Openly gay Seattle mayor to march in TA pride parade

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, an openly gay US career politician, will march tomorrow with his life partner at the Tel Aviv Pride Parade, Ynet reports.

The boycott against Israel is a serious mistake, Murray says, who arrived on his first visit to Israel as an official guest of the Foreign Ministry. US Ambassador Dan Shapiro will also be marching alongside Murray and his partner at the parade.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement tried to pressure Murray not to visit Israel. Gay anti-Israel activists accused Murray of collaborating with Israeli “propaganda” to exploit the country’s good treatment of the gay community in order to whitewash its bad treatment, as the activists define it, of the Palestinians; a type of criticism known in anti-Israel circles as “pinkwashing.”

Murray says he “hears” the voices calling to boycott Israel, but opposes them vehemently. He expresses his concern over the growing distance between Israel and young liberals in the US. Israel must work hard to brings these communities closer, Murray says, because the two countries have many values in common.