Jerusalem (AFP) - The transsexual Israeli artist Dana International Tuesday filmed a music video in the Old Town of Jerusalem under police protection. Ultraorthodox Jews have threatened with mass demonstrations, but AFP has no information of any clashes taking place. "When Dana makes such a provocation in the Holy City, then we'll bring the masses into the streets," the ultraorthodox deputy mayor of Jerusalem Haim Miller threatened. In any case, the police had no protestors to keep away. Instead a big number of journalists and curious people were kept at a distance by the security forces. The music video, where Dana sings a religious song with words from the Bible, will be broadcast at the Eurovision Song Contest final on 19 May.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- They're painting the town pink. Clad in everything from wedding veils to leather G-strings, tens of thousands of homosexuals from 66 countries partied in the cobblestone streets of Amsterdam as the weeklong Gay Games got under way Saturday.

But here in Europe's self-styled homosexual capital -- where gays and lesbians can marry, are welcomed in the military and are close to winning adoption rights -- not even the bare- chested men with nipple jewelry rollerblading through town were drawing many stares.

"We're used to it," Andre Bakker said with a shrug as he and his wife, Florence, craned their necks for a glimpse of a dozen men in Dutch milkmaid outfits dancing on a passing canal boat.

Founded in San Francisco in 1982 as a gay alternative to the Olympics, the fifth quadrennial sports and cultural festival opened amid clear signs that it has come of age.

More than 200,000 visitors
Organizers said more than 200,000 visitors were in the Dutch capital for the games, which run through August 8 and will bring together 15,000 competitors -- half as many as in the mainstream Olympics. No matter the scattered smirks over the fact that they'll be handing out medals here for such "sports" as ballroom dancing and oil wrestling. Or that a small fringe group of hard-core homosexuals were running their own "Queer Do-It-Yourself Games," featuring purse-tossing and a 200-meter dash in high heels.

The famously accepting Dutch, thousands of whom lined the medieval canals Saturday to wildly cheer on a Gay Games parade of boatloads of transvestites, have rolled out the pink carpet.

"We've certainly made enormous gains in this country, and above all in this city," said Rene Zuidervelt, the editor of Gay News magazine. "It's not like that in other countries where homosexuals are oppressed," he said. "The Romanians and the Zimbabweans who compete here can get a feeling of solidarity."

The 'Gayway to Europe'
Gays and lesbians have been progressively integrated into Dutch culture over the past two decades. This year, lawmakers legalized same-sex civil marriage and are leaning toward granting homosexuals the right to adopt children.

About 50,000 people, straight and gay alike, packed a soccer stadium on the outskirts of Amsterdam for the opening ceremonies under the theme "Friendship Through Culture and Sport."

An exuberant Mayor Schelto Patijn welcomed the roaring crowd to Amsterdam, saying it was the "Gayway to Europe." The crowd cheered as the delegations marched in, the Japanese team wearing traditional kimono, athletes from rainy Holland holding aloft rainbow-colored umbrellas. Men in sailor's outfits danced to rave music.

"Many of us have competed in an environment where we have had to hide a valuable part of ourselves. One by one we have faced these fears," tennis star Martina Navratilova told the crowd via a satellite hookup and giant TV screens.

'Adding to our cultural experience'
The main event was a concert by Dana International, the Israeli transsexual pop star who gained notoriety and angered orthodox leaders at home for winning May's Eurovision song contest. Even so, the 1998 games aren't without controversy. On Saturday, the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation called on athletes to wear masks in protest of an International Skating Union decision banning its members from future competitions if they compete in Amsterdam.

Critics accused the ISU, skating's world governing body, of homophobia. ISU officials have denied that, saying it was simply an enforcement of long-standing rules forbidding participation in unsanctioned and unofficial competitions. None of that, though, came even close to stopping the Games from going on.

"This is certainly adding to our cultural experience," Bill Mayer of Greensboro, North Carolina, said with a grin as he and his wife, Kathy, watched two gay men in clingy black dresses and pumps walk past. This year's competition is the first to be held in Europe. New York City was the site of the last event in 1994; Sydney, Australia, site of the Summer Olympics in 2000, will have the first southern hemisphere Gay Games in 2002.

BM/AFP Jerusalem-- Disregarding the objections of Jewish zealots the Israeli government officially recognized the transsexual singer Dana International for her win at the international pop competition. The 29-year-old was received on her return to Israel by the Tourism Minister, Moshe Katsav.

Under the light of the photographers' flashes she gave the politician a kiss on each cheek, which he returned somewhat perplexedly. "I am very proud to give my country my victory as a present for its 50th anniversary," said the singer, who was once a man.

