The Queering of Israeli Identity: A Torch for Gays, Not for the Jewish People

The decision to invite Ofer Nissim to light a torch on Israel’s Independence Day is far more than a tribute to a popular artist. It is a statement. A symbol of a new regime — not merely political, but cultural, moral, and ideological. Nissim is the banner of what has happened to Israel: a meticulously engineered process, in which every foundational pillar of Zionism has been replaced by a dazzling, fluid spectacle of identity — glowing on the surface, but hollow at its core.

What began as a personal reality — homosexuality — has morphed into an ideology. And not a liberal ideology of freedom and dignity, but one of enforced deconstruction: of family, gender, language, and nationhood. In Israel, as always, imports from the West come with a local twist. No longer an intellectual European-style “Pride,” but a flamboyant festival of Mizrahi homosexuality — wrapped in couscous, tefillin, and melodic Middle Eastern chants.

What was once a marginal, Tel Aviv-based, Ashkenazi rebellion, has in the past two decades evolved into a mainstream Mizrahi movement — even a trend. Today, it is “cool” to be a slim, tanned gay man from the market, laying tefillin in the morning and DJing at a Henna party by night. Half the popular Mizrahi singers are coming out of the closet, and public discourse — from pop culture to education, from media to the military — now dances to the beat of this new narrative: identity, representation, pride. As if there is no longer a single truth — only colors.

And Likud? Likud doesn’t resist this. Likud sells it. What began as a nationalist movement to preserve the Jewish people in its land, now packages Mizrahi homosexuality as a “mainstream” commodity. No tradition. No Zionism. No national mission. Just branding. Just marketability. Just Pride™.

What are we left with? A culture of flattery and pageantry. “The gays of Likud vs. the gays of Kaplan” — each competing for more screen time, more clicks, more state-sanctioned legitimacy. This is no longer identity — it’s a game. A race to see who can dominate the narrative faster and silence dissent harder.

This is not a liberating discourse. It is a new cultural colonialism. What began as a white-coded movement has quickly evolved into a Brazilian-style jungle: chaotic parades, fractured narratives, rootless bodies, and desire without boundaries. A copy of a copy — as always.

And so, in 2025, Ofer Nissim lights a torch — not in honor of Zionism, but in its memory. This is no longer a celebration of Jewish sovereignty in its homeland. It is a carnival of fluid identities, stripped of tradition, history, and purpose.