And did the Israeli Foreign Ministry or the far-right government participate in Tel Aviv Pride?

The Madrid Pride barred the Israeli gay group because they would have been marching with Israeli Foreign Ministry representatives(mere days after Israel’s illegal, murderous attack on a civilian aid ship in international waters which left 9 poeple dead)

I do hope the Israeli government were strongly represented at Tel Aviv Pride and will also stand firmly in support of Jerusalem Pride (regardless of what the religious loonies say).

If the far-right Israeli government DON’T fully support and participate in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Pride then it’s quite clear that they only tried to participate in Madrid Pride in an attempt to hijack Madrid Pride for their own political purposes.

Same sex coupls are not allowed to enter civil marriage.
In fact opposite sex couples are not allowed to enter civil marriage.
Civil marriage is entirely banned in Israel .
Unless you have a religious ceremony you cannot get married.

That is certainly not equality for non-religious people.

If you are an atheist or simply not interested in religion you are discriminated against.

And let’s remember that the murderer of the 2 people at the gay centre last year is still on the loose. He has not been caught.

Yes it is quite fascinating that the most reviled and criticised country in the Middle East is nevertheless the most progressive.

In next door Iraq they like to glue gay men’s backsides shut and then stuff them so full of laxatives their rectum explodes, at least in Iran they go for the comparatively swifter method of burying them up to their neck and bull dozing a wall on top of them.

Still if the BBC tell me that Israel is the font of all evil in the middle east, it must be true.

And is a British Civil Partnership recognised as a marriage across the world? ”

Do you seriously think most countries would reconise a same-sex marriage if it was called a marriage? No. You are simply whinging about semantics. Changing the name would make fcuk all difference to most people.

Well said MartinM. Just cause the gays get their pride doesn’t make Israel some enlightened amazing democracy in my eyes. They have a democracy and such freedoms at the expense of the inhumane suffering of millions. Just last my friend’s family were woken in the night to the sound of their door get kicked in, told to get out and their home was immediately bulldozed for settlements.

People on the side of greedy Israel cannot fathom or empathise with such a horror… because Palestinian blood is simply cheaper to them.

I feel sorry for people who live in Israel and don’t support the far right government.

maybe muslce man and martin, and any other pro islamic commentator should move to saudi, iraq, iran, yemen, UAE, syria, qatar, palestine, oman, lebanon, kuwait or bahrain where homosexuality is illegal, with either prison or death penalty as punishment. you will then find that israel is the most progressive country in the middle east for YOU to live. the gaza strip is occupied and controlled by a political party who want to wipe israel off the map. if wales or scotland made the threats to england that hamas make to israel, they would be a lot worse off.

Those who comment about the political and religous reaction to Tel Aviv Pride have to understand that Israel is a country of many parts – unsurprising given its demographics and history. Tel Aviv is a modern, vibrant, very gay friendly city. I visit it often, see gay couples holding hands in the street as a matter of course, see gay couples with children as frequently becoming the norm etc. My partner and I are always treated as a couple, just as in London. Gay Pride there is a family event, many of my straight friends go to support and join the event, often with their children. Jerusalem is obviously way more conservative, and has as we know had its problems with its Pride, its only gay bar closed etc. By the way, that bar was a meeting point for Jew and Arab (including Palestinians)until its sad closure. But the pressure, sad and wrong though it is, comes from the religeous right wing – who wield disproportionate power politically (yay, colition governments!!). Hopefully, slowly, things will change there, for the better. There are slow signs that the next generation will be more tolerant; and/or will have less power. In the meantime, let’s at least celebrate that there is one city in the whole middle east in which it is 100 percent possible to live an openly gay life.

@Mar/Si – Ironically I’m sure the significant majority of palestinians in Gaza would indeed agree that Israel is a progressive country.

It is just unfortunate for the palestinians in Gaza that they are petrified into into submission by a murderous, violent terrorist group, Hamas, who systematically and brutally kill any opposition to them in Gaza itself, and perpetuate a constant, Iran funded state of guerilla warfare against a neighbour who is desperate for peace.

Well said Jay and VR – Israel is doing the free-world a favour by their action against the murderous islamic terrorists in Gaza. It is quite astonishing how ill-informed knee-jerk anti-semetics are in Western Europe who seek to defend violently homophobic and repressive arab communities and attack Israel – a democracy where its gay citizens experience the freedom to be themselves and hold great parades like this one in Tel Aviv. Shame on all those in Britain who support muslim terrorists intent on killing and maiming jewish men, women and children.

Felipe: It’s also impossible to criticise Israel without every Jew on the planet accusing you of anti-Semitism. It’s about time people once and for all decided whether Jews are a country, a race or a religion. I’m sick to death of their bleeding-heart whining about the holocaust, whilst simultaneously carrying out ethnic cleansing on a massive scale in front of the world’s media, but nobody having the guts to stand up to them and tell them what a murdering bunch of hypocrites they really are.

Spanner, your rant is quite disgraceful; it is also woefully ill informed. You lose all credibiity on all points with your unbalanced comment on the holocaust. This was a positive piece on Tel Aviv Pride. You had to drag it into the gutter with your racially and politically prejudiced, ignorant post. Shame on you.

Andy: It is common knowledge that the US will never criticise Israel because of the massive Jewish lobby in the Senate. I would never deny that the holocaust was a terrible thing, but equally, that was over 60 years ago, and it is THEY that drag up the same persecutionist arguments time and again. I am neither racist or prejudiced. All I see is Israeli special forces gunning down unarmed people and Palestinian kids throwing rocks, only to get responded to with helicopter gunships. Israel has every right to protect itself, but the manner and force used are totally unacceptable. That is not a racist, or even political rebuke, it is a simple matter of humanitarian treatment.

The Jews have been struggling to suvive since and before Roman times. And they are still at it, they even traded Phillisine for-skins as currency, before the Phillistines become Pallistinians in Gaza. I would imagine the Mullar’s in Gaza would exicute Homosexuals. In Isreal, Homosexuals are kind of tollerated. I know which side of my bread is buttered…..How about you??

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