Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Jerusalem have found common ground at last:
Even as the ties between Palestinian and Israeli politicians strained against the current crises in Gaza, religious officials from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities united Tuesday to oppose a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.
More than 50 prominent religious figures visited the Knesset’s Interior Committee to urge MKs to stop the World Pride event, scheduled to take place in Jerusalem next month. Several right-wing religious MKs brought the coalition to the Knesset, asserting that “never before has the Holy Land seen such a union of religious leaders.”
Of course, this being the middle east, everybody talks tough:
“I promise there’s going to be bloodshed – not just on that day, but for months afterward,” declared New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a representative of the Rabbinical Alliance of America.
…
“If gays will dare approach the Temple Mount during the parade, they will do so over our dead bodies,” said MK Ibrahim Sarsur (United Arab List- Ta’al).
The Christians are keeping their response a bit cooler:
Last week, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar wrote to Pope Benedict XVI asking for the church to issue an official condemnation. While the pope has not commented on the event, an ambassador from the Vatican told the committee that “as a representative of the Holy See to Israel, I believe… holding this event would contradict the sacred nature of Jerusalem.”
And then there’s this bit of wisdom, worthy of one of our own fine legislators:
MK Ibrahim Sarsur (United Arab List) told the committee that “these types of problems” don’t exist in Muslim society. “Every man has the right to do what he pleases, but not if it offends others,” he said.
I’m offended by that.
But there’s a silver lining. Mideast peace at last:
MK Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism promised that if organizers of the World Pride parade agreed to hold the march elsewhere, he would utilize the new coalition of Jewish, Muslim and Christian officials to promote peace and brotherhood in Israel.
Sometimes I think the people of the Mideast deserve each other.
(Hat tip: Hit & Run)
I dunno, it might be just me, but maybe the rest of the world has it right… it’s not self-evident that homosexuals should be allowed to parade their unusual sexual preferences when most people don’t care to be confronted with it.
Whatever happened to the right of people to enjoy their society in peace, without having to let every disgruntled mini-minority group get in their faces? What’s next? We’re supposed to allow NAMBLA or the Nazis march through Jerusalem?
Thank goodness not every place has been so infected with moral indifferentism as America. Libertarianism is not a choice every society need make.