11/06/2006
Israel Won't Ban Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade; Rioting Continues
Israel's attorney general Meni Mazuz refused to ban a gay pride parade that is scheduled for this coming Friday in Jerusalem. Instead, he instructed gay activists to meet with police today and come up with an alternative plan for the march.
Ultra-orthodox Jews continued to riot in protest over the weekend as they have every single night over the past week, lighting fires in the street, throwing stones, and vandalizing property.
Gay pride planners said they were open to changing the route of the parade so that it did not run through Jerusalem's city center, thus lessening the potential for protest and violence. Police were not sure if this would have any impact on reactions from the Jewish ultra-orthodox Haredim.
One suggestion for compromise came from Sa'ar Netanel, a Meretz-affiliated Jerusalem city council member, and councilor Itay Pinkas, the Tel Aviv mayor's advisor on the gay community. They offered to cancel the parade entirely if the ultra-orthodox Jews would not object to same-sex marriage laws come up for government discussion:
"This is not the last time that the subject will come up. They won't get rid of us so quickly. If they cooperate with us, we'll also be open to the things that they need. All they have to do when the civil marriage law comes up for discussion in the Knesset [is say], 'We're not there, this doesn't affect us. We are allowing this to pass."
My first impression is that this would be a non-starter for the zealots.
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Posted 10:00 AM EST by Andy in Gay Pride, Israel, Jerusalem, News, Religion | Permalink
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Isn't it just amazing that from those who have received so much hatred from all corners of the globe, we now get hatred back.
How can Jews behave this way? Does anyone remember Hitler and Stalin?
Posted by: dc-20008 | Nov 6, 2006 10:13:41 AM
Unfortunately, according to all police-intelligence, there will be a *substantial* amount of bloodshed during the City's Gay Pride celebration.
The haredim, with their staunch medieval traditions (born more of east-euro ghettoization than a sane, reason-based, healthy Judaism), are literally dead-set against this event. The police anticipate at best rock-throwing, and at worse bombs and shootings.
This is one more reason to discourage and fight Fundamentalism in all its pernicious manifestations, lest it continue to be taught and embraced to our children; These types represent everything that can go rotten with religion. And, more to the point, these people are the epitome of what it means to be a Bad_Jew -- lacking empathy and an ability to engage different world-views in a non-emotional manner.
Evil doesn't get any more ignorant and self-righteous than Yerushalimi heradim. Watch and be amazed at their evil-actions.
rob@egoz.org
Posted by: rob adams | Nov 6, 2006 10:21:00 AM
Jews like these are a huge problem--one that the mainstream Jewish community doesn't want to admit exists.
Every time these zealots act, it results in anti-semitic acts towards those who had nothing to do with the bigotry to begin with.
How many synagogues have to burned? How many swastikas need to be painted on graves? These extremist idiots are why I intend to ax my father's Jewish last name and stick w/ my (hispanic) mother's maiden name.
Utterly, utterly disgusting--and a disgrace to the Torah.
Posted by: Jason | Nov 6, 2006 10:57:29 AM
DC asks: "How can Jews behave this way? Does anyone remember Hitler?"
Unfortunately no race or religion learns from history: why should anyone expect Jews to be more saintly than the rest of us? The Israeli government continues to build a modern apartheid state on the West Bank, complete with ghettos & ethnic cleansing, with the complicity of the Bush administration and the silence of the American press. It will only beget more violence twenty years from now but that doesn't matter. The Israeli government weighs the violence against the territory it gains, and would rather have the territory. Much as Bush & Co. calculate that the 3,000 American lives & the 400,000 - 800,000 Iraqi lives are "worth it."
It amazes me the lack of regard for human life by groups that call themselves religious. They'll obsess about abortion or stem-cell, but the lives of hundreds of thousands of brown people on the other side of the world mean nothing.
OK, I'm getting seriously OT here...
