Netanyahu voices support for gay rights on Knesset LGBT Day

[6chars]

Israel - Doing the right thing, again.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Netanyahu-voices-support-for-gay-rights-on-Knesset-LGBT-Day-445867

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed his support on the Knesset's first designated LGBT Rights Day on Tuesday.

Netanyahu rarely appears in the legislature on Tuesday, a day on which it usually does not hold important votes, but he arrived specially to participate in LGBT Rights Day, during which discussions of the topic were held in the plenum and committees.

The prime minister briefly addressed the plenum: "I know that there were important and lengthy discussions today, and I came here in the middle of my schedule, which was no less busy, to say one sentence to the members of the LGBT community: 'Every man was created in the image of God.' That is the idea brought by our nation to mankind thousands of years ago, and it is the principle that must guide our national lives today.

[King_David]

1. Cue the "Pinkwashing " homophobic posts ....

[King_David]

2. Can you imagine what would happen to gay rights in a one state

That BDS is demanding?

If not for Israel there would be Zero gay rights in that nightmare crazy extremist right wing Middle East .

[shira]

7. True colors and all. BDS'ers support a 1-state nightmare led by fascists....

...who would do away with rights for gays, women, christians, jews, etc.

So much for being "progressive".

[shira]

4. Fake, tokenism to distract from Israeli evil.

Israel can do nothing right. Anything the Jewish state does that looks good must have some evil intent behind it, which BTW is 100% antisemitism.

[shira]

6. I agree.

The real reason they say Israel is 100% evil incarnate - despite all evidence showing the contrary - is because they feel it's their duty to nazify Jews and their state. It's all they do. That's all they want to talk, write about, or hear 24-7-365. They can't get enough of that, ever. It's an absolute obsession, hobby....

That's what I believe BDS, BtS, and other left- and right- wing organizations are all about. It's not the boycotting. It's incitement against Jews, to keep the conflict going. To convince more and more mainstream people that Jews are evil (since almost all of us support Israel). They hope that translates to policy changes as well, but their support for terror - and all of them support it - shows this is all about bashing Jews. Notice none of them care a whit about Israel's genuine security concerns. None of them care about all the antisemites in their BDS ranks, and there are plenty who are proud and very public Jew haters. None give a rip about Jews being attacked in France. They show their true colors when they sympathize more with psychotic butchers attacking with knives than the victims they hurt or kill.

It's sick, and an absolute wonder how Jews haven't lost it or gone mad with all this happening. Problem is, we're so used to it the past few thousand years, it's numbing. Big shrug - haters will be haters - so what can you do?

[Israeli]

9. So how did it go ????.....

Likud's first openly-gay MK skips vote on LGBT rights legislation

MK Amir Ohana, who says he must vote with the coalition, preferred leaving the plenum rather than vote against opposition proposals benefiting the gay community.

Yuval Karni
Published: 02.25.16, 15:44 / Israel News

On Tuesday, the Knesset marked the first LGBT rights day, but on Wednesday all promises of equality were forgotten as the coalition brought down a series of opposition legislation proposals benefitting the gay community.

Meanwhile, MK Amir Ohana, the Likud party's first openly-gay lawmaker, who was elected as a representative of the LGBT community, surprised and angered many when he decided to leave the plenum before the vote on these proposals.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that "Every person was created in God’s image," while Ohana promised that "the longed-for goal of full equality will be achieved."

On Wednesday, however, the coalition managed to vote down six bills benefitting the gay community that were proposed by opposition MKs. Among them were Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni's civil union legislation; Zionist Union MK Revital Swid's proposal granting same-sex bereaved families the same rights as all other bereaved families; Yesh Atid MK Yael German's bill barring conversion therapy for minors; and Meretz MK Michal Rozin's proposal to train medical professionals on the issues of sexual orientation.

Two Likud MKs who are associated with the LGBT community, Ohana and Sharren Haskel, helped bring down the legislation. Haskel voted against the bills, while Ohana left the plenum.

"MK Ohana showed a lot of courage when leading the issue of gay rights in the Likud party, and that is why it's so sad to see how now, when he received a spot in the Knesset and a chance to help the community to right the inequality, he caved in and ran away," Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir charged.

