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Tel Aviv Comes Out

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international image. The programme Tel Aviv. 40 miles from the Gaza

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Strip. Less than an hour were's Tel Aviv. 40 miles from the Gaza

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from the Western Wall. And is now one of the most gay friendly places

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on earth. How has a city in the heart of the Middle East become

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on earth. How has a city in the Bastian of sexual tolerance? Want of

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the international icons tells me how Israelis are also religious and

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Like OK Palestinians could not be more difference. In the Arab world,

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being gay athlete is not that good. So being out and everybody knows

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it, you will not have a normal And in the park where he used to

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cruise for sex, the 30th generation rabbi is redefining what it is to be

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gay and Jewish. The fact that there is a spiritual group of people who

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wanted to be clear and experience This is a site of Israel that few

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would recognise and a city that This is a site of Israel that few

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Gay pride has come to town. It is my first event. I sense they are not

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all like this. Where are we running first event. I sense they are not

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all like this. Where are we running too? The car.A colourful, crazy

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up with an orthodox lesbian friend collection. Just struggling to

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up with an orthodox lesbian friend who is on a mission. Red, orange,

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yellow, green, where is green? Green who is on a mission. Red, orange,

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yellow, green, where is green? Green has gone. Gay Hasidic Jews. Is it

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possible to be religious orthodoxy Protesters. If you are a straight

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talking gay or a female looking lesbian, it is wonderful in Israel.

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Everybody thinks you are awesome. completely by Nellie, your life

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Everybody thinks you are awesome. living hell. An optimistic explosion

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of colour with an undercurrent of politics. Kitsch and camp. Orthodox

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and secular. And to make it even more dizzying, all of this has

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exploded in the past couple of accident. The city's now has set out

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to revamp a Tel Aviv as a Bastian of gay freedom. This is the venue that

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You put a lot of deliberate effort into this. You spent a lot of money

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to promote this in Israel and around into this. You spent a lot of money

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to promote this in Israel and around the world. This has been a policy.

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The plan is working. These are How much has he spent promoting

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The plan is working. These are arguably the most gay friendly

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square miles in Israel. And for arguably the most gay friendly

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distance beyond this country's drawing a crowd of 100,000. A fifth

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credentials abroad, the Mary even dispatched some of Israel's most gay

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men to other places around the world to publicise Our World —— Tel Aviv.

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But it has not always been a pink paradise. Away from the parade,

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But it has not always been a pink have come to Tel Aviv University, to

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instrumental in transforming gay rights in Israel. Professor. Yes.

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Chemistry professor was the Evan is an unlikely human rights you are. ——

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hero. More than 200 of them. It an unlikely human rights you are. ——

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probably the fastest mechanical device on earth. It can open and

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millionths of a second. I hear there is a waiting list. No, just one

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year. Do I have to wait a year?You will have to wait more, because

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year. Do I have to wait a year?You do not have a scientific need for

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it. I have HECS Ian chemistry. OK. His place goes back to the early

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nuclear scientist in the army. Until nuclear scientist in the army. Until

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his sexuality got in the way. I nuclear scientist in the army. Until

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to handle sensitive material. When they found out that I am gay, I

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to handle sensitive material. When discharged without any way to debate

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I was deeply hurt. I believed that I it or argue with it or explained it.

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I was deeply hurt. I believed that I was useful for them. I enjoyed it.

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How did they find out? Periodically was useful for them. I enjoyed it.

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How did they find out? Periodically they have to check your security

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man. That was all it took. And at clearance. A neighbour downstairs

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man. That was all it took. And at the time, in the early 1980s, apart

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from the army was a difficult place to be gay? Horribly difficult.

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People were subject to a years of imprisonment. There was constant

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police harassment. Society regarded it as something that was bad. You

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could not come out, you would pay such a heavy price. Ten years after

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his discharge, he decided to tell his story to the Israeli Parliament.

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against it. They carried my speech in every newspaper. I had a good

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story to tell. Because we are gay, we are marginalised. The Labour

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sympathetic. Laws changed. And now the army claims to be the most gay

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serve. This photograph was posted on serve. This photograph was posted

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for a gay people. They have jobs Facebook. There are some jobs in

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for a gay people. They have jobs promoting gay people. Why would

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honey traps as well. Maybe some know what a honey trap is? They

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Besides the military and political Arabian scientists have suppressed

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Besides the military and political battles, there was another unlikely

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figure who gave the gay figure a seminal push. —— movement. Parking

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Everybody is going to the Jaffa wharf. An industrial place. To see

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one of the biggest names in the International —— Eurovision Song

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Contest. It might be 15 years since she won Eurovision. But she can

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Her 1998 Eurovision victory was cited as a key milestone in the

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In the slightly less glamorous representing Israel, but winning.

