Deep in the heart of the winding back alleys of southern Tel Aviv’s Florentin District stands a sultry den where hip youth from all of Israel and the world assemble around bars and tables to engage in lively conversations. Young men and young women, Arabs, Jews, Christians, White, Black, straight and gay chill to the beat of local israeli bands while faithfully sipping cheap Goldstars (Israeli beer). This place is a focal point for free thinkers and peaceful individuals to mingle openly and honestly without prejudice. Appropriately, this unlikely watering hole is called “The Hudna” which means ceasefire in Arabic.
Travel just a few short miles north and you will find yourself enveloped in the bustling streets of Tel Aviv’s center. Within the Nahalat Binyamin Market you might pass an Ethiopian restaurant owner serving customers a steaming bowl of Dukem (a traditional Ethiopian creamy stew made of chickpeas), purchase fresh fish from an Arab vendor, delight in the handcrafted jewelry made by a newly immigrated Russian woman or stop to hear a classical Andalusian musical group performing on the street. People address each other in languages like Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian and Filipino. Women are clad in everything from short skirts and high heels to the traditional Muslim hijab.
This is the picture of diversity. This is multiculturalism. This is Israel.
Israel’s free and diverse society is the foundation for all its achievements and advancements. Men and women are free to expose their full identities and express their individual qualities with confidence and pride. Race, gender, faith and sexual orientation do not serve as limitations, but as advantages in our culture. As we all cohabitate together we learn not only to tolerate each other, but to embrace one another. In Israel our differences are celebrated. In 1998 and 2011 Israel chose to send transgender singer Dana International to compete in the Eurovision song competition. In 1998 Dana won the entire competition! Israeli Arab Rana Raslan was named Miss Israel in 1999. Upon receiving the crown Raslan stated, "I am totally Israeli, and I do not think about whether I am an Arab or a Jew.” Israel holds a gay pride parade and celebration in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem each year.
This month, the Consulate brings openly gay TV celebrity Assi Azar to Georgia. Assi is debuting his autobiographical documentary Mom, Dad, I have Something to Tell You to audiences in Atlanta and Savannah showing local Americans that gay Israelis share the same trials and tribulations as gay people coming out of the closet in the United States.
Multiculturalism is the bread and butter of a democratic society. From the ultra-orthodox Jewish community closing every establishment in their neighborhoods on Friday for Shabbat to Israel’s nomadic Arab Bedouin tribes living in the desert land of the Negev, the people of Israel are tolerant of one another and free to live peacefully as they choose.
Israel’s multiculturalism fosters understanding and energy. This driving youthful force attracts artists, chefs, musicians and entrepreneurs from all over the world. The intermingling of all these cultures creates something new on its own –a blossoming society that is uniquely Israeli. You will be hard pressed to find anything else like it in the Middle East.