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"You enter Tel Aviv and you are in the gay dream," Muller said on a recent weeknight inside the packedDreck nightclub. "It's like entering a bubble of peace for homosexuals or LGBT people in the MiddleEast."Omer Gershon, 37, a veteran of the Tel Aviv gay club scene, said tourists are drawn to the city's "crazy"night life."The need for escapism is very high, so people go out every night to celebrate life," he said, adding thattourists find Israeli men "very exotic."Things are very different just an hour away in Jerusalem, where two‐thirds of the city's 800,000residents come from the ultra‐Orthodox Jewish or Arab sectors.In 2005, an ultra‐Orthodox protester stabbed three marchers at a Jerusalem gay parade. A few yearsago, a lawmaker from the ultra‐Orthodox Shas party suggested in parliament that earthquakes weredivine punishment for homosexual activity.Tel Aviv has not been immune to such violence. In 2009, a masked gunman opened fire at a center forgay and lesbian youth, killing a 26‐year‐old male counselor and a 17‐year‐old girl. It was the worstassault against Israel's gay community. The gunman was never caught.Generally, though, Tel Aviv's atmosphere is so liberal that certain clubs now refer to themselves as being"straight‐friendly," said Leon Avigad, who owns Brown, an urban boutique hotel that caters tointernational guests."Tel Aviv is so gay that you don't need to declare yourself as a gay institution in order to attract gays,"said Avigad, 40, who is married to a man and has a young daughter. "The Western world loves thismixture of Eastern warmth and the urban life of a big metropolis and the Western finesse and finethings in life."He said he's not concerned with the country's precarious politics."Because Israel is doing things that I personally may not agree with does not mean that it cannot be veryinteresting as a gay destination for foreign travelers. It just adds to the spice," he said.Also Featured on: abcnews.go.com tmcnet.com travelindustrytoday.com columbiatribune.combradenton.com edgeboston.com jamaicaobserver.com nydailynews.comPage 49 of 161