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gay people here. It is surprising to the world. Israel is a religious

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country. Along with that, Israel is community. It is unbelievable that

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Israel suffers from such a bad name. religious, riding camels and reading

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beautiful picture that you paint. But there are clearly part of Israel

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that there are is discrimination. People say that it was not until the

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1990s. You are flattering me. I People say that it was not until the

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supposed to say yes, it is all because of me. But it is not like

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that, I am telling you. Since I because of me. But it is not like

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13 years old, we have always had gay years old. You have to understand,

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the secular tolerance, Israel is different to the orthodox Israel. Do

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you have friends in the Arab world? Yes. I love Arab boys. They are

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you have friends in the Arab world? and competitive. There are more

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masculine. Do you think this could process? Sex process. Thank you

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masculine. Do you think this could much. It seems like a good moment to

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International. For all the carefree much. It seems like a good moment to

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International. For all the carefree head and is in of pride, Israel

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—— hedonism. Two people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a gay

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youth centre. But it was the outcry afterwards, from the PM downwards,

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it was just as notable. Suggesting that the incident was an exception

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to public opinion, not an indication of it. In fact, some of the voices

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around this come from within the gay community itself. Angry that the

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politicians to show that Israel community itself. Angry that the

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morally superior to its name, —— Tel Aviv University professor calls

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this pink washing. A professor he may be, but he is having a little

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trim before at pride. —— Pride. may be, but he is having a little

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the one hand, having the Palestinian question, but on the other hand

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If we take tomorrow's events, is that pink washing? Or is that a

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community showing its own confidence that pink washing? Or is that a

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Understandably, for some people question is the big dominant thing.

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And, if gay rights are being used as a political tool for that, against

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what you believe in, if they are being used to take peoples attention

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away from the occupied territories, then that will make it hard if you

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are gay to celebrate gay rights here. It will leave a bitter taste

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President Obama said his best wishes to Pride, but will there be any

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offers of support from Israel's immediate neighbours? I sent the

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Egyptian press office and e—mail to see if they might be wishing Tel

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Aviv gay pride would luck for this week? —— good luck. The line has

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gone dead. So, nothing back from Egypt, Jordan said they would get

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back to me, and haven't done that. Nothing from Palestinian authority,

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nothing from Lebanon and no messages of goodwill for gay pride from any

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not great to be gay in the Arab of Israel's neighbours. While it is

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not great to be gay in the Arab world, to some extent it is nuanced.

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talk about his experience. We found they route. —— mine, and a route.

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talk about his experience. We found anonymity preserved. So we will

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talk about his experience. We found identify him. We'll call him Ahmed.

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do you need to keep your identity secret? Firstly, because of my

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community. You know? In the Arab world, being gay out plea is not

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good. Being out and everyone knows about you, you will not have a

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normal life in an Arab city. What do you mean by not having a normal

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the Arab world, you know in general it is a shame. And a shame thing in

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our country will the Arab world it is a shame. And a shame thing in

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experience of other gay people you know in the Palestinian territories?

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How has it been for them with their families and communities? Most of

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them, they are not out. They don't tell their families. Sometimes they

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travel abroad to study and they tell their families. Sometimes they

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Apart from your family, does anyone are gay? No. No.What would happen

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Some people think would not talk to to you or your family? What would

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Some people think would not talk to me any more. Not because they hate

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or think it is a bad thing, but because they think it will affect

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step back. It would have been quite because they think it will affect

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step back. It would have been quite something at the sexual revolution

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really crossed the cultural and something at the sexual revolution

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physical barriers between here and the West Bank. Israel itself remains

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This is an alternative summit run by a gay man who is trying to reinvent

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A gay Orthodox Jew from a dynasty of 37 generations of rabbis, this

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man's homosexuality alienating him from his community. Now, he is

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leading a group of gay and lesbian Jews in worship. This has been the

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for as long as anyone can remember. primary cruising site in Tel Aviv

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for as long as anyone can remember. In my teens, before online dating

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and before a happy courage to go out to the few gay places that were

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here, this is where I would come. With a great deal of terror. Wide

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there was a conflict between Huay as With a great deal of terror. Wide

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there was a conflict between Huay as a religious Ju, and to who I am

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there was a conflict between Huay as someone who is attracted to my own

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religious Jew. I chose Faure few years to take my tip are off, ——

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kippah. And now you are leading years to take my tip are off, ——

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religious group. It is quite a journey. Yes, watching the parade

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today, this was not possible 20 years ago. This is for people who

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want to be queer and experience their spirit in a very new and

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creative Jewish way. To try and build a circle for all of them

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For a country so often in the news, Israel has the capacity to confound

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to be one big party, the politics is expectations. While it might appear

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to be one big party, the politics is attention. It might be hard to infer

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wider, regional invocations from the attention. It might be hard to infer

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wider, regional invocations from the organically and with deliberate

:24:40.:24:41.

effort, to become an intriguing organically and with deliberate

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effort, to become an intriguing microcosm of tolerance in the heart

:24:45.:24:45.

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