"The damage done is even more severe because this is a young MK who is supposed to represent a different kind of politics at the Knesset," she added. "We must act in the benefit of the public first and foremost, and not surrender to party and political interests, which give politicians a bad name and lead the public to stop believing that its public officials are fighting for it."

Coalition officials said on Wednesday that Ohana was embarrassed by the situation, "but he didn't have a choice, because he had to vote with the coalition and oppose legislation by the opposition."

Ohana said in response: "Coalition members have to vote with the coalition, but despite what I said early on, that I would vote with the coalition even if my opinion is not accepted, I felt I could not vote against the community, against myself. Even if I had voted for those bills, it would not have changed the outcome."

Ohana went on to say that "social processes take time, and not everything is about legislation. An elected representative can express his truth in other ways as well. But I'm not worried. We'll face difficulties and obstacle, but equality will be achieved."

In addition, during the discussion on MK Rozin's proposal, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) slammed the members of the gay community, calling them "sinners" and comparing their actions to the worship the golden calf.

These comments caused an outraged in the plenum, with MK Rozin responding, "I did not ask you to be the minister of gays and lesbians. I asked you to be the health minister for all Israeli citizens. Your comments were neither Jewish nor humane."

Litzman refused to respond to Rozin.

Source : http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4770943,00.html

[Israeli]

11. Which members of the coalition do you consider moderates 6chars ??

Update for you ......

Increasing homophobia mars Knesset LGBT day

As the Knesset marks first ever ‘gay community rights day,’ new reports on homophobia in Israel show 80 percent increase in documented homophobic incidents, alarming statistics about levels of violence faced by the LGBT community.

The state of LGBT rights in Israel can effectively be summed up in a series of events surrounding the Knesset’s first ever LGBT rights day. As much of an achievement as that was — although with caveats — the day was overshadowed by a number of proposed bills to advance LGBT rights that were shot down before before even getting off the ground.

A day earlier, a major gay rights advocacy organization released its latest set of figures on homophobia in Israel. The report showed an 80 percent increase in the number of documented anti-LGBT statements and incidents in 2015, compared with the previous year.

A second report published by a coalition of feminist organizations found that around two-thirds of LGBT women have suffered sexual harassment, a third have been subjected to physical violence and 81 percent felt compelled to hide their identity in some way or another. A report released earlier last year showed that half of Israel’s transgender population has been physically assaulted at least once.

These statistics are backed up by research undertaken by the Berl Katznelson Foundation last December, which found that the LGBT community was second only to Palestinians as the targets of online incitement in 2015. A social media monitoring service found 6,836 homophobic statements posted on Hebrew-language social media in January 2016 alone.

And 2015 was, of course, the year in which an ultra-Orthodox Israeli went on a stabbing spree at the Jerusalem pride parade — for the second time — killing one and wounding five.

To have the Knesset’s first gay rights day in this atmosphere was both a landmark moment and a red herring of sorts. Brought about by the Knesset LGBT Lobby — headed by MKs Michal Rozin (Meretz), Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union) and Yael German (Yesh Atid) — it was attended by over a quarter of Knesset members, although mostly from the opposition. As Michaeli told +972 Magazine, “it’s a legitimization [of the LGBT community and its rights], even if that should no longer be this complicated.”

But the day, and those that came before and after, only served to highlight the gap between perception and reality of LGBT rights in Israel, as Michaeli herself recognizes. “This is a Knesset in which we cannot get any legislation passed that has to do with equal rights for LGBT people,” the Labor MK explained.

Asked what she feels the biggest obstacle is to advancing gay rights in the country, Michaeli is unequivocal: “The automatic surrender to very conservative and very dark ultra-Orthodox conditions. The same thing happens with all kinds of rights that clash with state and religion issues — it’s like a force of nature, no one tries to challenge it. There’s no attempt by the coalition to negotiate.”

Personal and family status laws in Israel are governed by the rabbinate, meaning that there is no civil marriage, no interfaith marriage and no same-sex marriage, primarily due to ultra-Orthodox Judaism’s deeply conservative and often homophobic attitudes.

Furthermore, says Khader Abu Seif, a gay Palestinian activist, the lack of Palestinian representation at the Knesset LGBT rights event undermined its status as a measure of true progress.

“It can’t be a real pride day if there’s no Arab representative,” he told +972. “It is a big step, but it feels as if it’s only for one section of the LGBT community in Israel.”

