Israeli Police Walk Back Restrictions on LGBTQ Pride Event That 'Rewarded Extremism'
High Court Justices slam police decision to reroute Mitzpeh Ramon Pride Parade for fear of drawing ire from a nearby yeshiva and call on the force to 'do their homework'
The Israel Police have reconsidered the rerouting of Friday’s Pride parade in the southern desert town of Mitzpeh Ramon, in response to a petition to the High Court of Justice by the event’s organizers.
The police initially approved an alternative route that did no pass through the city’s center as planned in the parade’s original route as it passed near a local yeshiva.
The police said at a hearing on the petition on Wednesday there was a near certainty that serious harm would be caused to the participants of the parade.
Justice Uzi Vogelman said “there is no physical overlap between original parade route [through the center of town] and the yeshiva. It’s not a situation in which there is entry into a hostile area and the police have no way of separating the two sides.”
The state representative cited comments made by head of the Mitzpeh Ramon yeshiva, Rabbi Tzvi Kostiner: “Don’t be ashamed to say – gays go home. Homos go home. Evil, evil and more evil and we remain silent.”
She said that he holds extreme views about the LGBTQ community and had made extreme statements. The state had also said that the proposed rerouting had been based on an intelligence assessment.
- What it really means to be queer and Palestinian in Israel and the West Bank
- 'We're winning the fight': Tel Aviv Pride parade draws tens of thousands
- Israel's gay-baiting homophobes are fighting a losing battle
Justice Daphne Barak-Erez called on the police “to do their homework” first. “You don’t have a specific complaint here regarding the yeshiva, so what’s the message? That a Pride parade can’t pass through a city street because there’s a yeshiva a few dozen meters away?” she asked. “Because if that’s what you’re claiming, you need something more concrete.”
“What’s the message you’re sending here?” Barak-Erez added. “If extreme statements result in the pride parade being diverted, then apparently it pays off to act in an extreme manner.”
After justices on the panel hearing the case questioned the position of the police, they agreed to have the parade proceed as originally planned.
Click the alert icon to follow topics:
Comments
ICYMI
Three Years Later, Israelis Find Out What Trump Really Thought of Netanyahu
The Rival Jewish Spies Who Almost Changed the Course of WWII
What Does a Jew Look Like? The Brits Don't Seem to Know
'I Have No Illusions About Ending the Occupation, but the Government Needs the Left'
Russia-Ukraine War Catapults Israeli Arms Industry to Global Stage
