Israel’s embassy in Dublin shared a statement on Monday night accusing Dublin Pride of “promoting an agenda of exclusion and discrimination” by adopting a policy which prevented the Israeli flag from being flown at the event.
Our statement regarding Pride Week events in Dublin pic.twitter.com/KBwPZ2FUst
— Israel in Ireland (@IsraelinIreland) June 24, 2024
Dublin’s Pride parade will take place this upcoming Saturday, according to the Dublin Pride website. The website advises that people bring banners “no more than 2m – 3m in width and 0.75m – 1m in depth as the easiest to carry and manage. That size also looks better in pictures. To avoid unnecessary waste, we ask that when designing your banners, you not date them and use a design you will be happy with for at least 3 years.” However, no mention of national flags could be located.
The embassy charged that Dublin Pride had altered its policy to stop national flags being flown as a circumvented way to prevent the Israeli flag from being displayed at the event.
The embassy further expressed outrage at the alleged efforts to exclude symbols of Israel because “Israel is the only country in the Middle East which LGBTQ+ rights and confers pension, inheritance and medical rights on LGBT couples that are as advanced as many western countries.”
“While Pride events celebrate LGBTQ+ communities in many parts of the world as they continue to strive for equality and freedom,” the embassy said, “it seems ironic that Israel should be targeted for exclusion because of a war that was forced upon us by a terrorist organization to whom LGBT communities are an anathema.”
The embassy stressed that the rights afforded to LGBTQ+ persons in Israel are not extended to those in the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority or in Gaza which is governed by Hamas.
It was further claimed that Dublin Pride had failed to express sympathy to those who suffered during Hamas’s October 7 attacks and that they had not issued a statement in support of the hostages kidnapped during the attacks.
Why you might see more rainbow flags in June
June is LGBTQI+ Pride Month and demonstrations are held across large parts of the world in commemoration of the ongoing struggles and discrimination faced by LGBT people.
The events often include a Pride March, inspired by the 1969 Stonewall riots which saw people take to the streets in protest of homophobic and or transphobic discrimination.