Israelischer MK warnt vor Gewalt gegen LGBTs

Nach mehreren Äußerungen gegen die LGBT-Community in Israel von Mitgliedern der neuen Regierungskoalition warnte nun ein MK vor Gewalt:

Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzano said Monday that he was concerned that escalating rhetoric by lawmakers against the LGBTQ community would lead to deadly violence.

“I really think it will end in murder,” he said. “Irresponsible elected officials are inciting against members of the community just because of who they are, just because they are LGBT,” Lahav-Hertzano told Army Radio.

“Words will not be the end of it. Words have power,” Lahav-Hertzano, a member of the LGBT community, told Army Radio.

Blue and White MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzano in the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 14, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzano said Monday that he was concerned that escalating rhetoric by lawmakers against the LGBTQ community would lead to deadly violence.

“I really think it will end in murder,” he said. “Irresponsible elected officials are inciting against members of the community just because of who they are, just because they are LGBT,” Lahav-Hertzano told Army Radio.

“Words will not be the end of it. Words have power,” Lahav-Hertzano, a member of the LGBT community, told Army Radio.

Lahav-Hertzano’s comments came in response to a coalition agreement between the Religious Zionism and Likud parties, which includes a clause stipulating that the incoming government will seek to amend discrimination laws to allow business owners to refuse to provide a service if it violates their religious beliefs. The deal has yet to be officially signed.

Israel’s LGBTQ community has suffered violence in the past, including in 2015, when teenager Shira Banki was murdered by an ultra-Orthodox extremist at the Jerusalem Pride Parade.