‘God have mercy’: Jerusalem chief rabbi laments 1st openly gay Knesset speaker, Orthodox MKs who voted for him – The Times of Israel
Jerusalem chief rabbi Shlomo Amar assails Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, the first openly gay man to hold that role, calling LGBTQ people a “disgrace” and criticizing Orthodox members of the coalition who voted for him.
“This whole thing with the abominations — today they’re glorified. For shame. Such a disgrace,” says Amar, a former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, in a recording obtained by Channel 12.
“Woe to the ears that hear of such things. It is unbearable. They appoint them to roles that are considered lofty. They have lost all of their shame,” he adds, without mentioning Ohana by name.
“They make this something to be publicly proud of with parades, and now they’ve appointed… God have mercy,” Amar says.
“I’m going to refrain from naming names because, unfortunately, it seems that even people who are considered God-fearing supported [the appointment]. This is a massive disgrace — [that people who] represent the Torah and Judaism… God have mercy.”
Amar’s comments echoed those of another prominent Sephardic ultra-Orthodox rabbi.
Rabbi Meir Mazuz, who has close ties to several senior members of the new government, said Saturday that Ohana was “infected with a disease,” and insinuated that the deadly 2021 Meron disaster happened due to Ohana’s sexual orientation.
New Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana oversees the plenum session to vote on the new government’s swearing-in, December 29, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Knesset elected Ohana as its speaker on Thursday, shortly before the confidence vote to inaugurate Israel’s 37th government. A former minister in past governments, Ohana is the Knesset’s first openly gay person to hold the role.
The outcome of the plenum vote was 63-5, with all coalition lawmakers voting in favor except for United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Tesler, who was overseas.
Despite voting for Ohana, several of Likud’s far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners have expressed homophobic positions, including returning now-banned conversion therapy, changing governmental forms to say “mother” and “father” instead of the gender-neutral “parent,” and running on the platform of a “normal family.”
The openly anti-LGBTQ Noam party’s sole MK, incoming deputy minister Avi Maoz, looked away as Ohama made his inaugural speech Thursday, as did members of the United Torah Judaism party.
One member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, despite voting for Ohana, expressed reservations in light of the Likud MK’s sexual orientation.
“We aren’t happy with the path he’s taking but we look at the person and not his tendencies,” MK Yoav Ben-Tzur, who is a minister in the Welfare Ministry in the new government, told the Ynet news site.
— with Carrie Keller-Lynn