This reflects what Abu Seif feels is a broader problem at the cross-section between the LGBT and Palestinian struggles for rights. “There is no money going toward Palestinian LGBTs in Israel, and no representation in the government,” he said.

Asked about the lack of Palestinian presence at the Knesset’s gay rights day, Michaeli said that efforts to include Palestinian partners had been made but that, “for various reasons, in the end it wasn’t possible to bring them on board for this specific day.”

As for the surge in homophobia, Michaeli sees it as an indicator that progress is being made. “It’s a backlash,” she explained. “There’s always a backlash whenever there’s real advancement and more rights are being gained. When people are more able to be out in the open, the backlash will be stronger.”

“Of course, when the gay community could not walk the streets freely there were fewer incidents of homophobia,” she continued. “It’s the same with women’s rights, with every kind of tangible change that goes against very deep patriarchal tradition.”

While this is indeed true, and despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pretty words on Tuesday, openly homophobic views are tolerated among Israel’s political echelon. In addition, almost nothing is done to stop the very real and very dangerous public incitement against the LGBT community here.

And, as with most advances that happen in Israel-Palestine, they happen for Jews first — with Palestinians coming last, or not at all. There are people in the Knesset working hard and with great willingness to improve the situation for LGBT individuals in this land, but ultimately they are working within the confines of an institution that inherently privileges the rights of one ethnic group over another. That undermines the very foundations of any minority struggle, and as American civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer said, “nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

Source: http://972mag.com/increasing-homophobia-mars-knesset-lgbt-day/117348/

[Israeli]

13. Which members of the coalition do you consider moderates 6chars ????

Name them .

[6chars]

14. On this issue,

Ohana moderate, Litzman extreme. In general, I referred to more moderate and more extreme, i.e., relative positioning. not everyone in the coalition falls at exactly the same point on the scale, ergo, some are more moderate, some are more extreme.

Would it be correct to infer from your lack of response that there are no LGBT rights groups in Israel you would support?

[Israeli]

15. No 6chars it would not be correct .....

....I asked you a question and you ignored it until now ...so now I have my answer ...one moderate member (on this issue ) .......which he skipped the voting on .

You posted this thread 6chars not I.....one would conclude that you would be interested in a follow up on the hypocrisy of this Right wing Gov of ours which you were praising previously .

This might also interest you .....

LGBT activists protest after MKs nix 5 gay rights bills

200 members of the community take to the streets near government district in Tel Aviv demanding change in the law

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF February 27, 2016

Some 200 members of Israel’s LGBT community protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, days after the Knesset voted against five bills that would improve LGBT rights in Israel.

Protesters took to the streets close to a compound of government offices, where they chanted “sick of your promises” and “change the laws,” while others held banners with the words “fighting for equality.”

The Knesset vote on Wednesday — 24 hours after parliament marked an LGBT rights day for the first time — drew a furious response from the opposition.

The opposition-driven bills sought to recognize same-sex spouses of fallen IDF soldiers, introduce civil unions, ban conversion therapy for minors, and require medical professionals to study gender and sexual orientation prior to receiving their licenses. The proposals were all opposed by the coalition.

Likud MK Amir Ohana, the coalition’s sole openly gay lawmaker, was in the Knesset at the time, but was not present in the plenum for the voting.

The Zionist Union party condemned the coalition for torpedoing the bills a day after LGBT rights day, and accused the government of hypocrisy.

“It turns out the coalition merely uses the members of the LGBT community for public relations, and in the moment of truth opposes all the laws benefiting it,” the statement said.

The party singled out Likud MK Sharren Haskel, the chair of the Knesset’s LGBT lobby, for voting against the legislation, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Culture Minister Miri Regev for skipping the vote.

During Tuesday’s events, the committees and plenum were dedicated to the issue of LGBT rights. Netanyahu attended the session and requested permission to address the plenum.

“I asked to come here in the middle of a busy day to say one thing to the members of the LGBT community — every person was created in the image of God,” the prime minister said. “This is an idea that was introduced to humanity by our nation thousands of years ago, and this is the principle that must guide our national life today.”

Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com/lgbt-activists-protest-in-jerusalem-after-mks-nix-5-gay-rights-bills/