JERUSALEM (AP) – Dozens of LGBTQ activists have protested in Jerusalem against comments reportedly made by the city’s chief rabbi disparaging the gay community.
Rabbi Shlomo Amar told an Israeli newspaper last week that gay people were an “abomination” and homosexuality a “cult.”
Protesters holding rainbow pride flags faced off outside the rabbinate in Jerusalem against ultra-Orthodox Jews supporting the rabbi. Police say a large pride flag was hung outside the building overnight.
The protests highlight the deep divisions in Israel between its secular majority and increasingly powerful nationalist and ultra-Orthodox camps that have spoken out forcefully against the LGBT community.
While liberal Tel Aviv is seen as gay friendly, the fault lines have been pronounced in Jerusalem, the ancient biblical city rich in religious history and tradition.
