Israeli government markets 'gay Jerusalem' *

Angry religious legislators threaten no-confidence motion over issue

New 'pink Jerusalem' campaign aimed at promoting gay tourism in capital
and partly sponsored by state, angers religious legislators who threaten
no-confidence motion over issue

Ronny Sofer
Published: 05.29.07, 16:37 / Israel Jewish Scene
YnetNews.com

"This is a delusional campaign for a minority with a normative defect,"
Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai said Tuesday, responding to reports
about a new Ministry of Tourism international campaign promoting gay
tourism in Jerusalem.

The campaign, produced by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and
the Homosexuals and Lesbians organization, together with the Tourism
Ministry, features same-sex couples photographed at tourist attractions
and places of historic interest in the capital.

"I unequivocally reject the attempt to focus a state-sponsored campaign
on a delusional minority that suffers from a normative defect," Yishai
said, "Jerusalem and Amsterdam are the same for these people. Therefore,
those who fail to recognize Jerusalem's holiness had better stay away
from it."

Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that the campaign was
initiated by his predecessor, Abraham Hirchson, and then he himself
rejected it strongly.

'Campaign undermines status-quo'

MK Benyamin Elon (National Union), a former tourism minister, harshly
protested the issue to the tourism minister Tuesday, and received a
reply from Aharonovitch that the campaign photos were published without
his knowledge, and that he planned to instruct his office not to promote
the matter in the future.

Meanwhile, the party threatened to file a no-confidence motion to the
Knesset over the affair.

Another former tourism minister, MK Yitzhak Levy (National Union-NRP),
also referred to the campaign saying, "I protest the portrayal of Israel
as a pink, namely – gay, paradise. Israel used to be famous for values
and holiness, and here a red line has been crossed."

Shlomo Rosenstein, a member of the Jerusalem city council representing
the United Torah Judaism, said that, "The Jerusalem municipality and the
haredi coalition are doing their utmost to maintain the peaceful
atmosphere in town, which has proved itself in the last three years.
Provocations will do no nothing for Jerusalem but undermine the
status-quo and coexistence within the fragile fabric of life and
relations between the different sectors in Jerusalem.

"I'm surprised that the Tourism Ministry and the person heading it chose
to destroy, rather than build. This campaign is disgusting and will
drive tourists away from Jerusalem and Israel."

Yael Eichenwald contributed to the report