Posted by: mdc | Nov 6, 2006 11:50:12 AM
Christians were once fed to lions and that didn't stop the Spanish Inquisitions, witch burnings or the hateful position that some Fundamentalists take against gays.
Posted by: mark m | Nov 6, 2006 11:56:15 AM
Democracy triumphs in Israel!
In no other nation in the Middle East would you have the state authority allow a gay pride celebration to go forward over the objections of radical religious fundamentalist zealots.
This is why, despite the anti-Israel rantings of the extreme left who choose to condemn only Israel and selectively ignore the far worse and purposeful violations of civil rights in Arab nations - including the oppression of gays and women - most gay people instinctively realize that Israel is a beacon of secular democracy and enlightened tolerance for gay people in that area of the world.
Is Israel perfect in every regard? No, of course not, just as no nation is perfect. But when it comes to human rights and democracy, if you compare Israel to other nations in the region, it comes out far ahead of all others, especially in regards to gay rights.
Posted by: LightningLad | Nov 6, 2006 11:58:21 AM
Reading this makes me think about how the gay community in America likes to compare their struggle for equality with that of the civil rights movement.
Take note, people. Compared to our brothers and sisters in Israel (and other parts of the world), we ain't going through shit!
Posted by: soulbrotha | Nov 6, 2006 12:08:44 PM
good points Lightninglad.
The problems in Israel, I think, are because they chose Jerusalem for the parade. It's sort of like shoving it in the face of the observant.
There wouldn't be such objections if the parade were held in Tel Aviv, which has a much more secular population.
Hey MDC! How about let's have a parade in Mecca or Vatican City. Hmmmm...bethca it would be your last.
Posted by: Myackie | Nov 6, 2006 3:49:07 PM
Actually, SoulBrotha, Israel is (by and large) extremely liberal compared to America. In the IDF gay soldiers are protected, in the streets of TA couples can hold hands without incident, etc.
Jerusalem?
Jerusalem is a whole other story.
rob@egoz.org
Posted by: rob adams | Nov 6, 2006 3:58:41 PM
Who ever said the Evangelical Right Wing had a monopoly on intolerance and hostility to pluralism? It's everywhere! We'd better consolidate back to "liberal values," or else their values will dominate! Perish the thought! But the reality intrudes.
Posted by: The Gay Species | Nov 6, 2006 4:36:38 PM
lightninglad: what are your sources?
the gay pride event in beirut went off without a hitch. clearly, there are other, more democratic (and pluralistic) societies in the region.
Posted by: gwyneth cornrow | Nov 6, 2006 4:57:10 PM
Gwyneth,
I wasn't aware there was a gay pride parade in Beirut recently.
Is there a recent news article you can post so I can read about it?
Posted by: LightningLad | Nov 6, 2006 5:15:38 PM
Lightninglad: Gwyneth probably made that up....hence no posting.
Posted by: Myackie | Nov 6, 2006 6:10:41 PM
I agree with you, Rob Adams. Fundamentalism is the real culprit here. It doesn't matter if it is Jewish, Christian or any other group that are made up of fundamentalists. These Haredi Jews are the same group that throws stones a women who pray at the Kotel (Wailing Wall.) Any group of people who see nothing wrong with stoning women who wish to pray to God is certainly an embarrassment to the entire concept of religion. I am glad official Israel refuses to cancel the parade. It shows that some countries have not sold out to their fundamentalist bigots. Although I have often disagreed with many of Israel's actions, in this case they are showing the part of their beliefs that make me proud to support its continued existence.
Posted by: Michael D. Fein | Nov 6, 2006 8:48:34 PM
I might get flamed but c'mon, why hold a Gay Pride parade in the world's greatest Fundementalist's hotspot? I'm agnostic but I can totally understand why these guys think its a smack in their face. Maybe if all the wingnuts of the world should have a parade in San Francisco.
Posted by: Damon | Nov 6, 2006 10:01:36 PM