on the Israel Defence Forc' Facebook page to ci wh gay pri events Tel ptn read: "It's pri month. "By noon on Wednday had been "liked" almost 10, 000 tim and had attracted more than 1, 400 the Tim of Israel news webse claimed the photograph was misleadg, sayg: "The two soldiers the photo are not a uple, only one of the two is gay, and both the soldiers serve the IDF spokperson's office.