Hebrew newspaper stirs up uproar over Cairo's decision to close its waters to the "gay ship" and fears contagion of other countries
Afrasianet - Resentment has been raised in the Israeli media over Egypt's sovereign decision to prevent a gay ship from docking in its waters, with Hebrew newspapers invoking allegations about the official position on the decision.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said in a state of anger and apparent dissatisfaction with the sovereign Egyptian decision, that the LGBT cruise ship refused to enter Egypt a few days after Turkey prevented it from docking in its ports, sparking widespread panic among the trip's organizers.The Hebrew
newspaper added that the passengers of the ship, which carries about 2,000 passengers, including Israelis, were shocked last Thursday morning after being informed of the change of plan through a paper placed under the doors of their rooms stating that the ship was urgently looking for another port of docking, amid clear Egyptian and regional accusations of refusing to promote the anomaly.
Rich Campbell, CEO of Atlantis Events, expressed his anger and disappointment, saying that in the early morning hours he was informed that the ship would not be allowed to enter Egyptian territorial waters and therefore would not be able to dock in Alexandria, considering that the decision came suddenly compared to last year.
The visit to Egypt was originally a change in the initial plan of the trip, which was quickly organized after Turkey refused to allow the ship to enter its territory, noting that Egypt did not provide an official explanation for its decision.
She pointed out that the Israeli media tried to evade the real reasons for the Egyptian and Turkish decision, quoting local Turkish officials as confirming that the ship was chartered by groups known for behaviors that are not in line with the fabric of their society and moral values, reflecting a categorical rejection of such practices.
Kyle Olsen, the owner of the Hermes Holidays tourism company, tried to disavow the real reasons and blamed the governments, claiming that if Turkey had not refused to allow the ship to enter, Egypt would not have imposed its ban, expressing his anger and fear that other countries would follow the example of Egypt and Turkey and prevent the docking of gay flights in their ports.
Olsen tried to differentiate between the official and popular positions in a desperate attempt to soften the atmosphere, claiming that the positions of governments do not necessarily reflect the positions of citizens, claiming that the Turkish and Egyptian peoples are friendly and hospitable, completely ignoring the identical popular and official rejection in the two countries for such ships.
The organizers' anger went so far as to reroute the ship back to Chania in Crete and then to Montenegro, after the stop in Egypt was supposed to be one of the most prominent stops for passengers who paid large sums of money for private flights to the pyramids.
She pointed out that Campbell described the decision of Egypt and Turkey as astonishing and infuriating, stressing that the real reason is that it is a group of homosexuals, pointing out that the contacts made with the help of the US embassy in Turkey did not succeed in dissuading the two countries from their sovereign decision.
The Hebrew newspaper added that the anger extended to the star Patti Le Bon, who was making a show on the ship, where she shared her displeasure on Instagram, expressing her anger that the ship was prevented from entering Turkey and Egypt just because of those on board, stressing that she would continue to sail and make offers in other ports.
This Israeli media coverage reflects the anger and intense concern in Tel Aviv over the sovereign Egyptian decision, which was consistent with Turkey's position rejecting the docking of the gay ship.
The Hebrew newspapers are trying hard to downplay this rejection by promoting the hypothesis of separating the popular position from the official, in a desperate attempt to contain the repercussions of the decision and to hide the fact that the Egyptian rejection comes in line with the deep-rooted societal and religious values that completely reject the promotion of homosexuality under any tourist or entertainment name.
