Yet Jewish LGBTQ groups and those that work with them said that organizers were explicitly told that only the Israeli flag is banned, with all other flags permitted. Amanda Berman, executive director of Zioness, a progressive Zionist group, said the D.C. Dyke March is “singling out Israel and marginalizing and attacking and demonizing Israel in a way that these organizers do not demonize or single out any other country in the world.”
“First of all, the Jewish star is an internationally recognized symbol of the Jewish people,” Berman said. “The Magen David is much more than a symbol on the Israeli flag, it is the symbol of the Jewish people, the Jewish faith and the Jewish ethnicity. To ban that is antisemitic and has nothing to do with Israel, as much as they say they want to make it about Israel.”
“To suggest that Israel should somehow not be proud of its record for the LGBT community, because of other issues that happen in the Middle East is outrageous,” she said.