- 2006 Jerusalem gay pride parade
The 2006 Jerusalem gay pride parade was a controversial event which took place on
November 10 ,2006 .Background
Since the 1990's an annual
gay pride parade takes place inTel Aviv ,Israel and sometimes also inEilat . Regularly, Tel Aviv is the venue for the only yearly gay pride parade in theMiddle East .Tel Aviv was first city in Israel to have a gay pride parade, which started in the street of
Shenkin and expanded to large-scale events in the following years. In 2005, 100,000 people participated in the Tel Aviv gay pride parade.The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH) is the focal point of gay pride events in Jerusalem and exists since 1997. Since 2002, it held small annual gay pride parades in Jerusalem (up to 10,000 people).
On
June 30 2005 , the parade took place after it had originally been prohibited by a municipal ban, which was cancelled by the district court order. During the parade, a young man wounded three parade participants with a kitchen knife.The 2006 Event
In 2006 it was announced that the
WorldPride event held each year in different capitals or large cities of the world will come to Jerusalem. The 22nd annual conference of InterPride, held in October 2003 inMontreal ,Canada with over 150 delegates from 51 cities from around the world in attendance, voted to accept the bid of the Jerusalem Open House to host WorldPride 2006 in the Holy City. [http://www.worldpride.net/index.php?id=241]The parade was scheduled for the 6th of August and received harsh objection from Israeli religious circles from the offshoot. It was eventually cancelled due to the
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict , but a week of events did take place as scheduled and included five conferences, a film festival, exhibitions, and literary and political events. [http://www.worldpride.net/index.php] The parade itself was cancelled but the Jerusalem Open House announced that it would hold a parade onNovember 10 after reaching an agreement with the police and with the municipality. [http://www.worldpride.net/index.php?id=1231]Opposition
Virulent opposition from Haredi and other
Orthodox Jewish corners as well as from theIsraeli Arab sector has led many to believe that unless the gay pride parade was canceled, a violent outcome would be unavoidable. [ [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3321178,00.html Holy war against pride parade - Israel News, Ynetnews ] ] Others who came out against the parade include Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, RabbiShlomo Amar [ [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3319666,00.html Chief rabbi: All Jews must act towards cancellation of Jerusalem pride march... - Israel News, Ynetnews ] ] .The main opposition from the Haredi Jewish sector was organized by the
Edah HaChareidis rabbinical organization. On 18 October, Rabbis from across the Orthodox spectrum called for the parade to be forbidden. RabbiOvadia Yosef , who was one of the first to express his opposition, called for a "demonstration of a million".Well-known right-wing activists
Baruch Marzel ,Itamar Ben Gvir andHillel Weiss called for a 'holy war' against the parade and announced that unless the parade were cancelled, it would lead to violence. [ [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3316718,00.html Baruch Marzel: Pride parade will lead to violence - Israel News, Ynetnews ] ] [ [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3305417,00.html Marzel declares 'holy war' against gay parade - Israel News, Ynetnews ] ] The organizers of the parade filed a police complaint against them, accusing them of incitement to murder. [ [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3320248,00.html Gay group files complaint for incitement to murder - Israel News, Ynetnews ] ]On the night of Thursday 2 November, a demonstration in
Meah Shearim led to rioting. Thousands of protesters blocked roads with burning garbage cans, and police responded in force, sending hundreds ofYassam riot police and Border Police armed with batons,water cannon s and horses.Fact|date=September 2007 Seven policemen and an unknown number of protestors were wounded.Fact|date=September 2007 Haredi spokesmen strongly spoke out against the police for using an "excessive level of violence".Fact|date=September 2007The organizers, of the
Jerusalem Open House organization made plans to deal with contingencies including multiple wounded and dead. [ [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3321034,00.html Gays plan for disaster scenarios at J'lem parade - Israel News, Ynetnews ] ] However, the parade was eventually held with no casualties. [http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/21/israel_orders_gay_marriage_recognition/]ee also
*
Homosexuality and Judaism
*Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism
*2006 in LGBT rights References
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