INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES UK 22 SEPT - TEL AVIV'S GAY ISIS-STYLE POSTER TAKEN DOWN AFTER CRITICISM

A party-organising company in gay-friendly Tel Aviv has been criticised for using posters with Isis beheading style photos to advertise a nightclub event. Drek, one of the Israeli city's most popular gay party promoters, adopted pictures echoing Islamic State's beheading videos of David Haines, James Foley and Steven Sotloff ahead of club night "Drekistan at the Haoman". In one picture, a black-clad man is seen posing his hand on the shoulder of a kneeled man in orange prison suit. The poster has the Isis flag on the left top corner and Arabic writing as bottom text. Another image shows a bare-chested man branding the Islamists' black flag. The organisers wrote on Drek's Facebook page that "as the new Islamic State gains traction in the Middle East, we at Drek have decided to give in to Sharia law and cheer the stubborn Daesh" according to a translation by Ynet news website. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Isis full former name, al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa al-Sham that translates as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis or Isil). Its acceptation is considered derogatory in the Arab world and that is the reason why France has decide to adopt it to refer to the Sunni Islamist group. The founder of Drek, Amiri Kalman, told Ynet: "We are trying to react to current events. We have been doing it for a number of years. But we reject violence in any form and that includes the (execution) videos intended to scare the world. "Therefore we also refuse to participate with this fear and refuse to become hysterical. This is satire, and our way of showing our contempt of them and their videos." The first poster has been taken down after been called tasteless and disgusting by several netizens. LINK: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tel-avivs-gay-isis-style-party-poster-taken-down-after-criticism-1466600