Prim Minister Benjamin Netanyahu limited himself to conveying his congratulations through a spokesman. Dana International had won the Grand Prix of Eurovision, which was seen worldwide by around 600 million viewers, over the weekend. The German Guildo Horn finished in seventh place.

Katsav confirmed that Israel would stage the next Eurofestival, even if there is opposition from ultra-orthodox Jews. According to festival rules, the country that sends the winning song organises the event the following year. Dana International said she is sure the next Grand Prix will take place in Jerusalem. In the event that problems arise, however, the festival could also be organized in Tel Aviv.

A poll found 59 percent of Israelis are proud that the singer competed as the representative of the Jewish state; 17 percent hold a contrary opinion.

 

JERUSALEM (AP) -- She looked fabulous: slinky, sleeveless top, tight black pants, masses of dark hair, dazzling smile. And she sounded well, as fabulous as is necessary to win the Eurovision song contest, a sugary but hugely watched pop event. So why on earth was Israeli diva Dana International fielding earnest questions Tuesday about religious coercion, civil liberties and artistic freedom?

Because up until a sex-change operation five years ago, Dana whose name is pronounced DAH-nah was a man, one Yaron Cohen. And since her weekend Eurovision victory, she has reluctantly become a symbol of the increasingly bitter rift between Israel's secular majority and its ultra-religious minority.

The country's Orthodox establishment has denounced her as an abomination, unnatural and decadent, a disgrace to the Jewish state. The secular side responded with a volley of complaints about narrow-mindedness. Dana herself is trying to stay above the fray. At her first news conference since her return from Britain, where the song contest was held, not a harsh word crossed her bee-stung, cherry-tinted lips. "I want everyone to be happy," she sweetly told a jostling mob of journalists and gawkers who came to see her welcomed home by Israel's tourism minister. "My victory was a present to all of Israel."

Dana's popularity is seen as a sign of increasing acceptance of gay and alternative lifestyles, even in Israel's highly macho culture. With word of her victory, raucous late-night celebrations broke out Sunday in Tel-Aviv's central square. Dana's appeal clearly cuts across lines of gender and sexual preference. Female staffers of the Tourism Ministry some looking eerily like the diva, with elaborate makeup, tight skirts and lots of hair pushed their way into the news conference, clambering onto chairs and craning their necks to get a glimpse of her.

"Just look at her nails!" one exclaimed. Asked about her role in the religious--secular rift, the singer said religious pressure concerns her, but "I'm just so proud to represent my country." Even so, the role of secular symbol seems to fit almost as snugly as one of Dana's feather-and-sequin dresses.

The controversy comes on the heels of a battle over a modern dance troupe's planned seminude performance at Israel's 50th anniversary celebrations last month. In that skirmish, religious forces triumphed: the dancers refused to perform after being ordered to cover up. Even before Dana's return, controversy erupted over plans to hold the annual Eurovision contest which consistently draws an audience in the hundreds of millions in Jerusalem next year.

Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Deputy mayor, Haim Miller, said Monday that events like Eurovision should "stay in the land of the gentiles." An irritated Mayor Ehud Olmert called his deputy a blabbermouth. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself said the contest would "absolutely" take place as planned in Jerusalem. Israeli commentators, meanwhile, embarked on an almost Talmudic dissection of what Dana's win said about Israel's standing in the world. An opinion piece in the Maariv newspaper suggested that her transsexuality outweighed what might have otherwise been a predisposition against an Israeli singer.

"According to the scale of political sympathy for Israel in the world, we had about a zero chance of winning," wrote commentator Sarit Fuchs. "But the politically correct is stronger than the political."

 

JERUSALEM, May 11 (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, shrugging off opposition from ultra-Orthodox Jews, vowed on Monday that Israel would host the Eurovision annual song contest next year in Jerusalem. By Howard Goller.

Israeli singer Dana International, who was a man until a sex change operation in 1993, won the contest in Britain on Saturday night, defeating performers from 24 other countries and re-igniting a row with religious Jews who said she defied God.

The next Eurovision is a year away but, like most issues in Israel, it was fair game for politicians always quick to quarrel. The winning country in the celebrated mix of music and kitsch traditionally hosts the event the following year.

Asked if he supported Eurovision taking place in Jerusalem in 1999, Netanyahu said: "Certainly -- and it will be." The singer's self-proclaimed gift to Israel on its 50th birthday -- she won for a catchy dance tune named Diva -- fanned the flames of a battle raging between an overwhelmingly secular majority and a small but powerful ultra-Orthodox minority.

