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Haredi protest against Pride Parade (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners November 6, 2006 |
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The Chief Rabbinate addressed the upcoming pride parade set to take place this Friday in Jerusalem as the parade organizers attempt to reach an agreement on the parade's route.
The Chief Rabbinate called on Rabbis and their communities to "hold prayer rallies against the existence of this abominable parade."
"We trembled in horror at the news of this menacing plot devised by a minority of our lost brothers, who have agreed to do the lowest, most abominable of acts -- acts which are the polar opposite of the value of modesty the nation of Israel has been blessed with." It is with these harsh words that the Chief Rabbinate describes the pride parade due to take place Friday afternoon, apparently in an alternative venue offered by the police to representatives from the Jerusalem Open House. The parade is expected to be held in Jerusalem's National Compound (Kiryat Haleom).
"They have dared to parade in the holy city and temple to display their rebellion against the laws of the holy Torah and human morality, embraced by the majority of the world's nations,' writes the Rabbinate, complaining of the 'crushing of the feelings of millions who hurt and grieve this desecration, fearful of the horrible dangers concealed in this sinful act against the existence of our people.
"If our prayer will not be heard (and the parade is allowed) we call for protests to be held on Friday, to express the pain and objection over harming the sanctity and purity of the nation of Israel and the defilement of the holy city," said the announcement.
The political system is already up in arms following the Rabbinate's announcement. MK Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) said "The Chief Rabbinate of Israel, bound by the civil servant code, has completely overstepped its authority. It cannot carry out this unrestrained assault against an entire public." Vilan demands, therefore, of the Civil Service Commissioner to intervene and try the Rabbinate in a disciplinary trial. "The style of the announcement is reminiscent of attacks against Jews during the darkest times of the nation's past," says Vilan
Gay pride parade organizers met with Jerusalem Police representatives Monday morning in an effort to reach an agreement on the parade's route. Police officials offered the Kiryat Haleom complex as a possible alternate venue, a proposal that was largely accepted by the Open House organization.
Consequently, Chief Justice Dorit Beinish said during a hearing on the matter that the sides will reach a final agreement on an alternative route later in the day, thus rendering the appeals submitted against the parade irrelevant.
The appeals, submitted by right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel are based on the police's assumption that the parade, which is scheduled for this coming Friday, will lead to violence and should therefore be called off for the sake of "public safety." The petitioners said that in case the parade is not canceled its route should at least be altered.
The High Court has ordered Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to submit by Tuesday his response to the appeals against the holding of the gay parade in Jerusalem.
The court has also instructed Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco to attend Wednesday's hearing on the matter to brief the court on any intelligence information that may pose a threat to the parade's participants.
The High Court of Justice is now being asked to rule over the recent proverbial 'hot potato' which has already stirred the rage of Israel's ultra-Orthodox community who took to the streets Sunday night in yet another show of the same riots that the country has been watching for the past week. 20 police officers were injured on Sunday.
The decision facing Chief Justice Dorit Beinish and her colleagues is between the elementary right of homosexuals to free speech, and the haredi claim that the parade will damage privacy rights and Jewish values.
Ynet staff writers Aviram Zino and Neta Sela contributed to this report.
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