Moved to action by the horrific attack at Jerusalem Gay Pride yesterday, MK Itzik Shmuli of the Zionist Union Party told the world that he’s gay today, in a column for the daily Hebrew language publication Yedioth Ahronoth.
Yesterday Yishai Schlissel, an “ultra-Orthodox” Jew, stabbed six people at Jerusalem Gay Pride, three weeks after being released from prison for committing a similar crime at the same parade in 2005. Two of his victims remain in very serious condition.
According to Times of Israel, the lawmaker writes, “We cannot be silent any longer. The knife is raised on my community.”
It’s the first time he’s ever publicly addressed his sexuality. He balked last December when LGBT activist Gay Uchovsky, writing for the Mako news website, insisted that Zionist leader Isaac Herzog wrestle with the “elephant in the room” and fire the “closeted MK.”
“Bougie, if you view yourself as the next prime minister of Israel,” he wrote, “you must also deal with the elephant, and suggest one of the following two options: Leave the closet, or leave the Knesset. Want to stay in the closet? No problem, stay at home. Want to be a Knesset member? Then there is no closet.”
At the time, member of Knesset Micky Rosenthal decried Uchovsky’s column, and called it vulgar.
“I think he really exaggerated,” he said at the time. “Most of his claims, in my eyes, are unfounded.”
But now, Shmuli has set the record straight once and for all. “It is no longer possible to remain silent,” he writes. “This is the time to fight the great darkness. This terrible criminal act — that once again happened in ‘the city of God’ — is an attack on all of us. It attacks the right of all of us to be different, make our choices, accept differences and include the other.”
SeeingAll
Good for Itzik. Coming out is often the best way to fight this stuff.
Billy Budd
Very nice. At least the horror brought out ONE good thing.
Xzamilio
These are the kinds of coming out stories that really touch on the bravery and courage of some of the LGBT members of the community living in violently anti-LGBT places around the world. I can’t even imagine being in certain parts of the world where their very existence can get them killed or beaten to a pulp. And YES, I know it still happens here in some parts of America, so don’t even.
Bob LaBlah
That ghoulish, vampire looking PM (Netanyaboo) issued a statement THRU A SPOKESMAN that the attack was barbaric. Hypocritical bastard. As to be expected Trumps genitals seemed to have been severed as well as all the other members in the GOP clown car running for president. And yes, I have noticed the deafening silence from the camp of that wicked ol’ hillbilly witch who isn’t exactly shouting condemnation from the mountain tops.
mick4reg
Maybe if Netanyaboo took care of His In House problems,
He would not be worrying about what the USA does with trying to make Peace with IRAN, and stop the world from going up in smoke,,
Who does he think he is Bullshitting, That grand stand Play against the treaty
was just to get his Spy out of Jail,,,
He is Not Fooling any-One,,,
Daggerman
..you see these Arab countries just have so far to go. I have never said the west is more superior, but at least we have more redeeming features than stupid dangerous Islam for example!!
Redpalacebulleaglesox
This was a serious breakdown of the Israeli criminal justice & correctional system. Schlissel was a known threat but was allowed to commit the same violent crime twice. As far as Bennie Netanyahu is concerned, don’t expect much from him. He is the ultimate in cynical opportunist. mick4dreg, I’m material to the Pollard case. He tried to get me to turn over classified info while I was on active duty and 31 others he tried the same thing with and I turned him in. That said, thirty years is enough. Parole the traitorous SOB and deport him over there so he can be their problem. They’ll have to pay him more than they did in the 1980s just in health care costs. Bennie IS fooling no one, he’s still trying to convince people he’s half the person his brother Jonathan was. Sorry, Bennie, no sale.
Arcamenel
eww zionist.
jwtraveler
It’s wonderful that he’s come out to protest the attack by a Jewish fundamentalist against gay Jews. I’d like to hear what he has to say about the Jewish fundamentalists who burned a Palestinian home and killed a baby. I wonder if he feels that that “is an attack on all of us. It attacks the right of all of us to be different, make our choices, accept differences and include the other.”
Arcamenel
@jwtraveler: excellent comment.
Redpalacebulleaglesox
@jwtraveler: You are right. The whole world wonders.
samgoy
I hope he becomes prime minister
OzJosh
It’s about time a very bright light was shone on the stinking homophobia that festers within orthodox judaism. We’re all well aware of how vile the Catholic and Muslim faiths are, but Judaism mostly evades scrutiny, perhaps because more secular Jews serve as a liberal buffer. But there have been child sex abuse outrages in Yeshivas around the world, and with Rabbis covering up and protecting the abusers, just as their Catholic counterparts have. Orthodox jews have also campaigned hard against equal marriage and rights for gays, while spreading all the usual hateful lies. And the way orthodox jews treat gays who dare to come out in jewish families is appalling. That such a persecuted minority should persecute others in such cruel and hateful ways beggars belief. But that’s religion for you.
Giancarlo85
Israel has been BACKTRACKING for years on equality. This is undeniable fact. They keep electing an extreme right wing religious party that thrusts the entire region into uncertainty. Netanyahu uses the community as a political pawn in his rants to the international community. When it comes to domestic policy, all sorts of rights are being rolled back.
Netanyahu supports the apartheid Israeli state which enforces ra*c*ist and xenophobic laws. Even Ariel Sharon looked moderate compared to Netanyahu.
jwtraveler
@OzJosh: It’s really not any particular religion that is the problem; it’s religious fundamentalism in any form that is the essence of intolerance. I cringe every time I hear Hasidic Jews referred to as “ultra-orthodox”. I don’t know the origin of that term, but it’s a misnomer. It implies that they are just very religious people. The news media have no trouble referring to “Muslim fundamentalists” or even “Christian fundamentalists”. Hasidim are “Jewish fundamentalists”, with all the bigotry and intolerance that the term implies.
Kangol
@jwtraveler: Yep, with you on this.
martinbakman
@jwtraveler: But also there are lots of atheists that hate gays, or at a minimum keep silent when we are harmed. The religious nuts just use their faith to justify and amplify their hatred
jwtraveler
@martinbakman: Yes, there are many people of all, and no, religious persuasions who keep silent in the face of injustice, but it’s nearly impossible to know what people are thinking when they don’t choose to speak. But remaining silent is not the same as actively preaching hatred, organizing politically to deny people their civil rights and physically assaulting people you regard as inferior. I have never heard of any organized movement of atheists doing these things.
Your implication that atheists are just has anti-gay as religious believers has NO BASIS IN FACT.