A photo posted on the Israel Defense Forces Facebook page in honor of Pride Month, showing two male soldiers in uniform holding hands, has caused a stir.

The photo was posted June 11 and captioned “It’s Pride Month. Did you know that the IDF treats all of its soldiers equally?” It had garnered more than 10,400 likes and more than 8,400 shares as of June 13.

The more than 1,500 comments express both happiness and disgust at the photo, though positive comments appear to outnumber the negative by a large margin.

“Beautiful picture, proud to be an Israeli!!!!!!!!!” one comment reads. A combat soldier who identifies himself as gay comments that the photo “is absolutely reflective of how the Israeli army treats gays.”

Conversely, one comments reads, “This is disgusting,” and another says, “too bad for them unless they repent.”

“Pinkwashing in action,” reads another comment, referring to accusations that Israel focuses on its openness to homosexuality to hide how it treats the Palestinians. — jta n