Conservative groups furious as trans icon Dana International gets Independence Day honor
Eurovision song contest winner says she insisted on being recognized as symbol of liberty and liberalism, as well as culture; two groups ask organizer to remove her from lineup
Singer Dana International, a pioneer of Israel’s LGBTQ community who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998, has been selected to light an Independence Day torch next week, sparking backlash from right-wing conservative groups that are urging a boycott of the ceremony.
The transgender artist will receive the honor alongside American conservative pundit Ben Shapiro, whose participation in turn has drawn backlash from LGBTQ advocates. Also lighting torches will be ex-hostage Emily Damari, Olympic medalist and bereaved father Oren Smadga, whose son was killed in Gaza combat, IDF officers, and others.
Dana, 56, whose non-professional name is Sharon Cohen, won Eurovision with the classic “Diva.” The song’s producer, DJ Offer Nissim, was offered to light a torch this year and refused, the Walla news site reported.
Dana initially also refused after her nomination was announced Tuesday, but ended up saying Wednesday that she was accepting the honor. She said she had agreed with organizers, who had initially focused on her solely as a cultural figure, to emphasize her status as a symbol of liberty and liberalism.
In a statement accompanying her decision posted to her Instagram account, Dana wrote that it was hard to explain the “rollercoaster ride” of emotions and values she was experiencing.
The torch-lighting ceremony, she wrote, “is the peak of celebrations for the country’s birthday. It is a celebration for all of us.”
She added that she hoped she was “doing the right thing,” and that she “want(s) to see up close who this Shapiro is” — referring to the US pundit who has expressed anti-LGBTQ views.
“Our beloved and bloody land will know better days,” she wrote. “Let’s help that.”
A pair of conservative groups wrote a letter to the ceremony’s organizer, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, demanding that the singer be excluded.
“What has Dana International done for the State of Israel?” Naama Zarbiv, head of the anti-feminist group Shovrot Shivyon, told Walla. “They’re bringing her because she’s transgender. What will she say? That she underwent gender reassignment surgery? That she encourages children to do so? Is this what we’re honoring?”
Zarbiv said the pick likely came to “balance out” the choice of Shapiro, but claimed it showed “confusion” and “contradicts reality, biological logic, and traditional values.”
She sent the letter to Regev along with Michael Puah, chair of the Bocharim Bamishpacha (Choosing Family) organization.
Meanwhile, Itamar Segal, editor of the ultraconservative Olam Katan weekly, penned a scathing op-ed for Israel National News urging a boycott of the torch-lighting ceremony.
He said International was “a man, a singer who decided he is a woman, an Israeli ‘pioneer’ of one of the biggest insanities humanity has ever known.
“Anyone who knows the phenomenon up close and understands what it means… knows how crazy, how bad it is,” he wrote, saying transgender people are like chametz (leavened bread) during Passover, “which needs to be eliminated from the land so it is not seen or found.”
MK Avi Maoz, leader of the far-right anti-LGBT Noam party, called the decision “madness.”
“What the government led by President Trump in America has already understood, and what the Supreme Court in Britain has already understood — the minister responsible for ceremonies in Israel insists upon not understanding,” he was quoted as saying by Channel 14.
“A government that carries the torch of progressive madness on Independence Day is a completely progressive government,” Maoz added.
Meanwhile, the Agudah Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel welcomed the choice of “Dana International, a proud transgender woman, Eurovision winner, and one of the most important and influential personalities in the history of Israeli culture.”
It also welcomed the honor given to Gaza captivity survivor Damari, but took a stab at some of the others who will participate in the ceremony.
“In a ceremony at which a platform will be given to some dark voices, Dana and Emily remind all of us what the real Israel is: A place of hope, of uncompromising stance against challenges and hate, and of belonging that cannot be erased.”
Last year, Dana International had herself called on singer-producer Ivri Lider not to agree the light a torch at the ceremony, citing the continued plight of hostages held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas led a devastating invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023 — a call Lider did not heed.
Over 5,000 terrorists burst into the country then, killing 1,200 people, abducting 251 as hostages to the Gaza Strip, and triggering an ongoing war. There are 59 hostages still in captivity.
Damari, 29, was released from captivity on January 19 as part of a now-collapsed ceasefire deal, and immediately drew attention to her hand, now missing two fingers from injuries during the Hamas attack, which she raised in a symbol of victory.
The Times of Israel Community.