Israel is sort of participating in the 'gay pride' festival in Berlin in June. I say 'sort of' because like good dhimmis, Israel's participation will be entirely incognito.
Berlin Municipality invited Tel Aviv to take part in the main festival, which will be taking place ahead of the gay pride events. But the Israeli delegation decided to leave out any state symbols at the stand, as well as in any performances by Israeli artists taking part in the festival.One would think that Israel would (and could) at least appeal for some credit from the gay community for being the only country in this region where gays are not the subjects of 'honor killings' just because they are gay. But sadly, that is not the case. And now that we have expediently rebranded Israel into something other than the Jewish state, we aren't even going to try to get credit for the things that we do for which other countries do get credit.
Thus, there will be no Israeli flags and the emphasis will be on Tel Aviv as a global city – pluralistic and liberal, which accepts members of the gay community no matter where they're from. Moreover, visitors to the festival will receive information about Tel Aviv which will include a map that highlights LGBT entertainment centers.
A source within the tourism industry told Ynet that "in the past it has been proven that the correct and smart way to 'export' Israel, especially these days, is through emphasizing brands it excels in, without using anything that symbolizes the state of Israel. Unfortunately, the Israeli flag or Star of David can cause antagonism among many."
The Tourism Ministry understands this new reality and explains: "Unfortunately, this is the smart way to market Israeli brands abroad." It should be mentioned that the ministry promotes some Israeli sites and destinations without mentioning the word Israel.
Now you all see why Carl of israelmatzav.blogspot.com was (and remains) so angry with the Foreign Ministry's Brand Israel program when it was introduced to bloggers two and a half years ago. Israel's gay community should be ashamed of itself for accepting creating these terms of participation.
The Gay Community on the international level should be ashamed of their behavior towards Jews. This also makes it unbearable to be a gay Jew outside of Israel.
The secret cause of Israel's PR and image catastrophe
While I agree with Israel Matzav and Zionism-Israel that Israel will not solve anything by selling *T* and *A* to replace the Jewish homeland and repackage Israel as *Sexy*, *Rich* and *Vogue* ....I certainly see the point that any image can be co-opted and it is better to just be about Love, G-d, Community but I also have no problem with *SEXY ISRAEL* existing in parallel marketing, though I sincerely think it shouldn't be state financed because I don't think it is in the interests of Israel to turn itself into Los Vegas.
