FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Violence in Israel caused by 'gay' event?Rabbis link troubles to approval of World Pride parade in Jerusalem
Posted: July 19, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Alex Traiman
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
BEIT EL, Israel – Are Israel's troubles in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and the Hezbollah rockets slamming daily into major Israeli population centers here a result of the Jewish state's tacit support for a homosexual parade slated for next month in Jerusalem?
Some rabbis seem to think so, and they are attempting to block the event from taking place in Judaism's holiest city.
"Why does this war break out this week, all of sudden with little warning? Because this is the exact week the Jewish people are trying to decide whether the gay pride parade should take place in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv," Pinchas Winston, a noted author, rabbi and lecturer based in Jerusalem told WND.
Winston is one of many rabbinic leaders here to blast the World Pride Parade, a mass international gathering of homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people scheduled Aug. 6-12.
The week-long homosexual celebration will feature a parade down the streets of central Jerusalem, a beach party, health conference and a "Youth Day" to take place in the Knesset, Israel's main legislative government building.
The festival is being run by an organization called World Pride, which seeks to promote an atmosphere of "love without borders," according to group's website.
Yet many religious leaders believe the Israeli government's decision to allow a world homosexual parade in Jerusalem is having real-life consequences.
"This [parade] is an attack against God himself," Winston said. "God has told the Jewish people, 'If you are not going to fight for my honor, you will be forced to fight for your own honor.'"
Winston points to the clashes that broke out after Hezbollah staged a raid last week in which two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and eight more soldiers were killed. Israel has been retaliating inside Lebanon while the Lebanese terror group has fired hundreds of deadly Katyusha rockets at northern Israeli population centers, killing 18 civilians and wounding hundreds, some seriously.
On a second battlefront, Israel also recently sent ground troops into Gaza following the kidnapping by Hamas of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas and other Gaza-based Palestinian Arab terror groups have launched hundreds of rockets into Jewish communities near Gaza, including Ashkelon, home to Israel's major power stations and strategic oil and gas pipelines.
Lazer Brody, an author and dean of the Breslov Rabbinical College in Ashdod, Israel, concurred with Winston.
"When GodÂ’s presence is in the camp, nothing can happen to the Jewish people," Brody stated. "But If the Jewish people bring impurity into the camp of Israel, this chases away God's presence."
Brody contends the "removal of God's presence" led to the recent violence here, but he said he still feels the Jewish state is being protected.
"Over 1,000 Katyusha rockets have been fired thus far, and the damage has been equivalent to scratches," Brody said.
Before becoming a rabbi, Brody served for many years in the Israeli army, where he fought in combat missions in Beirut during Israel's incursion into Lebanon in the early 1980's. He said the public display of homosexuality in Jerusalem "soils the camp of Israel with impurity, and pushes away the divine presence and protection."
He cites Deuteronomy, [23:13-15]: "For the Lord, your God, goes along in the midst of your camp, to rescue you and to deliver your enemies before you. [Therefore,] your camp shall be holy, so that He should not see anything unseemly among you and would turn away from you."
"The Torah is the ultimate book of human rights, giving each individual the right to free choice," said Brody. "What a person does behind closed doors is at one's own risk; but to partake of that behavior in public spreads the impurity to the entire camp."
The Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a worldwide coalition of over 1200 rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis released a statement this week asking Israelis to "increase the holiness" of the country while it was at war by praying and among other thing cancelling the World Pride event.
The World Pride event previously was held in 2000 in Rome, where it attracted about a quarter of a million participants. Images of the Rome festivities, featured on various homosexual websites, show throngs of shirtless men in shorts and bikini briefs congregated on the streets, some of them holding hands.
Earlier this year, the Israeli Supreme Court granted tacit support for the event. The Israeli police department has thus far supported the parade, although some security officials have stated an upsurge in national violence can bog down police forces and force the event to cancel.
The police also are worried about violent protesters at any Jerusalem homosexual parade. Last year, at a smaller, local homosexual pride parade, three males were stabbed shortly after fellow paraders were seen kissing outside Jerusalem's Great Synagogue.
Despite Judicial support, a recent poll shows that nearly 70 percent of all Jerusalemites oppose the march. Mayor Uri Lupolianski, an orthodox Jew, has filed a petition to prevent the event from taking place. About half of the Knesset's 120 legislatures signed a petition against holding a homosexual parade in Jerusalem.