Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Hat tip to Arieh Leibowitz of Meretz who turned me on to this outrageous public statement by IDF chief of staff, Dan Halutz:

“There are two genders – men and women, actually there is another one which you are not allowed to mention,” Lt. General Dan Halutz said in a public speech, coolly referring to gays and lesbians.

His clumsy slip of the tongue, by no means his worst act of public relations recently, has secured him a place in the ever-growing camp of opponents to the…[gay]) community in Israel…

Halutz’ lack of sensitivity and inadequate sense of public morality, which was well demonstrated when he got rid of his stocks at the outbreak of the war, are only shadowed by his poor performance as chief commander of the war. The statement in question, however, only contributes to his public image as a man who fails to think before he speaks

While Dan Halutz’s mind is a deep, dark place I’d rather not plumb the depths of–I think it’s instructive to examine his statement. First, he distinguishes homosexuality as a gender apart from male and female. Second, he pretends that being gay is something “you are not allowed to mention.” While this may be a feeble attempt at humor, it is interesting that Halutz only allows himself to speak about homosexuality in terms that pretend one can’t speak about it at all. Third, what Halutz unconsciously is saying is not that homosexuals are a gender apart from the two human genders; but that they are a species apart from human beings. In other words, gays are altogether alien from us, a figure worthy of mocking laughter and ridicule.

This is a man who could not successfully prosecute a war. He cannot lead an army. And he dare not speak the name “homosexual.” This is a man with whom we wish to entrust the security of the nation and the lives of our young soldiers (including many gays)?