Jerusalem Pride parade defies opposition from Israel’s far-right government | World News

Thousands march in Jerusalem on Thursday Pride Parade – An Annual Event This has happened for the first time under Israel’s new far-right government, which is riddled with openly homophobic members.

Always tense and heavily guarded by police, marches have been marred by violence in the past in this conservative city. But this year, Israel found itself deeply disaffected by a controversial government plan to overhaul the judiciary. The plan tears apart long-standing social divides between those who want to preserve Israel’s liberal values ​​and those who seek to shift them towards a more religious conservatism.

Parades in Jerusalem are generally softer than the gay-friendly Tel Aviv parade, where thousands of revelers flood the streets for a huge, colorful party. But Thursday’s march drew larger-than-usual crowds amid heavy security in a show of opposition to the government and its plans to reshape the legal system.

“There is not a struggle for democracy in Israel and there is not a struggle for LGBTQ rights,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a speech to the crowd. “It’s the same struggle against the same enemies in the name of the same values.”

Other opposition politicians and U.S. ambassador to Israel Tom Nides also took part in Thursday’s march. “I don’t think there’s anything controversial about it,” Naides said. “It’s about rights and human rights, and that’s what brings America and Israel together.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is made up of ultra-nationalist and ultra-religious parties that openly oppose homosexuality, despite the Israeli leader’s pledge to protect LGBTQ rights and a gay member of his party in the Knesset the speaker.

The country’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has declared in the past that he is a “proud gay”. Before entering politics, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, now chief of police, was a regular at Pride marches, joining a group of protesters against the march. Undersecretary for Certain Educational Content Avi Maoz said he wanted to review the legality of the Jerusalem Pride parade.

Ben-Gvir said Wednesday that there will be “substantial” police guarding the marchers, and he supports the freedom of expression that the marches embody. Israeli police said more than 2,000 police officers were deployed along the parade route.

“It will be the role of the police to protect, guard and ensure the safety of the marchers even if the minister does not agree to the march,” Ben-Gvir said.

At one point during the march, Ben-Gvir walked on the sidelines and was jeered at “shamefully” as he said it was a visit to oversee security.

Jerusalem’s Hagar Ponne called the march a “joyful moment” but also said it was “the antithesis” of the country’s climate.

“There are people who are very homophobic and transphobic, and they’re in positions of power and budgetary positions in government today, and they’re actually working against us right now,” she said.

People carried a banner that read: “No Democracy No Pride.”

As in previous years, a small group of anti-LGBTQ activists took part in Thursday’s march. During a 2015 march, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli man stabbed 16-year-old Shira Banki to death and wounded several others.

Israel is generally tolerant of the LGBTQ community, a rarity in the conservative Middle East, where homosexuality is widely considered taboo and illegal in some places. Members of the LGBTQ community openly serve in the Israeli military and Knesset, and many popular artists and entertainers are openly gay.

But campaigners say full equality is still a long way off. Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties, which have significant influence on religious and state affairs, oppose homosexuality as a violation of religious law, as do other religious groups in Israel.

The conservative makeup of Netanyahu’s government has sparked new fears in the LGBTQ community, which made gains under the previous short-lived government led by Netanyahu’s rivals. Those concerns intensified as the government moved forward with its plan to reform the judiciary, which was shelved in March after a spate of spontaneous mass protests.

The plan would weaken the judiciary and limit judicial oversight of laws and government decision-making, which critics say poses a direct threat to civil rights and the rights of minorities and marginalized groups.

Protests have continued, with demonstrators expected to show up in Jerusalem to support the community, even as the government and opposition are negotiating a compromise on the plan.

The administration says the judicial plan is aimed at reining in what it says is an overly meddling Supreme Court and restoring power to elected lawmakers. Critics say it would give the government unchecked power and upend the country’s system of checks and balances.