Whether in slinky, body-clinging black pants and a sleeveless sweater, or in a designer feather-dress, Israeli pop songstress Dana International cuts a striking figure.
And she’s talented: The Eurovision Song Contest just voted her the winner of its annual competition for her hit song “Diva,” Israel’s first win in 19 years. The first-place finish means the contest comes to Israel next year.
But even Dana admits she’s a different kind of diva. “There are some women who are simply larger than life,” goes the first line of her winning song.
An outspoken transsexual, she has been elevated by Israel’s young, secular community to a national symbol of gay rights and freedom of artistic expression. But from the Orthodox and ultra-religious have come outrage, appeals for a revival of traditional Jewish family values and a movement to ban next year’s Eurovision contest from Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest city.
For some, Dana is a measure of Israel’s maturity as it celebrates its 50th anniversary–coming of age, as it were, to take its place among cosmopolitan, free-thinking nations.
But in the Jewish state, nothing is that simple. Many religious Jews don’t find International a divine diva at all but rather someone born as Yaron Cohen, a man until a sex change operation in 1993. The controversy cuts across religious, artistic, sexual and even political lines.
“If you put whiskers and a tail on a man, does that make him a cat?” asked one Knesset member, Shlomo Benizri of the religious Shas Party, on one of many television talk shows examining the controversy. Earlier, he said, “Dana International is an abomination. Even in Sodom there was nothing like it.”
Other television shows interviewed members of the gay community, who find her a symbol of hope and success in a country where homosexual laws are liberal and, according to The Jerusalem Post, “Gay discos in the big cities are `in,’ especially for the straight crowd.” But unlike Dana, most gender-bending Israelis are reluctant to go public in a land where the ultra-Orthodox see issues of homosexuality and transsexuality as a deviation and a mental ailment.
Still, many politicians in the right-wing, Likud-led government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saw value in chalking up another victory for world acceptance of Israel. It came as the Clinton administration, Europe and the Arab world are pressing Israel to give up more West Bank land to Palestinians to revive moribund Mideast peace talks.
Many Israelis seemed eager to put the spotlight on some positive news for a change.
After Dana’s May 10 victory in England, Netanyahu was quick to congratulate her and her production team for their Eurovision success, and he announced Israel would be pleased to hold next year’s Eurovision contest in Jerusalem.
Dana later was welcomed to the Knesset by the education committee, where she spoke in favor of freedom of expression and called on Israel’s parliament to prevent extremist groups from infringing on that right.
Tourism Minister Moshe Katsav even welcomed Dana to his Jerusalem office, gave her a framed sculpture depicting the Holy City and assured her that next year’s competition would take place in the Israeli capital.
For her part, Dana criticized the Haredi Orthodox for trying to deprive the country of the celebration of winning the Eurovision contest for the first time in nearly two decades.
“I just want no one ever to disturb this party because our nation is suffering a lot, and we deserve from time to time a little bit of happiness and things that can make us proud as Israelis and Jews all over the world.”
Others are still fighting the idea, including Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox deputy mayor, Haim Miller, who asserted on Israel Television: “I am now telling you that there is no chance that this event will take place in Jerusalem. If it were up to me, this would not take place in the Holy Land. Let them stay in the countries of the non-Jews and continue acting in the fashion of the Goyim.”
However, Jerusalem’s Likud mayor, Ehud Olmert, brushed aside such remarks and promised to hold the contest here.
“Not everything that chatterbox says should be quoted or taken into consideration,” Olmert told Israel Radio. “With all due respect, the person who represents the city of Jerusalem is me. This municipality opposes censorship of art and culture.”
However, just two weeks ago, when Israel held its main “Jubilee Chimes” event in a Jerusalem stadium to celebrate its 50th birthday, the internationally acclaimed Bat-Sheva dance troupe pulled out at the last minute. The group’s scheduled performance, which featured dancers stripping to their underwear, was deemed offensive by the ultra-religious.
