MILITARY MONDAY

Israel

Gays to meet Halutz: Not asking for apology

Gay organization to meet with IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz to discuss issue of homophobia in military after his statement that "there are men and women, and there are those we cannot speak about." Organization will also give operative suggestion for dealing with the issue

Moran Zelikovich

Representatives from the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community in Israel will meet with IDF chief of staff, Lt. General Dan Halutz on Tuesday and voice their protests against his words during a farewell ceremony from the chief of staff's advisor on women's issues that "there are two genders: Men, women, and there are those we cannot speak about."



Halutz's words caused an uproar in the gay community in Israel, whose members said that "there are things that we shouldn't laugh about." During the meeting, they gay activists are planning to protest the statement and present him with details about homophobia in the IDF. They will also present him with a plan to educate and train IDF commanders on the issue.



Chairman of the Gay organization Michael Hammel explained that "Halutz's intention was clear. He does not deny what he said, and he admits it was said as a joke. But we don't consider it a joke." Hammel explained that he does not seek an apology from Halutz and is not planning on educating him how to speak.



The organization is reporting dozens of incidents each year regarding homophobia in the army from gay soldiers. One story which struck
a cord with the members of the organization is the story of a soldier who was harassed during basic training because he was gay. The other soldiers did not allow him to shower with the rest of them and even threatened him with a knife. The soldier complained to his commanders, but they didn't know how to deal with the situation because they had no prior training on the subject. Later the entire base staff was trained on the subject in an effort to help them deal better in future situations.

Because of the ignorance among the command structure of the IDF on the issue, the organization is planning a training session of a few hours in cooperation with the IDF chief education officer in an attempt to raise the awareness of commanders on the issue. The course will be integrated in the IDF command training program in the future.