MKs call on Beersheba mayor, Israel Police to deny permit to anti-LGBT parade

Two Knesset members wrote a letter to Beersheba Mayor Reuven "Rubik" Danilovich and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai on Wednesday, appealing to the authorities not to permit a planned demonstration by the anti-LGBT party Tzir Ne’eman next Tuesday. 

The party, which is running in Beersheba’s municipal elections next month, plans to hold a parade carrying Torah scrolls in opposition to “globalists from the Left.” The Left, they claimed, “are completely destructive to the value and honor of the family.” The two MKs, Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu and Yasmin Sacks-Friedman, both from Yesh Atid, wrote in their letter that “homophobia is not an opinion, but rather a dangerous incitement.”

“Homophobia, racism, and antisemitism are not protected by freedom of expression,” the letter said, “and must not be given a platform - not in Beersheba, not anywhere.”

The letter echoes calls from Timor Michaeli and Ido Atias, who head the liberal party "A New Deal for Beersheba."

Speaking to Maariv, the party leaders said that “the liberal public is under attack, throughout the country and in Beersheba. The time has come for us to work together, to fight for our values, and not leave the field empty for extremists.”

The parade is expected to take place in Neighborhood B (Bet), an area where many students live. Tzir Ne’eman addressed the likely backlash from locals in a social media post, attributing it to “haters of our people and our heritage,” and appealing to supporters of the parade to “come in droves, [and] show the globalists what we think about their new world order.” 

Controversy comes in the run-up to municipal elections

According to the Beersheba Pride House, a local LGBT organization, there has been an increase in homophobic events in recent weeks. “It seems that the local elections cause the rise of extremist and violent elements that threaten to harm the diverse social fabric of the city,” the group was quoted as saying in a report by Beersheba-based news outlet b7.net. “We expect the municipality and the mayor to strongly condemn such displays of violence and homophobia.”

For his part, Mayor Danilovich told b7 that “in these days of an election there are those who work to incite and divide. We are always on the side of the connector and the unifier. In Beersheba, there is a place for everyone, out of respect for all populations. Beersheba is a model for equality between the different communities that live in the city, and that’s how it will continue!” 

Nachum Karlitz, who leads Tzir Ne’eman, is the brother of former Bnei Brak mayor Mordechai Karlitz, of the Degel HaTorah Party. Nachum Karlitz will be seeking office this year for the fourth time, having failed in each previous attempt. Following his defeat in the previous municipal elections in 2018, Karlitz petitioned the court claiming irregularities in the votes.

Following that petition, the district judge fined Karlitz approximately NIS 40,000, saying: “For many years, the appellant has been returning and troubling the court with idle appeals concerning the election process in Beersheba.”