Radio talk-show hosts had speculated, only half-jokingly, that Netanyahu risked the collapse of his government, which includes ultra-Orthodox political parties, if he congratulated the winner, a leggy brunette previously known as Yaron Cohen. "I congratulated her and all those who took part in the effort," Netanyahu told reporters when asked his views of the transsexual's triumph. "This appears to me to be deserving of congratulations. It's definitely an honourable achievement."

Interviewed later by Israel's Channel Two Television, Netanyahu acknowledged not having personally called Dana International but the Israeli leader said he hadn't ruled out inviting her to his office to thank her officially. Asked if he was having a hard time coping with the controversy, Netanyahu said: "Why? I listened and hummed like the rest of the public."

Haim Miller, the ultra-Orthodox deputy mayor of Jerusalem, pledged on Sunday to do everything in his power to bar the contest from the holy city next year. "What Haim Miller says at most represents only himself, and even that I am not sure about. This municipality is against censorship in matters of culture and art," Israel's Mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, shot back. Israel last hosted the Eurovision in Jerusalem in 1979. Since that time, the numbers of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the holy city and their political clout have soared.

The religious-secular row last flared over the right of a troupe of modern dancers to strip down to their underwear during the country's main 50th anniversary show last month. The troupe boycotted rather than appear in tights, as had been proposed. Secular Israelis, most of whom serve in the army, assail the tens of thousands of military exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews who nonetheless receive huge government sums for their schools and religious institutions. The ultra-Orthodox say they are engaged in religious studies that have preserved Judaism through the ages.

While Israeli politicians took the Eurovision issue seriously, some critics voiced another view. Despite the large television audience the event draws, they see the more than 40-year-old event as an anachronism and a monument to bad taste.

Birmingham-- Alongside Guildo Horn the most colourful bird at the Grand-Prix. And with Dana International as well there was vehement debate over her participation. The orthodox tried to prevent her nomination.

Even her participation was a victory -- a victory over an intolerant part of Israeli society. Religious fanatics tried through litigation to remove the attractive 26-year-old singer as their musical representative. The organizers of the Israeli selection insisted, however, that the song "Diva" was the best of the entries: "We looked at the body of the song and not that of the interpreter."

With 174 points the transsexual diva, who five years ago underwent a sex-change operation, won the grand prize. With a conservative song, but a satisfying performance: in the silver dress that she chose at the last minute over the Gaultier creation prepared specially for her, and with a seductive voice and dreamy figure, she infatuated the audience.

For some a delight to the eye, for others a poke in the eye. On the road to European tolerance it was a milestone. The first ever win for a transsexual pop-vamp -- and after 1978 and 1979, the third for Israel. As winner the country must traditionally put on next year's show. That will be not only a moral challenge, but more than a typical challenge to security techniques as well.

Israelis took to the streets in celebration late Saturday, cheering and honking horns after homegrown Dana International, a transsexual, won the Eurovision song contest. Born Yaron Cohen to immigrant parents from Yemen, Dana International gained fame in Israel as a female impersonator in Tel-Aviv night clubs. In 1993, Dana International underwent a sex change operation in London.

Her nomination in November to represent Israel in the contest caused a stir among some religious Jews, and several powerful Orthodox lawmakers had even considered trying to topple the government over the issue. Dana International, whose winning song "Diva," has been a hit in Israel for months, told Israel TV that her victory was a sign of changing times. "This just goes to show the world is open-minded and liberated. We are all equal," she said, after the show in Birmingham, England.

But the ultra-Orthodox reaction was harsh. "God is against this phenomenon. It's a sickness you must cure and not give legitimacy," said Deputy Health Minister Rabbi Shlomo Benizri of the religious Shas party. "In order to win the Eurovision after 20 years, we had to send a gimmick. It's a sign of the bankruptcy of Israeli song," he added.

The win comes at a time of deepening rifts in Israeli society over the influence of religion in daily life and will likely be seen in Israel as a victory for secular Israelis. Dana International, whose dark gray figure-hugging dress with feathered sleeves was designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, sings in Hebrew, Arabic, French and English. It was Israel's third victory in the song contest, making Jerusalem the venue for next year's show.

 

Tel Aviv (DPA) -- Dana International, a transsexual diva from Israel, has won the Grand Prize at Eurovision. She belongs beside Germany's Guildo Horn as one of the most unusual participants at Birmingham.

Much like the German cult-star's win at selection, the temperamental singer has provided much discussion in her homeland. Five years ago, at the age of 21, she underwent a sex operation. Dana International's appearance represents a great victory over the intolerant part of Israeli society.

The trip to the European Sing Festival was the high-point of an unusual journey for the temperamental singer with the sexy aura. Her life began in a poor and simple family of Yemenite origin as a boy, Yaron Cohen. Her appearance at the Eurofestival not only fulfils a long dream, but justifies her lifelong struggle before innumerable television viewers.
As a boy Dana did all the things that a girl his age would do: he played with dolls, did cute hairdos and dreamed of life as an international star. Even then she felt like a girl trapped in the body of a boy. For years she was ridiculed even by members of her own family. Yet nothing could alter her obstinate wish to be a woman.

