The Haredi should STFU about the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem.
Last I checked, Israel was not a theocracy.
Last I checked, religious Jews weren’t extremist Muslims.
Tell me how the behavior of the Haredi protesting the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem differs from the Muslims rioting over the Danish cartoons, because I’m not seeing much of a difference—except that as yet, no one has been killed.
Last time there was a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, three people were stabbed.
Do not mistake my hawkish Zionism for approval of religious extremists exerting their opinion by violence and force.
I found out last night that the state of Israel provides buses in which the men and the women must sit separately. The reason I found out is because the Haredi seem to think they have the right to stone buses that come through their neighborhood that don’t seat men and women separately. What a load of crap. If they want those kinds of buses for the Haredi, they should pay for it themselves. But to throw stones at buses that don’t satisfy their rules? Bullshit. My grandfather was Orthodox. That’s not the Judaism I was taught.
Lynn has more on this issue.
As I said, do not mistake my hawkish Zionism for your religious bigotry. We no longer stone adulterers, in spite of the commandment that says we must. If the sages managed to find a way to interpret that commandment, modern-day sages can work on the ones about homosexuals.
I will not condone, in any way, the thought processes and actions of the Haredi regarding the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem.
Jews stoning buses for not forcing women to sit separate from men. What a great example to set for our children. What a great image to give the AP and Reuters.
Shame on those men. Shame.
The main argument of the religious opposition to the parade from Muslims, eastern-rite Christians and haredi Jews is that the parade goes through the major religious sites of Jerusalem. However, the parade organizers will not accept a rerouting of the parade to avoid these.
There is no excuse for violence on either side. However, there is some bloodymindedness by the parade organizers which should not be ignored.
chsw
There is a group called Queers for Palestine. I’ve written them to ask for their position on: 1) Gay Pride parades in Israel; and 2) the absence of anything like that in Arab countries.
I’ll let you know what, if anything, they have to say about it.
Sorry, but so what? So what if the parade route goes past religious sites? The streets are public. The parade isn’t going to stop and enter a mosque, or a church, or a synagogue.
And what’s with the “violence on either side” bit? I’m not reading about gays threatening to commit violence on Haredi. It’s the opposite.
chsw, the parade organizers have indeed accepted a rerouting, saying specifically that they do not want to cause “fires.”
In this case, it is the Haredim, not the gay community, who are willing to use violence to get what they want. As of this evening, Haredim are rioting in various locations downtown, and there is not even a parade going on now. (And before anyone says that they’re doing it because they’re just so pained that they can’t keep quiet a second longer, go sell someone else a bridge. This is about power and control, not emotions run amok.)
As for separate seating on buses and taxi vans, I have dealt with this personally and written about it on my blog.