A photo by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) showing two gay soldiers holding hands has gone viral on Facebook.

The official image has generated over 10,000 likes, 8,000 shares and a range of comments from the supportive to the comic and from the anti-Israeli to the homophobic.

The IDF posted the picture on the social networking site with the caption: ‘It's Pride Month. Did you know that the IDF treats all of its soldiers equally? Let's see how many shares you can get for this photo.’

From the outset, it created a huge response.