Rabbi Meir Mazuz, an influential Haredi rabbi with close ties to several senior members of the new government, said Saturday that newly appointed Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, the first openly LGBTQ person to hold the role, “has come down with an illness infected” and implied that the deadly Meron disaster of 2021 happened because of Ohana’s sexual orientation.
In his weekly sermon, the head of the Kisse Rahamim Yeshiva in Bnei Brak said to the students, “There comes a time when everyone is asked: are you part of the Pride Parade or part of the Humility Parade?”
“You should distance yourself from that,” he urged, continuing, “You see people walking around bragging [about] the Pride March in Jerusalem. Close the windows and tell your kids, “This is an animal parade, you have no business. These are animals that walk on two legs. What can we do against it?'”
Mazuz continued his tirade, implying that Ohana’s sexual orientation was responsible for the 2021 Meron crush that killed 45 ultra-Orthodox during the religious festival Lag B’Omer in the north of the country. Ohana was Minister of Public Security at the time of the tragedy, a role overseeing the Israel Police Force tasked with securing the annual Meron event.
“Two years ago something happened in Lag B’Omer and people are saying … that there was a minister in charge of Meron who himself has the disease. So is it really a question of what happened to us?” Mazuz asked rhetorically without mentioning Ohana by name.
Get the daily Times of Israel by email and never miss our headlines again
By registering you agree to the terms
Mazuz, the rabbinic leader of Tunisian Judaism in Israel, has a long history of involvement in politics. Having previously supported former Shas party leader Eli Yishai and his failed Yachad party, Mazuz has in recent years publicly supported Torah United Judaism, Shas under its current leader, Aryeh Deri – the new interior and health minister – and far-right Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben supports Gvir, the new Minister of National Security.
In the last primaries for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party a few months ago, Mazuz publicly backed Likud MK Shlomo Karhi, a staunch Netanyahu loyalist and new communications minister. Ohana is also a Likud MK and a Netanyahu loyalist.
Shas leader Aryeh Deri (L) hugs Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir during a Knesset session where a new speaker was elected on December 13, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Mazuz has a long history of making inflammatory remarks about the LGBTQ community and others.
In March 2020, he claimed the coronavirus outbreak in Israel was divine punishment for gay pride marches. In 2018 he said openly gay people could not join a minyan, a quorum of 10 Jews required for certain prayers. In 2015, he blamed Pride marches for a spate of deadly Palestinian terrorist attacks a few months after a Haredi extremist stabbed a 15-year-old girl at the Jerusalem Pride march.
Last year, Mazuz called then Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman and “all their friends” in the previous government “traitors to the people” and “worse than Nazis”. He claimed that the previous government tried to “suffocate Torah students” while “giving as much as possible to the Arabs”.
Mazuz has also argued that popular messaging app WhatsApp is “destroying the world.”
New Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (above) and new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulate each other as the new government is sworn in on December 29, 2022 in Jerusalem. (Amir Cohen / Pool / AFP)
On Thursday, the Knesset elected Ohana as its speaker shortly before the confidence vote to inaugurate Israel’s 37th government.
In his first remarks after his election, Ohana thanked his parents — who were at the gallery — for accepting him “for who I am.” And he thanked his partner Alon Haddad, “the second half of my life for almost 18 years,” who was at the gallery with the couple’s children, Ella and David, who Ohana also mentioned.
Ohana vowed that the new coalition would not violate LGBTQ rights.
“This Knesset, headed by this speaker, will not harm you or any other family, period,” he said in comments addressed to his family.
Several of the Likud’s far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners have expressed homophobic positions, including trying to bring back now-banned conversion therapy, changing the form of government to say “mother” and “father” instead of the gender-neutral “parent,” and running on the platform of a ” normal family,” like the openly anti-LGBTQ Noam party.
United Torah Judaism MKs Yitzhak Goldknopf and Meir Porush, a minister and deputy minister respectively in the new government, avert their gaze as gay MK Amir Ohana am 29 Footage by Ari Kalman, Behadrei Haredim broadcast on Channel 12 ; used pursuant to Clause 27a of the Copyright Act)
Noam’s only MK, new Deputy Minister Avi Maoz, looked the other way as Ohana delivered his opening address, as did members of the United Torah Judaism Party.
Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted he will not allow violations of LGBTQ rights to allow suppliers of goods and services to refuse services based on religious beliefs, despite signing coalition agreements committing to anti-discrimination laws.
You are an engaged reader
That’s why we launched the Times of Israel ten years ago, to provide discerning readers like you with essential coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news agencies, we have not set up a paywall. However, as the journalism we do is expensive, we invite readers who have found The Times of Israel important to support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For just $6 a month, you can support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREEas well as access exclusive content only available to members of the Times of Israel Community.
Thank you very much,
David Horovitz, founding editor of the Times of Israel
Join our community Join our community Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this