Fury Over Zionist Mr. Gay Tour
By Nathan Jeffay
The Zionist Federation announced this week that it is to organise a UK tour for the Israeli winner of a homosexual beauty contest, prompting warnings that it is about to burn its bridges with the religious community.
Tel Aviv lawyer Nathan Shaked, 37, became a celebrity earlier this year when, already holder of the “Mr Gay Israel” title, he became “International Mr Gay”. He poses in boxer shorts on the website of the Mr Gay pageant, which seeks out “funny, down-to-earth guys” to “confront homophobia”.
Mr Shaked is due to visit the UK next month under the auspices of Israel Connect, a department of the Zionist Federation established to get people aged 20 to 35 involved in Zionist activities. Talks on “Personal Freedoms in Israel: Being Gay and Israeli” are planned for London, Brighton and Nottingham.
Organiser Gary Sakol said it was a way of steering attention away from the conflict, and in so doing to bring a wider audience of Jews and non-Jews to the ZF. “We always like to look for a different angle,” he said.
But Rabbi Barry Marcus, who holds the Israel brief in the Chief Rabbi’s cabinet, said the “absolutely repugnant” move is a case of “an organisation that should embrace everybody alienating a large section of the community”. He predicted, and said he favoured, a boycott by the religious community of the ZF.
Rabbi Marcus said that he does not object to gay individuals taking a role in communal life, but does oppose the use of mainstream communal organisations to present favourably a lifestyle which, he says, contravenes Jewish law.
The ZF “by association, has supported something that can not be justified [religiously] and, by giving it a platform, makes it look kosher and acceptable”.
He said: “I would not have anything to do with them, and would not be prepared to host another event of theirs or display their posters, and many of my colleagues will feel the same.
“The ZF has weakened any future plans it may have with the mainstream community. The US and Orthodox Jewry will not want to be seen as partners to anything they do.”
Jonathan Taylor, chairman of the religious Zionist umbrella organisation Mizrachi, which is not part of the ZF, said that while religious Zionists “will help meet discrimination against gay people, we do not believe that running a public event based on a display of someone’s sexuality is appropriate - this should be a private matter”.
Eric Graus, president of Likud-Herut UK, which recently re-joined the ZF, said the event was “nothing to do with Zionism” and that he was “not happy about the ZF getting involved in something not a matter of communal agreement”.
There was also opposition in the regions where events are planned. Rabbi Pesach Efune, director of Lubavitch of Brighton, said: “At a time when Israel needs all the support it can get, it is extremely misguided for the ZF to bring as an ‘ambassador’ for Israel such a controversial person.”
ZF promotional material for the tour quotes Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev telling the JC in March that Zionist groups in the diaspora had to promote Israel’s cause.
Speaking after a UK visit, he said: “If you are a feminist, bring British feminists into contact with Israeli feminists. If you are a homosexual, bring the British gay community into contact with the Israeli gay community. If you are an artist, bring British artists into contact with Israeli artists.”
The Jewish Chronicle