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An Israeli soldier holds a rainbow-colored flag as hundreds of people participate in a gay pride parade in downtown Jerusalem in this photo from Thursday June 3, 2004. (AP file)
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| By Roee Mendel October 22, 2006 |
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Jerusalem Councilwoman Mina Fenton of the National Religious Party told Ynet that "It cannot be that the Gay Pride Parade will be held on the day Crystal Night is remembered -- the day that marks the beginning of the Holocaust for the Jewish people.
"This is an insult to the Holocaust survivors," she said. "The homo-lesbian community is immoral and must be condemned."
Fenton wrote a letter to Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco asking that he call off the parade, which is set to take place on November 10. Crystal Night took place 68 years ago on the night between November 9th and 10th.
"Here is a group that speaks of freedom of expression yet crudely disrespects the public and the majority," Fenton said. "Holocaust survivors feel hurt that in the Jewish state in which they live, after the horrors they were subjected to, the city, as well as that day of sadness and pain, are being desecrated.
"The whole parade issue is trampling on every national value ? both historic and religious," she said.
Fenton added: "Any day that is chosen to hold the gay parade is a sad day. The first date set for the parade was November 4. How would the secular, atheist public in Israel accept a parade on the day marking (former Prime Minister) Yitzhak Rabin's assassination? I object to the parade on principle, but this only proves my point that the gay community is intolerant. This is hypocrisy."
"Racism of the worst kind"
Former minister and current Yad Vashem Council Chairman Yosef (Tommy) Lapid said in response that Fenton is making "cynical use of the Shoah's remembrance for political gain."
Fenton vehemently rejected Lapid's claim, saying, "This is not a political issue; the fact that this parade has been held over the past few years is horrific ? it is a provocation that endangers public safety and I am obligated to warn about that.
"I hear Muslim elements that say, 'You Jews have brought the inferior western culture, which the gay parade is a product of. We object to it and you Jews will suffer because of it'. We fear an attack on us because of the crime we are accused of," she said.
Fenton said, "When a small group of people wanted to visit the Temple Mount they were forbidden from doing so and were told that it would offend the large Muslim worshipping public. The same reasoning should be applied in this case as well."
Open House Chairman Open House Noa Sattath said in response to Fenton's comments, "Crystal Night took place on November 9, and we are holding the parade on November 10. Furthermore, the daily life in the country does not change significantly ahead of Crystal Night -- it is a day that commemorates an event in which members of a minority were murdered -- homosexuals and Jews. This hatred that Fenton is trying to ignite smells of racism of the worst kind."
This article first appeared on Ynet.
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