Police Approve Gay March in Jerusalem
Pastor Dale Morgan
Police Approve Gay March in Jerusalem*
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) A half-year has passed, and traditional elements in
Jerusalem are gearing up for another fight against yet another
homosexual parade in the holy city.
Religious, traditional and conservative elements in Jerusalem say they
will not accept another attempt at a homosexual parade in the holy city.
This, just a few days after the police announced its
approval-in-principle of the parade - scheduled for next month.
This past Thursday, the police stated they do not object to the holding
of a march sponsored by the Open House homosexual organization; the
organizers are still awaiting an official permit, however.
Six months ago, a loud controversy raged against the holding of a World
Pride event in the capital. Some leaders of that anti-parade campaign
now say they will not tire, and plan to fight the upcoming parade with
full force. A meeting was held a few days ago in the home of the head of
the Eidah Hareidit court, Rabbi Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss, who said, "Tell
[Public Security Minister Avi] Dichter that he had better build another
ten jails to hold all the protestors. This will be a real war."
Other hareidi and anti-parade leaders have made similar statements.
The event of last year was, anti-climactically, replaced by a relatively
small rally in a closed area in Hebrew University. Fearful that the
police would cancel the Open House parade because of both unyielding
religious-community threats to actively protest it and increasing terror
warnings, the organizers of the parade pre-emptively canceled it on
their own. The decision was preceded by days of increasingly violent
protests by hareidi youths, as well as weeks of activist efforts to have
it called off. Over 100,000 people signed a petition against the
parade, organized by Jerusalem City Council member Mina Fenton (NRP).
Homosexual marches are also scheduled in the coming weeks in Tel Aviv
and Eilat. No commercial companies will sponsor the Tel Aviv event, in
the face of threats by the religious sector to boycott any company that
backs the parade. Similarly, the Tempo soft-drink company, which has
sponsored such events in Eilat throughout the past six years, has said
it will no longer take part.