“We have to declare a holy war,” Baruch Marzal told the Arutz Sheva radio station, saying it is necessary to “stop crimes in Jerusalem and acts of sodomy.” He said the level of violence toward parade participants this year might well make last year’s stabbing look tame.Ī former Southern Baptist representative to Israel said the ultra-Orthodox, who believe Israel receives divine protection, view demonstrations like the parade as an affront to God. At last year’s event, an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed three marchers when they stopped to kiss in front of Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue. One of the opposition leaders, however, told a Jerusalem radio station that violence against participants in the parade, no matter the route, could not be prevented. The protests initially prompted police to reroute the parade away from ultra-Orthodox communities. Violence erupted when the court ruled the parade could proceed.įor weeks, ultra-Orthodox Jews or Haredim have rioted in the streets of Jerusalem, burning tires and setting fires in trash cans to protest the upcoming parade. That delay gave opponents more time to mount legal challenges to the event in Israel’s High Court. This year’s parade was to have taken place in August, but was cancelled due to the war between Israel and Lebanon. Uzi Even, a nuclear scientist and the first openly-homosexual member of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, told the newspaper that Israel’s homosexual community had made strides toward equality, but the decision to cancel the parade sent the message that Israel is “being dragged back into the dark world of religion.” However, opposition from what homosexual activists call “right-wing religious fundamentalists” is what parade organizers view as the real reason why police cancelled the parade, the Haaretz newspaper reported. The parade has been an annual event since 2002 and has drawn significant protests each year from Israel’s ultra-Orthodox, Christian and Muslim communities. Police originally had pledged 9,000 officers and soldiers to secure the event, but the Israeli Defense Forces’ recent strikes on the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, which killed 19 Palestinians, may have created a “mood of reprisal,” police officials said, noting that the large gathering of homosexual marchers might be an enticing target.
10) was cancelled amid fears that police would not be able to protect the marchers from Palestinian terrorists, Israeli authorities announced. JERUSALEM (BP)–A “gay pride” parade scheduled to wind through the streets of Jerusalem today (Nov.