Tag Archives: Israel

Pro-Palestinian activists are planning to picket a Pet Shop Boys appearance in London tonight in protest of the dance duo’s gig scheduled for June 28th in Tel Aviv.  From the protesters’ website: The Pet Shop Boys – Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, recognised as the most successful duo in UK music history, are scheduled to perform in apartheid Israel to …

Tel Aviv police are asking a well-known gay activist to admit to molesting a gay teen so that they can prove that he was known to the three men suspected in the 2009 shooting spree at an LGBT teen center that left two people dead. The activist is himself a suspect in the Barnoar club attack in which a gunman …

An estimated 30,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews rallied in downtown Manhattan this week to protest Israel’s proposed bill to phase out military exemptions based on religious grounds. Proponents of the new law have suggested that phasing out the exemption would encourage ultra-Orthodox Jews to “share the burden” of Israeli citizenship and eliminate a fundamental social inequality that has bred a strong resentment …

Israeli police yesterday said that the 2009 shooting at Tel Aviv’s LGBT teen center was motivated by an alleged sexual assault on the then 15 year-old relative of the alleged killer, Haagai Felician (above).  Both the alleged molestation victim and the accused gay activist deny that any assault took place. The attack left two dead and eleven injured. The subsequent …

From the US Embassy Tel Aviv channel on YouTube: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro marched in Tel Aviv’s gay pride parade. Speaking to a crowd of thousands of marchers, he acknowledged the achievements of the Israeli LGBT community for gaining equal rights and emphasized the work of the U.S. government to raise awareness of LGBT rights around the world. …

Tel Aviv police yesterday said that the man who murdered two people in a 2009 mass shooting at an LGBT teen center was contracted to kill a gay local leader. The intended victim, police say, is the fourth man arrested two days ago for withholding information about the attack. Via Haaretz: It is believed that the man who pulled the …

Tel Aviv police have arrested a fourth suspect in the 2009 shooting spree at an LGBT teen community center that left two dead and eleven injured.  The new suspect is reportedly “well-known” to the local gay community.  Three other suspects were arrested yesterday and none have yet been identified. Despite widespread speculation that the murders were an anti-gay bias attack, …

Tel Aviv police today announced three arrests in the 2009 mass shooting at the city’s LGBT Community Center which left two dead and 15 injured. Police will not say who has been arrested, other than they are Jewish. At the time of the attack, some had suspected foreign terrorists. Via the Jerusalem Post: In a briefing with reporters on Wednesday …

More on Yair Lapid can be found here.  The below statement was made on May 18th. (Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

Clip description via Google Translate: “Join our stand against Israeli discrimination and for equal right of same-sex couples to marry, adopt children, or use the services of surrogacy in Israel.” (Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

A group of Toronto city commissioners is once again threatening to pull the funding for Pride Toronto due to the planned inclusion of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in the parade.  Similar flaps have arisen in recent years.  Peter Tatchell writes via email: The demand that a pro-Palestinian slogan and organisation are banned from the Toronto Pride parade is censorship. It’s …

Openly gay Knesset member Nitzan Horowitz has announced his intent to run for mayor of Tel Aviv. Horowitz, a second-term MK and former journalist for Channel 10 News, will be challenging former Labor member Ron Huldai, who has served as Tel Aviv’s mayor since 1998. If he wins, Horowitz (49) would be Tel Aviv’s first openly gay mayor, and the …

With the theme song from Golden Girls.

Reality show winner Moran Mazor will compete for Israel in Hebrew with Rak Bishvilo, which translates as Only For Him. The last non-English entry to win Eurovision was in 2007 when Serbia made its contest debut as an independent nation. Israel last won Eurovision in 1998 when transgender pop star Dana International broke a long string of English-language winners with …

And he’s dating an ultra-Orthodox Jew. I smell a sitcom! (Tipped by JMG reader David)

Mostly without their knowledge or consent.

(Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

According to exit polls taken during today’s national election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won a third term by a very narrow margin. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged the bruised winner of Israel’s election on Tuesday, with his hawkish bloc unexpectedly losing ground to resurgent center-left challengers, exit polls showed. They suggested the Israeli leader’s Likud party, yoked with …

On Sunday night thousands of members of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community lined the streets to see off their leader as he headed to Israel. Failed Messiah reports: Last night, the Williamsburg Satmar Rebbe Zalman Leib Teitelbaum left on a trip to Israel, his first since becoming rebbe several years ago. Teitelbaum’s stated aim for the trip – besides attending a granddaughter’s …

On Friday the Bay Area Reporter discussed a Christmas Eve protest at Cliff’s Variety, which is arguably the most beloved retailer in the Castro. A small but spirited group of demonstrators held informational pickets outside Cliff’s Variety on Castro Street last week after some of them were forcibly removed by employees for loudly protesting inside the store on Christmas Eve. …