Tolerance for Homosexuality and Sexual Permissiveness in Israel

  In Israeli society some communities are not open or tolerant to the idea of homosexuality and sexual permissiveness because it goes against the religion they believe in and practice. Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Ashkenazim, Mizrahim and Israeli Arabs, mostly on the side of the older generation, see gays and lesbians as sinners or even "monsters." Due to the fact that so many people were afraid to speak and live their truths, such things like data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, showing the population of Israel from 1990-2009 shows no data for gay or lesbian men, married or not married throughout it. People since the early 2000's, if not before then, have had to experience and deal with the criticism and abandonment from their own families, while such institutions like the military accept them with open arms. In every community in Israel, the population was increasing throughout that 19 year period.  Israel as a country has been a leading advocate for the LGBTQ community, but some of its own people are not as accepting.

  Through data obtained from the CBS(Central Bureau of Statistics) the rates of population growth of different religions of people living throughout Israel is shown. The CBS being a well regulated and respected agency on census like information, provides factual data of the birth rates, population growths and other information regarding the inhabitants of the country. During the years of 1990, 2000 and 2009 Jews and Christians had the lowest fertility rates, but enough to keep a stable population, while Muslims and Druze had the highest but most fluctuating. Information like this shows the sexual permissiveness of people in Israel, that Jews and Christians may see sex as more of an after marriage or religious experience, while others may not.

  In the settlements in areas such as the West Bank, Ultra-Orthodox communities reside, practicing their religious beliefs and living their days as normally as they can in war-torn Israel. Girls being sent to all girl Orthodox high schools and being taught not to have sex with boys, while the boys go to school until the age were they are able to be drafted into the army. For them the thought of homosexuality wasn't a thing because everyone knew how forbidden it was according to Judaism and if it was it was a secret some would take to their grave, or until their parents passed away. On Israeli Orthodox girl recalls the time her parents discovered her brothers sexuality and the pain it hurt her to see what he had to deal with, knowing she was in the same boat as him. She states, "They said being homosexual is against Judaism... I didn't say anything. what I really wanted to say is, 'If you're so worried about having grandchildren, you'd better worry about me too.'"(Rosenthal 361) Just like her parents, many other Israeli citizens, Jewish or Arab, feel strongly about what a family should look like.

  On April 10th of this year, a banner was hung from the Prima Park Hotel in Jerusalem, stating the feelings of many Israeli's throughout parts of the country, that families are defined by a strict definition. According to Shuki Sadeh in her article in Haaretz entitled, "Who's Behind anti-LGBT, anti-Reform Sign in Israeli Cities?" these signs stated, "A mother and a father = a family," promoting the sentiment of intolerance towards homosexuality. Through non-bias language, Sadeh goes on to explain who is behind all of the signs and posters being spread around Israeli communities and comes to the realization that a movement by the name of Hazon, affiliated but not tied to the Ultra-Orthodox, was the one spending nearly $7,000 U.S. dollars to erect them. As the signs were eventually taken down and lawsuits were handed out, the company in charge of putting up and displaying the ad felt little remorse towards it, alluding to the fact that according to legal advice from city officials, "there was no reason to prevent its being posted." Not only does this show that anti-homosexuality sentiment in Israeli communities is still alive and prevalent, despite the tremendous strides that Israel has taken in LGBTQ advocation, but that religion still has a stronghold over people's feelings towards sexuality.

Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas

 The Gaza Strip or just Gaza is governed by an organization called Hamas, which is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamist fundamentalist organization, sustaining itself by having its own military wing and a social service department.  

  On Tuesday Hamas released that they had been made aware of a timeline from Israel on the ceasefire agreement the two sides had been working on. During talks in the Gaza Strip, Egyptians gave Israel the demands Hamas had asked for in order to come together for a ceasefire, including the removal of signal jammers and sanctions against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. As well, the fishing zone has already been expanded to the 28 kilometers that were asked for, and including the ability to cross between the borders of Israel and the Gaza Strip was allowed. With the money funded to Hamas from Qatari, Hamas also asked Egypt and Qatar to help get rid of sanctions against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails after the meeting between the UN envoy for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladnenov and Hamas leaders did not come to the resolutions they were hoping for. As well on the Israel side, a vote had not been taken in the cabinet about the agreement over a ceasefire but nothing could be resolved until the two Israeli civilians would be returned to their homes as well as the remains of two fallen Israeli soldiers. All these demands are in hopes of an agreement to end the violence and start a new wave of peace in the region.  

  When it comes to the article, “Hamas: We Received Timeline for Ceasefire with Israel,” written by Khaled Abu Toameh, the viewpoint of Toameh is hard to find because of his use of neutral language when it comes to discussing the issues of the ceasefire. Throughout the article Toameh keeps his biases to himself and is just reporting the facts and information that he is aware of and that is factual. I do believe that his viewpoint is from that of a Palestinian civilian who may be a supporter of Hamas, or just someone who wants the violence to stop. In the article, most of the topics discussed are from the Hamas point of view or talking about their wants, demands or feelings towards the things needed in order to agree on a ceasefire. His discussion is limited on the side of Israel, only discussing the fact that no agreement will be made unless the two Israeli civilians were returned as well as the remains of the two Israeli soldiers who died in an operation in 2014.  

  The reliability of the data in this article could be up for question, since Toameh reports most of the facts from sources. Specific sources are not always given, except for quotes from United Nations Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov about the discussions that took place in Gaza. In other examples Toameh says things like, said the sources or according to an Israeli source allowing us to debate is the information given to us coming from a person who is involved or at least a part of the talks, or just someone of Israeli descent talking about the ceasefire agreement. As well the reliability of the data could also be up for debate because Toameh repeats himself quite a few times when discussing the topic, showing that there might not truly be enough information to report on yet. Most of the sources Toameh would report from would also say that no agreement has truly been made or voted on by either side, leaving not only much discussion for the leaders to have, but giving the population not enough information to really understand what is happening.