On Saturday night, Rabbi Meir Mazoz, a leading rabbi within the ultra-orthodox sector railed against homosexuals and slammed the ‘pride parade’ as well as members of the gay community during his weekly address to his followers.
Mazoz, who gave his support in the last elections to Shas and is also revered by several senior members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, said that "we should stay away from the pride parade, when there is such a parade we should close the windows, and tell the children 'there is a parade of cattle walking on two legs."
Rabbi with ties to Ben-Gvir and Deri says Amir Ohana is 'infected with a disease': Mazoz also hinted that the Meron incident because of the existence of the LGBTQ+ community. https://t.co/0hZRnsSsNz JPost pic.twitter.com/6iTLmjvdT5
— Jewish Community (@JComm_NewsFeeds) January 1, 2023
The Rabbi said these words two days after the Knesset appointed the openly gay Amir Ohana to the position of Speaker. Referring to Ohana, Mazoz blamed him for the Meron disaster in which 45 Haredim were killed in a stampede during the annual pilgrimage of Ultra-Orthodox to the burial site of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. An investigation placed the blame on organizers who encouraged more people to come, despite government officials limiting the crowd to 10,000 people due to safety concerns.
In his speech, Mazoz said without mentioning Ohana by name: “Two years ago, something happened at Lag B’Omer and people say… that there was some minister there in charge of Meron who is himself infected with this disease [homosexuality]. So is it really a question of what happened to us?” Ohana was serving as the Public Security minister when the tragedy occurred, and his ministry placed the limits on attendance that the Rabbis had ignored.
Minister Chikli: "I strongly condemn Rabbi Mazuz's harsh words against Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and against LGBT people. There is no disease more dangerous than gratuitous hatred, we will win only by loving all of Israel." https://t.co/qBVUYBrlRt
— Zvika Klein צביקה קליין (@ZvikaKlein) January 1, 2023
Rabbi Mazoz is the head of the Kissei Rahamim yeshiva and one of the most prominent figures in the Sephardi current in the ultra-orthodox sector.
In response to the twisted association, Knesset Member Gilad Karib (Labor) tweeted: "How is it possible in one sentence to spread so much hatred, to desecrate the memory of the victims of the Meron disaster, and remove the mask from the face of the new coalition?”
Merav Cohen, a lawmaker from Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party also tweeted: We really missed the "Animal Parade". This is a wonderful opportunity for Bezalel Smotrich, who organized the "Animal Parade" and later said he was sorry for it, to condemn Rabbi Mazuz's insulting words. In 2006, Smotrich, the leader of the far-right ‘Religious Zionist’ party organized a parade of animals to mock the pride parade. As he became politically active he later apologized.
“Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich called himself 'a proud homophobe' and blamed one of the COVID waves on the Tel Aviv Pride Parade. He organized a counterprotest where participants marched with animals to depict the "impurity" of homosexuality” https://t.co/QhX7w3sfZi
— Karim Emile Bitar (@karimbitar) September 25, 2022
Ohana was appointed Speaker of the Knesset with the support of 63 members of the new government, thereby making history as the first member of the gay community to serve in a senior position. But some of his coalition partners did not hide their views on the gay community, and Knesset members Meir Parosh and Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism did not vote for him.
During his speech, Ohana thanked his husband and children who were sitting in the audience, and stated that "this Knesset will not harm any family and any child." According to Knesset members sitting next to Parosh and Gafni, Parosh said to Gaffni with disgust during Ohana's speech and the compliments he showered on his partner: "What is this thing?.”
United Torah Judaism MKs Meir Porush and Moshe Gafni covered their faces and turned away during the inauguratory speech of new #Knesset Speaker @AmirOhana, a gay man, on Thursday.https://t.co/d5OcyLHjFc
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) December 29, 2022
The Speaker of the Knesset is one of the symbols of the government, so for the first time, a declared homosexual and his spouse have the option of being buried in the plot of the great leaders of the nation on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem after their death, subject to their consent. , Prime Ministers, Speakers of the Knesset, and their spouses.
Ohana, 46 years old, is one of Netanyahu's associates and has already served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Internal Security in the previous Netanyahu governments. He was the first openly gay minister when he was appointed Minister of Justice in 2019. When Ohana was first elected to the position of MK in Likud, the ultra-orthodox MKs walked out of the plenum.
