Protesters in Tel Aviv rally against racism, homophobia, blast Bayit Yehudi right-wing groups
Protesters called for action to be brought against the right-wing anti-assimilation organization,"Lahava."
By JPOST.COM STAFFStabbing at J'lem gay-pride parade(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Some 200 demonstrators took to one of Tel Aviv's main avenues on Saturday in order to protest the recent fatal stabbing at the Jerusalem gay pride parade as well as the deadly arson attack in the West Bank village in Duma.The protestors gathered on Rothschild avenue, on the corner of Nahmani street facing Metzudat Ze'ev, the Likud headquarters, carrying signs reading "homophobia and racism breed the same violence" while chanting slogans against the Bayit Yehudi party, often labeled as the settler party,"Anyone who incites hate against us- against entire communities- those who discriminate against us and define us as 'obscene' or as an enemy- is spilling our blood. Whoever does this cannot escape responsibility when a knife is raised or a fire is lit," said the protestors."We require actions to be taken against the terrorist organization 'Lahava' and for MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) to be fired from his position as deputy speaker of the Knesset. We also demand the abolition of discriminatory laws."The right-wing anti-assimilation organization,"Lahava", which opposed the LGBT community's parade in the capital was also the subjects of disdain. The group is seen as fostering hostility towards the community by equating homosexuals to criminals destroying the fabric of Judaism.Among those rallying were members of the left-wing Meretz party as well as the Jewish/Arab communist Hadash party.