Scene at an Israeli gay pride parade.
I know it has nothing to do with the matter at hand,
but I just had to post it. Love those dyed peyot.
Noor: Darn I can be cruel thumtimeth! It was tho wonderful of thith man to reach out to exthpend hith horithonth. But thith guy thet himthelf up with thith truly bad propaganda. Yeth, lithen for hith lithp. Thith ith awful hathbara! Almotht ath bad ath thith lithp.
On a more serious note. It is absolutely wrong to cast slurs like this. On the last flotillas and the current ones there are openly gay activists accepted with open arms. This guy is sniffing at the wrong post completely.
Israel has said in the past that they would not hesitate to use the gay agenda to promote anti Muslim fervor, so instead of using it against Iran, they have aimed it at the flotilla instead. Hey, whatever works, right?
Wrong. This hasbara has FAIL stamped all over it.
On a more serious note. It is absolutely wrong to cast slurs like this. On the last flotillas and the current ones there are openly gay activists accepted with open arms. This guy is sniffing at the wrong post completely.
Israel has said in the past that they would not hesitate to use the gay agenda to promote anti Muslim fervor, so instead of using it against Iran, they have aimed it at the flotilla instead. Hey, whatever works, right?
Wrong. This hasbara has FAIL stamped all over it.
Submitted by Benjamin Doherty
The disillusioned “gay activist” called “Marc” who appeared in a YouTube video condemning the Gaza Freedom Flotilla for alleged homophobia, that was tweeted by the Israeli Government Press Office, has been identified as an Israeli called Omer Gershon.
This definitely proves that the video is either a hoax or a piece of propaganda designed to discredit the flotilla and use a mask of concern for gay rights to pinkwash Israel and justify the persecution of Palestinians in Gaza.
The following images clearly identify Gershon by his face and tattoos.
Gershon, as an Israeli, could not possibly have been as naive as “Marc” claimed to be in the video about either the flotilla or the situation in Gaza. It is puzzling that a piece of propaganda that was meant to pass as the genuine work of an activist previously uninformed about the situation in Palestine would use a figure who is fairly well-known in the Israeli gay scene.
Gershon has been profiled in leading Israeli publications such as Haaretz, Maariv and Ynet (here and here).
A 2008 report gave his age as 33 and said he lived in Tel Aviv. Gershon was described as a “producer, entrepreneur, and PR manager for clubs.” Gershon says he went to school in New York where he got a degree in marketing and advertising at the age of 25 and lived there for almost four years.
He also said he had volunteered for IGY (the youth LGBT organization in Israel) and a women’s rights org called “Ladies Circle.”
In 2011, he appeared in a promotional video for XL Energy Drink featuring a man beating a Muslim woman.
(Warning: just a tad ((!!!!!)) offensive)
(Warning: just a tad ((!!!!!)) offensive)
Questions still remain about who commissioned the “Marc” video and the role of the Israeli government in disseminating it.
Is this official Israeli government propaganda?
Max Blumenthal answers this question below.
Is this official Israeli government propaganda?
Max Blumenthal answers this question below.
POSTSCRIPT
We thought it was important to debunk this project for a few reasons. The message of the video ~ however clumsy, transparent and fraudulent ~ attacked Palestine solidarity actions and tried to undermine the relationships the Palestine solidarity movement has with other movements and activists such as LGBT rights.
It may have also had intelligence gathering objectives. In the YouTube video description, “Marc” explicitly asked people to write to him. “Let me know if you’ve had similar experiences ~ marc3pax@gmail.com.”
It is hard to believe anyone might have written to “Marc” sincerely offering information about LGBT and Palestine solidarity activists and organizations, but the creators of this video clearly invited such contacts.
NEXT:
June 24, 2011
What is Netanyahu aide Guy Seemann's role in the anti-flotilla pinkwashing hoax?
As the new Free Gaza flotilla prepares to sail to Gaza, a suspicious video has emerged by an unknown “gay rights activist” claiming that he was rejected by the flotilla activists because of his sexuality. The anonymous activist, who had no previous online history, produced no evidence to support his claim. Within minutes, Benjamin Doherty ~ the man who helped expose our friend Tom MacMaster ~ was able to cast serious doubt on the video’s authenticity. It appeared pretty clear that the video was a pinkwashing hoax.
Since then, Doherty and I have gathered evidence suggesting that the video has links to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, or is at least being promoted through an official government hasbara operation.
The video was promoted early on ~ if not initially ~ by someone named Neil Lazarus, who shared it on Facebook (see screenshots here and here). I happened to have met Neil Lazarus during my Taglit/Birthright Israel trip in 2001. Lazarus was brought before my group to present the Israeli government’s hasbara and to demonize the Palestinian Authority. He was as slick as any good used car salesman. Since then, Lazarus has become a major figure in the world of hasbara. From Neil’s bio:
His client list is extensive and includes; The Prime Minister’s Office, The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Israeli Ministry of Tourism, Jewish Federations…
He acted as the Israel advocacy policy advisor for Israel’s leading reality television program, “The Ambassador“
Earlier today, the Israeli Government Press Office promoted the apparent hoax video on Twitter. In the tweet, @GPOIsrael cited @guyseemann. I headed over to Guy Seemann’s twitter feed and found that he had only tweeted one item in his entire history: the pinkwashing anti-flotilla hoax. In fact, Seemann only joined Twitter on June 15, 2011. Then I took a look at Guy Seemann’s bio:
Guy Seemann studied government, international policy, philosophy and physics at American University in Washington, DC. Before moving to Israel, Guy worked for United States Senator Robert Menendez, and then as a special projects coordinator in the North Eastern campaign for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Since the campaign and moving to Israel, Guy was awarded a fellowship to work with international journalists and diplomats at the Prime Minister’s Office, served as the international director for Lev Echad, and volunteered for the IDF. Guy will soon begin a new job at the Prime Minister’s National Security Council working on Iranian, US and UN policy.
Why would the Israeli GPO have tweeted at Guy Seemann, a Netanyahu aide who seems to have created a Twitter account for the sole purpose of promoting the pinkwashing hoax?
And what was Seemann’s role in the video’s creation?
How did Lazarus know about the video before it had garnered any media interest ~ and only a small handful of hits?
These questions remain unanswered.
However, the video’s promotion by an exclusive cadre of official Israeli hasbara entities and figures suggest the hoax was part of a desperate government operation designed to discredit the Free Gaza flotilla. I will be updating here as I learn more.
ha ha, the gay video was first tweeted by a fellow named "Guy Seemann"? This sounds a bit like an inside joke, subtlety not being one of the tribe's specialties. It'll be interesting to find out whether this guy's background is fake too.
ReplyDeletewv- "hedro"