Excal - All Israel all the time

Today's Excal has both the good and the bad....

Chief props to Judi Siklos for her article in the Queer/Trans supplement about gay bars in Israel:

Thus, while the locale was completely natural to me, it continues to amaze my friends, both queer and straight. Israel is the only country in the region that has no anti-sodomy laws and is even a step ahead of the American “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. Just like in the Canadian army, gay Israeli soldiers are out and supported. In fact, just recently there was a gay marriage at the Royal Military College here in Canada, just as an acclaimed film about a gay couple in the Israeli army was released.

I can, however, understand the ignorance my friends display, since this particular region of the world is not known as gay-friendly. In neighbouring Egypt, homosexual men are beheaded, tortured or jailed, despite the fact that homosexuality is actually not illegal. Or in Afghanistan, men can suffer such punishments as being buried alive or having buildings collapsed on them.

It is particularly revealing that her article was counterpointed by a parallel viewpoint from a Palestinian gay man who is not even able to sign his full name to the story for fear of ostracism by his family and/or community. Nonetheless, he still finds Judi's argument unconvincing:

The existence of undemocratic behaviour in the Arab world, or in any part of the world for that matter, does not excuse the behaviour of the Israeli state, regardless of whether its citizens are given the right to celebrate their sexuality.

and

Through allowing World Pride 2005 to happen in Israel, the delegates at the InterPride conference, held in Montreal in October of 2003, are allowing the international queer population to be used as part of a propagandistic public relations ploy.

It gets worse, of course.

Israel is not a democratic state.

Now, he's just lying.

And of course, the prerequisite opinion piece about Israel being an Apartheid state:

The only option left, therefore, is a one-state where all of the people of the land are treated with respect and dignity; a state where Palestinians, Israelis, Muslims, Christians, and Jews will live together as equals and, ultimately, in peace.

So basically, according to Tarek Hamam, the only people in the world who are not allowed nationalism are Jews. Everyone else can have nationalism. Not us.

And in Concordia news, props for freedom of speech. It looks as though Barak will eventually be invited:

"The university is a place for open dialogue, not just one-sided arguments,” [Hillel president Jason Portnoy] says.

As always, letters to letters@excal.on.ca.

I'm down at aliza[at]cfjs[dot]ca.