WZO establishes new division to sponsor activities with LGBTQ+ community
The WZO will be doing so in multiple parts. The first will sponsor members of the LGBTQ+ community to make aliyah and firm their connection with Israel.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFTEL AVIV teems with Pride celebrants in pre-corona days: ‘It was two full weeks of a fun carnival.(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
In honor of Pride Month, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) will be establishing a division of their organization to sponsor activities with the LGBTQ+ community."Gay pride month will be especially remembered this year by the fact that the World Zionist Organization set up a unit for Zionist activities among the gay Jewish communities in Israel and in the Diaspora," said head of the Department for Zionist Enterprises in the World Zionist Organization Dror Morag.The WZO will be doing so in multiple parts.The first will sponsor members of the LGBTQ+ community to make aliyah and strengthen their connection with Israel, overseen by the Department for Zionist Enterprises.Additionally, the unit will also assist these immigrants once arriving in Israel, in collaboration with the Association for the LGBT Community, to help the new oleh - underneath this program - transition into Israeli society. The division intends to create a platform for frequently asked questions that can assist LGBTQ+ oleh with their transition.Another part of the initiative is called "Zionist pride." Within the framework of the project, the WZO intends to call on LGBTQ+ youth and community organizations across Israel to submit their ideas for unique activities that deal with the issues of Jewish peoplehood, creating an ideal society as well as tolerance on pluralism within Israeli society - the WZO will then provide grants to those projects selected.The three initiatives that were chosen so far were: The Transball Soccer Team of the Gay Sports Club, a soccer team for transgendered individuals - giving them a secure and welcoming place to participate in the sport; The history of the LGBT movement, a project that intends to create a digital archive depicting LGBT stories surrounding the Jewish, Israeli, Zionist and Diaspora communities; and the third being IGY International Live, meant to generate leadership cooperation between members of the Israeli LGBTQ+ community and those of the Diaspora."This pioneering activity strengthens the organization as a pluralistic and up to date one," Morag continued. "I am proud of the activity that we have initiated and especially promoting the values of an exemplary society as proposed by Theodor Herzl-equality, pluralism and prevention of discrimination. They are central themes in Israel's Declaration of Independence."
