A suggestion by one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming ministers that Israeli doctors should be allowed to refuse treatment to LGBTQ patients on religious grounds has heightened fears that the new government poses an unprecedented threat to gay rights.
The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, has weighed in to condemn the growing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, saying: “The racist pronouncements of recent days against the LGBTQ community and other sectors of the public make me extremely worried and concerned.” The president, whose post is largely ceremonial but who commands a degree of authority, added that such rhetoric undermined Israeli “democratic and moral values”.
Netanyahu – who called Strook’s remarks “unacceptable” – denies his new government will pose a threat to gay rights but critics say he is too weak to control his ultra nationalist and ultraorthodox coalition partners pushing Israel to increasingly adopt what they view as divinely ordained religious heritage. » | Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem | Monday, December 26, 2022
Israel’s LGBTQ+ community fear for future under far-right government: Elements of Netanyahu-led coalition have been openly hostile and rolling back of some gay laws is on agenda »