As a teenager she began taking hormone pills to make her breasts grow. After her sex-operation Dana stated her career as a dance-diva in the vibrant Israeli club scene. No matter how often she met opposition, she never gave up. In the course of the years Dana's candid demeanour together with her seductive and hypnotic voice won her broad support in all of Israel. Last year she was chosen in a nationwide poll as the country's best artist.

But even the popularity has not convinced the powerful religious segment of society to take her as she is. They even attempted -- futilely -- to hinder her selection as Israel's representative to Birmingham. "She is abominable, even in Sodom their was nothing like this," scolded Rabbi Shlomo Ben-Izri, a leader of the politically influential Shas party. "I am ashamed of the decision, It is a sign of darkness."

The organisers of the Israeli selection refused to withdraw in the face of a manifest political challenge. Their opinion was that Dana's song "Diva" was by far the best of the songs entered. "We considered the body of the song, not the interpreter," said the director of the television association. Even the serious newspaper Ha'aretz named Dana "Queen of the Levant." "I want to carry the flag of a liberal and free Israel, one that knows how to have fun," said Dana a short time ago in an interview. "The God I believe in does not kill people. He doesn't care whether I have breasts or not. He cares about my soul."

 

What Guildo Horn is for Germans, Dana International is for Israelis: cult figures and cultural shames, celebrated and derided by their countrymen, both will compete against one another on May 9 in Birmingham at the "Grand Prix de l'Eurovision de la Chanson." By Claire Snegaroff, AFP.

The case of the transsexual Dana International however is not only a matter of taste, but a tough political issue: Should a woman who was once a man represent the state of Israel, where the influence of Jewish fundamentalists is growing ever stronger? For them transsexuality is an offence against holy writ. Dana on the other hand wants to represent in Birmingham a "free" Israel -- the thorn in the side of orthodox Judaism.

Ambassador for "a free, modern Israel"
On Saturday Dana wants to sing herself into the hearts of Europeans with her song "Diva." Right at the beginning of the week the 29-year-old brunette left for Birmingham to get ready for her big appearance. She has set herself a big goal: after 1978 and 1979, she wants to bring the Grand Prix to Israel again -- as the ambassador of a "free" and "modern" Israel -- no matter what the orthodox have against it.

A "sign of darkness"
Dana splits the nation -- bosomy and dressed in tight outfits, she is an eye-catcher for the cameras and a poke in the eye for the religious parties. Shlomo Ben-Izri, Knesset-member for the ultra-religious Shas party, sees sending Dana as a cultural ambassador as "a sign of darkness." Of his disdain for transsexuals he makes no secret: a sex change is "worse than sodomy."

Dana does not put herself out much over such harsh critics: "For them I am something like a living Satan." she replies. The head of the Israeli selection panel, Gil Samsonov, sees nothing devilish in the singer: of course a transsexual could bring the Grand Prix back to Israel. "As a modern and free land, we pick our artist for her talents, not whether the body of the singer is that of a man or a woman." Besides, in Birmingham Dana will "bring forward the transsexual issue."

Threat of "Culture war"?
Dana's appearance is, in any case, a provocation in a country where the religious parties forced the largest dance group to call off an "offensive" performance. The Bat-Sheva ensemble want to put on a dance in which the dancers who represented orthodox Jews would strip down to their underwear. "Religious censorship!" cried the left-intellectuals at the cancellation, warning of a "culture war between secular and religious Israelis.

Dana wants to perform her rhythmic song in any case in a designer outfit by Jean-Paul Gaultier, "It will be the most outstanding and professional three minutes of the contest," promises Dana's agent, Ofer Nissim.

Professional in an outfit from Gaultier
Dana was born as Yaron Cohen in Tel Aviv and at 16 took her steps into the homosexual nightlife. Nissim noticed her talent and brought Dana onto the stage in transvestite numbers in which she would imitate Israeli and international singers. At 24 she wanted to become a woman and became Dana: in London she underwent the operation that made her definitively a woman and a star in Israel. Even in Egypt, where as a "subversive" Dana may not enter, her recordings sell like hot cakes -- six million copies, all under the counter, of course.

The diva looks after her image: she gives no interviews to the Israeli press; details of her past hardly ever reach the public. She even wants to keep the details of her evening gown for the contest to the last minute. Even if she does not win the Grand Prix, a further appearance before the international public for Dana is assured: as a singer at the opening ceremonies of the Gay Games in August.